Anyone looking for an introduction to the music of Vaughan Williams ought to look no further than this new release of the composer’s most popular orchestral works from Onyx, Andrew Manze and the RLPO. The CD comes in the wake of Manze’s splendid cycle of Vaughan Williams’s symphonies which, obviously more challenging in content, form and scale, might serve as the next stage of exploration. Although I miss the 16 solo voices and Shakespeare’s words (which make the work so magical and unique) in the orchestral version of the Serenade to Music, Manze’s sonorous interpretation is heartwarming and full of direction and purpose.

One can come no closer to Vaughan Williams’s intimate relationship with English folk song than his English Folk Song Suite (in Gordon Jacob’s orchestration) with its simple forms and truly memorable tunes. This is performed with an attractive élan in the outer movements and a sufficient sense of mystery in the more numinous slow movement. A similar haunting quality is conveyed by the Fantasia on Greensleeves, which never ceases to conjure scenes of pastoral tranquillity with its velvet scoring and adroit countermelodies. These are beautifully played by the RLPO and linger in the mind.

The three works, however, which are especially memorable on this recording are the wonderfully spacious interpretation of The Lark Ascending, the edifying Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and, perhaps epicentral to Vaughan Williams’s character, Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus’. The clarity of James Ehnes’s playing, with virtually flawless intonation, is relaxed and profoundly lyrical with a shaping of phrase and dynamic nuance I have not heard since the days of Hugh Bean on EMI. There is also a transparency to the orchestral sound which allows many of Vaughan Williams’s inner contrapuntal lines to come through. Manze’s tempos, moreover, are never too fast or too slow but always flexible. There is a glow about the Fantasia, particularly the lovely solo quartet ‘variation’ and the climactic passages for the full ensemble before the reprise are splendidly warm and vibrant.

I retain my greatest accolade for the Five Variants, which is a wonderfully paced interpretation of this inventive variation form. The strings of the RLPO have a rich purple hue and Manze’s control of the balance of the orchestra’s rounded tone is beautifully judged and symptomatic of the deep sympathy he has for this music and these treasured scores. For all Vaughan Williams ‘Liebhabers’, this is a must!