Paul Daniel, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Mary Bevan, Leigh Melrose
Release Date: 31 May 2011
Label: Albion Records
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 5060158190126
Description
World Première recordings of Vaughan Williams's The Garden of Proserpine and Hadley's Fen and Flood (arranged by Vaughan Williams), recorded in The Lighthouse, Poole, in 2010 with Joyful Company of singers and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Paul Daniel.
Vaughan Williams completed The Garden of Proserpine in 1899 - his first attempt at a large-scale work, for soprano soloist, chorus and full orchestra. In the closing pages, it achieves that combination of radiance and nobility that is so characteristic of this composer in his later works.
Fen and Flood was inspired by the devastating events of the night of Saturday 31 January 1953. A combination of high spring-tides and a deadly hurricane force North-Westerly wind created a storm tide up to 18 feet above mean sea level. 2,400 people lost their lives, many whilst still in bed. Patrick Hadley lived in North Norfolk and thus had a direct emotional and physical involvement in these events. A pupil of Vaughan Williams in the 1920s, he was a Professor of Music at Cambridge University. He wrote Fen and Flood for soloists with a male chorus. Vaughan Williams offered to arrange it with a mixed chorus.
Paul Daniel CBE became Music Director of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine in 2013 and is also currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia. He conducts the RLPO on ALBCD016 Vaughan Williams: The Solent (nominated for a Grammy award). Jane Irwin studied at Lancaster University and at the Royal Northern College of Music. She has sung for the BBC Proms and many festivals. Mary Bevan studied Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic at Cambridge University and trained at the Royal Academy of Music School. She features on ALBCD029 Vaughan Williams: Purer than Pearl. Leigh Melrose has carved out a formidable reputation for the performance of new works and dramatic 20th century repertoire.
Reviews
Paul Daniel obtains exemplary results from his combined forces and the sound is outstandingly realistic to match. A hugely likeable discovery Fen and Flood proves – compact, dramatic, tuneful and sincere – and delivered with splendid dash and obvious affection here. Elsewhere, Daniel's perceptive In the Fen Country undoubtedly ranks up there alongside Boult's and Haitink's, and baritone Leigh Melrose's sensitive handling of VW's arrangement of the folksong The Captain's Apprentice (also heard in the Hadley) makes a touching postscript.
Don't miss this fascinating release. --Gramophone, October 2011
Performances are authoritative, atmospheric and not at all self-conscious. --BBC Music Magazine, September 2011
Fen and Flood is a little gem… lovely performances under Paul Daniel. --The Times, May 2011
The Garden of Proserpine is considered to be the composer's first attempt at a large-scale work. The distinctive tone that we are used to hearing in Vaughan Williams' later works is present even here. In the Fen Country is given a sensitive performance by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. Vaughan Williams persuaded Hadley to let him arrange Fen and Flood for SATB and orchestra. The effect is devastating; feelings of despair and panic come across with great clarity. --Ruth Squire, McAlister Matheson Music
Tracklisting
Tredegar Town Band, Ross Knight, Ian Porthouse, Martyn Brabbins
Alessandro Fisher, William Vann, The Navarra Quartet
Adrian Sims & Alan Rowlands
David Briggs
Chapel Choir Of The Royal Hospital, Joshua Ryan & William Vann
Timothy West, Samuel West, Mary Bevan, Sophie Bevan, Choir Of Clare College, Cambridge, Britten Sinfonia, William Vann
Various
John Gielgud, Adrian Boult
Oslo Kammerkor, Hakon Daniel Nystedt
Hans-Christoph Rademann, NDR Chor Hamburg
Chorwerk Ruhr, Florian Helgath
BachWerkVokal, Gordon Safari
Dionysos Now!
Soloists; Les Traversees Baroques; Meyer
The Gesualdo Six / Owain Park
La Compagnia del Madrigale
