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"
Roland Vaughan Williams Roland Vaughan Williams Sir Roland Lomax Bowdler Vaughan Williams (31 December 1838 – 8 December 1916) was an English lawyer and judge. From 1897 to 1914 he was a Lord Justice of the Court of Appeal. He was an authority on the laws of bankruptcy, and wrote a book that remained the standard English work on the subject for many years. Vaughan Williams was born in Bloomsbury, London, the fifth son of the judge Sir Edward Vaughan Williams and his wife, Jane Margaret, "née" Bagot. Among his brothers was Arthur, who became a clergyman and was the father of the