Release Date: 30 March 2009
Label: Albion Records
Packaging Type: Brilliant Case (Jewel Case size, Holds 2 CDs)
No of Units: 2
Barcode: 5061058190032
Description
This Albion compendium of vocal works by Vaughan Williams represents the first appearance on CD of these recordings – and the only CD recording of Serenade to Music conducted by the composer with many of the original named soloists.
Vaughan Williams may not have had a conventional conducting technique, but he achieved remarkable results. Over the years, just a few broadcast recordings conducted by Vaughan Williams have come to light. Now for the first time we can hear the gorgeous Serenade to Music conducted by the composer from a performance in 1951. It is a deeply expressive and romantic interpretation, using eleven of the sixteen singers involved in the original 1938 performance.
The Pilgrim's Journey is a cantata for soprano, tenor and baritone soloists, choir and orchestra (or organ as in this recording), derived by Christopher Morris and Roy Douglas from Vaughan Williams' opera The Pilgrim's Progress.
Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music
Sopranos: Stiles Allen*, Isobel Baillie*, Ena Mitchell, Elsie Suddaby*
Contraltos: Muriel Brunskill*, Astra Desmond*, Mary Jarred*, Gladys Ripley
Tenors: William Herbert, Richard Lewis, Stephen Manton, Heddle Nash*
Baritone/Bass: Norman Allin*, Robert Easton*, Roy Henderson*, Harold Williams*
* indicates the soloists in the first performance under Sir Henry Wood in 1938
Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Ralph Vaughan Williams
(Recorded live at the Royal Concert on 22 November 1951 in the Royal Festival Hall, London)
Vaughan Williams: The Pilgrim's Journey (arranged by Roy Douglas)
Louis Bové (soprano), Clifford Scott (tenor), John Peck (baritone), Arnold Ostlund Jr. (organ), Plymouth Choir, Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn, New York City, Henry Pfohl
(Recorded live in the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims on Sunday April 4th, 1965)
Bonus disc:
The teachings of Parry and Stanford - a talk by RVW (Edited from a broadcast on 17 November 1955)
Excerpt from the Funeral Service of Ralph Vaughan Williams (Westminster Abbey, Friday September 19th, 1958 at 11.30am)
Reviews
An immensely spirited live recording of the cantata 'The Pilgrim's Journey'… eloquently given here in its alternative guise with organ accompaniment. --Gramophone, November 2008
The exquisite centrepiece here is Vaughan Williams' own performance of the 'Serenade to Music' from 1951… the sense of freedom – as though the singers and players were floating around the beat rather than following it rigidly – is spellbinding. --BBC Music Magazine, September 2008
The sound is sometimes a little congested but it is very listenable if you have any extensive experience of archive recordings … an invigorating performance. This music and performance are truly reflective of the authentic RVW spirit – that intensity of delight once described as 'notable ecstasy'. --Rob Barnett, Musicweb International
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
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
Cappella Pratensis, Stratton Bull, Sollazzo Ensemble
