This symphony’s slow movement starts with muted strings playing rising parallel E minor, F-sharp minor, and G-sharp minor triads twice, before an English horn introduces the melody. The slow introduction to this symphony’s first movement and the slow coda to its finale are based on the rising half notes D, G, and A in 3/2 (“three-two”) time. In 2001, this symphony’s original version was recorded for the first time by Richard Hickox, who also conducted that version’s first live performance since 1918 at the (*) Barbican Centre. This symphony’s first movement quotes “have a banana” from “Let’s All Go Down the Strand,” and its Epilogue was inspired by H. G. Wells’s Tono-Bungay. In this symphony’s first and last movements, a solo harp imitates the Westminster Chimes. For 10 points, name this Ralph (“rafe”) Vaughan Williams symphony that comes one after his Sea Symphony and is titled for a city. ■END■
ANSWER: A London Symphony [or Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Symphony No. 2]
<John Lawrence, Classical Music and Opera>
= Average correct buzz position