The Pilgrim's Progress (1992)

"The last of Vaughan Williams' operas, one of his greatest works, and a labour of about forty years. This work is the key to Vaughan Williams' music. Musical ideas that reappear throughout his catalogue find their most meaningful expression here. Unfortunately, it will never be a popular work. it has no vocal displays to impress the voice groupies, just magnificent music in the service of story. The opera exhibits all of Vaughan Williams' range, from the Tallis Fantasia (which receives its apotheosis as Pilgrim enters the Celestial City) through Sancta Civitas, the Pastoral Symphony, the English Hymnal, Symphonies 4 and 6, and a lifetime of setting great English poetry to tunes that fit. Credit is also due to the poet Ursula Vaughan Williams (the composer's second wife) for wrenching a wonderful libretto from what seems to me a dramatically recalcitrant original. Adrian Boult conducts this 1971 recording, with John Noble as Pilgrim, and just about every first-rate singer in the British isles." (Classical.net)