Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams) Symphony No. 8 (Vaughan Williams) Ralph Vaughan Williams' Symphony No. 8 in D minor was composed between 1953 and 1955. It was the first of his symphonies which Vaughan Williams numbered. Sir John Barbirolli conducted the premiere of the piece on 2 May 1956, with the Hallé Orchestra. The Eighth Symphony is the shortest of Vaughan Williams' nine symphonies, with a typical performance taking just under a half hour, yet it is remarkably inventive, especially in the composer's experiments in sonority. Not only does he use a much-expanded percussion section, including "all the 'phones and 'spiels known to the composer"
Symphony No. 9 (Vaughan Williams) opening theme of the slow movement comes from music Vaughan Williams had composed more than fifty years earlier: "A Sea Symphony" and an even earlier, unpublished tone poem from 1904 called "The Solent". <score vorbis="1"> \relative c' { \clef treble \key d \minor \numericTimeSignature \time 4/4 \tempo "Poco animando" 4 = 100 <d bes>8\p <d bes> <d bes> bes <cis a>4 <cis a> | <d bes>8 <d bes> <d bes> bes <ees c>4 <d bes> } </score> The orchestra includes: Vaughan Williams's program note accompanying the premiere performance remarked thus: The usual symphony orchestra is used with the addition of