Andrew Manze’s interpretations of Vaughan Williams’s Symphonies have met with acclaim from audiences and critics alike. This second volume in the cycle from the RLPO and Andrew Manze features Nos 3 & 4: two works heavily influenced by the Great War and its aftermath. A repressed seething rage and sorrow at the futility of the war pervades No.3: "It is really wartime music – a great deal of it originated when I used to go up night after night in the ambulance wagon at Ecoivres", said the composer. The Third has been called RVW’s ‘War Requiem’. The Fourth is a violent and turbulent work, reflecting the post-Great War world and the political turmoil of the 1930s. The audience was perplexed by the nature of the music: "I don’t know if I like it, but it’s what I meant", he said after the premiere.

Reviews of ONYX4155: Vaughan Williams - Symphonies 2 & 8:

"A very special recording" - BBC Music Magazine (5 stars)

"The clarity of texture...lightness, and illuminating qualities of Andrew Manze's interpretation with the RLPO...All in all an excellent start to this new cycle...The sound is excellent." BBC Radio 3 Record Review

"I have not enjoyed a performance as much as this since John Barbirolli’s, and the playing here is in every measure richer and more vivid than those post-War recordings, certainly the liveliest available" - Norman Lebrecht

"a promising start of a complete Vaughan Williams cycle by the RLPO and Andrew Manze... lets the the music blossom. The RLPO and its excellent soloists make a warm, lustrous sound." - The Observer