Vaughan Williams 2 – the London symphony

[Alison]

Would you know whether this is usually performed with 2 harps or a single player, as there are solos for each and ‘a2’ too. It looks like one harp is sufficient.

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

It is definitely meant to be doubled.

[Alison]

Has anyone reset any of the chords and handfuls ? Note to Barbara Fackler – have you ? Sometimes there are chords clumped with 5 LH and 3 RH fingers, for example, let alone chromatic passages which could be spelt enharmonically for easier reading. The usual VW ‘discrepancies’…. !!

[Elizabeth Volpé Bligh]

It should have two harps, because of some of the chords that have more than eight notes, but also at G in the second movement, where it is much better to split between two harpists. Also, in the third movement at H, the second harpist can play the bass octaves while the first harpist takes the chords. Since the chords are so wide, it would make sense for the second harpist to play the bottom section of the chords with the right hand while playing the octaves with the left. This is an exposed section. At 4 before K, and K, the harp parts can be split between the two players. I wrote out this section to avoid the page turn. (Attached.)

[Saul Davis Zlatkovski]

Not only that, but it is clearly marked where it should be harp one only, which means there should be a second harp doubling the rest of the time. I don’t know it wasn’t printed as a Harps part, but it may have just been a typo. One should check the orchestral score and see if it says harp or harps.

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