From All Music Guide: One listener's "Essential Vaughan Williams" is another listener's superfluous Vaughan Williams. There are 29 separate works on this two-disc EMI set, and while no one would argue with the inclusion of The Lark Ascending, the Fantasia on Greensleeves, and the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; and few would argue with the inclusion of the English Folk Song Suite, the Wasps Overture, and the Five Variants of "Dives and Lazarus," there are listener who might wonder why so many tracks here are given over to Vaughan Williams' songs, hymns, anthems, and folk song settings. Those listeners are likely to come from the western side of the Atlantic, that is, from listeners to whom Bushes and Briars, Loch Lomond, and The Old Hundredth are not as mother's milk. Those listeners are liable to regret the loss of what they regard as essential Vaughan Williams works, such as the Nocturne from the London Symphony or the Romanza from the Fifth Symphony or the Cavatina from the Eighth Symphony. Listene...

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