The Hallé and music director Sir Mark Elder conclude their superlative cycle of Vaughan Williams symphonies with two of the composer’s most enigmatic, late masterpieces. Their recording of the icy Symphony No. 7, its music taken from Vaughan Williams’ soundtrack for the 1948 film Scott of the Antarctic, will no doubt be compared to the Hallé’s admired recording under Sir John Barbirolli, who premiered the work in 1953. Elder’s take is vivid, Sophie Bevan’s wordless soprano, the thunderous organ and strange, otherworldly percussion effects performed and recorded with dazzling clarity. The Symphony No. 9 is no less impressive. It’s rarely performed, and Vaughan Williams’ reflection on his experiences in the First World War combines an English pastoralism with a sense of brooding unease, emerging here as a poignant final statement. Lighting the dark are two of Vaughan Williams’ more pastoral works: the “Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1”, based on East Anglian folk songs, and the heavenly “The Lark Ascending” with Lyn Fletcher as the soaring violin soloist.