Sound of the Antarctic

For most composers, growing old means growing mellower. But for England's Ralph Vaughan Williams, 80, the process is reversed. Last week the Halle Orchestra unveiled his seventh symphony, Sinfonia Antartica, and it proved as bleak as its title. Public and press, long accustomed to warmth in Vaughan Williams, went away with a case of chills.

But the composer knew what he wanted. For five years he had been haunted by a movie, Scott of the Antarctic, for which he did the musical score, and he set out to re-create its frigid atmosphere in a symphony. He used a few of his themes from Scott--whales go lolloping by in the woodwinds, penguins waddle in the brass --plus the eerie sound of wordless women's voices. For the first time in his career he experimented with a whistling wind machine and a clanging vibraphone.

Most of the audience seemed vague about what it all meant, but were won over by the massive orchestration, applauded for five minutes. A mountain-climbing enthusiast approved: "On the top of a mountain, you get exactly the same feeling. If he can get that over, he's terrific." Old Composer Vaughan Williams was vaguest of all about the performance: his hearing aid broke down early in the concert.

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