Ralph Vaughan Williams Hugh the Drover: A Celebration of the 1924 Recording Malcolm Sargent (conductor), Mary Lewis (soprano), Tudor Davies (tenor) ALBCD060
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Following the first private and public performances of Vaughan Williams’s ballad-opera Hugh the Drover and the subsequent countrywide tour, the Gramophone Company recorded an abridged version under its HMV label with the same orchestra and choir (the British National Opera Company), conductor (Malcolm Sargent), and main soloists, with some additional singers from the first private performance at the Royal College of Music. The excellent and informative booklet notes accompanying this disc explain how “Sargent was required to conduct from a shelf above the orchestra, safely harnessed to a wall, pushing the singer’s head into the recording horn with his left hand while conducting with his right.” It sounds remarkably awkward to us today, but it clearly led to a good result. This disc contains that recording, newly remastered and with amazing sound considering that it was made a whole century ago. The performances are excellent – the opera had clearly bedded down well with the singers, choir, and orchestra during those previous performances, and Hugh in particular (Tudor Davies) is sung with great passion and radiance. The abridged recording comes in at forty-three minutes, so some songs and folksongs arranged by Vaughan Williams and Cecil Sharp are – suitably, given the folk-oriented nature of Hugh the Drover — also included. We therefore have Linden Lea from a 1925 recording with John Coates (whom Vaughan Williams originally wanted to sing the title role in Hugh the Drover) and Comin’ through’ the Rye with Maggie Teyte (his first choice for Mary) from 1941. There are also versions of I Will Give My Love an Apple and O Sally My Dear with Vaughan Williams’s friend Clive Carey, recorded in 1930; The Nightingale performed by siblings Mary and Frank Howes, released in 1940; Poor Old Horse, sung by celebrated singer Harry Plunket Greene in 1933; and James Johnston’s 1950 recording of Hugh’s Song of the Road. For me, the highlight of this disc is the recording of Hugh the Drover, a real gem – fascinating to listen to, and an important historical document in its own right. Hats off to Albion for making this available.
Ralph Vaughan Williams Royal Throne of Kings: Ralph Vaughan Williams and Shakespeare Kent Sinfonia; James Riss; Eloise Irving; Malcolm Riley ALBCD062
A disc drawing together Vaughan Williams’s Shakespeare settings is a lovely idea, and works well. Royal Throne of Kings opens with the brief (under a minute) Richard III, which sets the scene nicely, before moving on to the Richard II Concert Fantasy arranged by Nathaniel Lew, assembling cues and incidental music for a (sadly abandoned) BBC Drama Department production of Richard II. The performances from the Kent Sinfonia are slightly lacking in conviction, passion, and spirit, but nonetheless convey the impression of beautifully-written and effective music. The Henry IV Part II suite is edited by Malcolm Riley and comprises seven evocative movements of incidental music written for Stratford-upon-Avon productions. We also have a reconstruction of the Henry VOverture, an impressive and striking work, let down a bit here by a lukewarm performance which lacks the necessary incisiveness and precision. The Stratford Suite contains much fine music, drawn together by Nathaniel Lew from scores for five different Shakespeare plays – an enjoyable work, and certainly worth hearing. The songs, however, are more problematic, since soprano Eloise Irving’s performances do not do the gorgeous music justice: her scooping up to notes, intonation problems, swallowing the ends of lines and musical-theatre tone seem inappropriate for Vaughan Williams.
A Malcolm Riley arrangement for strings and harp of the two-mezzo-sopranos-and-piano song Dirge for Fidele precedes the final Two Shakespeare Sketches from the film The England of Elizabeth. These were arranged by Muir Mathieson who, as Director of Music for London Films, commissioned Vaughan Williams to write the soundtrack. Although Mathieson created the Three Portraits from the England of Elizabeth Suite, this is the premiere recording of the two sketches —from two sections based on sixteenth-century songs— and they make for a most enjoyable end to the disc. While the vocal performances in the songs are rather off-putting, there is otherwise much evocative music here, and the disc cover and booklet have been very well, appropriately, and attractively designed.
Carols from Herefordshire William Vann (director), Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, David Welton (bass-baritone) and Iain Burnside (piano) ALBCD064
From the lovely, clear opening solo soprano line in the initial The Holy Well to the final notes of the touching The Seven Virgins, this release is a delight. The disc collects twelve traditional carols gathered by Vaughan Williams on folk-song collecting trips to Herefordshire. Its first half contains a new SATB recording of each from the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, with the same carols from an earlier 2011 Albion recording in versions for voice and piano (David Welton and Iain Burnside) forming the second half. There is a nice mix of the well-known (such as The Angel Gabriel), less familiar, and famous carols set to less-common tunes (such as God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen and Dives and Lazarus). In the second half Welton sings with character and sensitivity, although personally I prefer the SATB version. The carols are so gorgeous that one doesn’t mind hearing the same material sung twice over. There is also an extremely beautiful cover image, with good documentation as we have come to expect from Albion.
A Christmas Fantasia William Vann (director), Ashley Riches (baritone), Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea ALBCD063
Another disc of Christmas music from Albion presents mainly choral Christmas carols and fantasias by Vaughan Williams and his friends or students, with the sole exception of one carol by director William Vann. It is opened by a series of serene and beautiful works from Vaughan Williams, Howells, Ireland, and Rebecca Clarke (who has two carols in succession, the first —to my ear overly dense— There is No Rose and then the other-worldly Ave Maria). William Vann’s carol, entitled just Carol, is an atmospheric setting of a beautiful poem by Ivor Gurney. It fits in very well with the rest of the programme, employing standard devices throughout and ending in a Tierce de Picardie. In the middle of the disc we come to a jollier section, with Armstrong Gibbs’s delightful and original While the Shepherds Were Watching, Vaughan Williams’s rendition of the glorious Wassail Song, and Holst’s Christmas Day, described by the composer as a “Fantasy on Old Carols,” with its typically Holstian gambit of skilfully combining two different tunes simultaneously. Finzi’s radiant The Brightness of This Day is included, too —for which lovely motet he obtained permission from Vaughan Williams and his fellow collector to feature the folksong The Truth Sent from Above. Maconchy’s brief but attractive Nowell, Nowell, Nowell precedes Vaughan Williams’s On Christmas Day and, finally, the wonderful Fantasia on Christmas Carols, which makes a fitting end to the collection. The choir’s singing is occasionally a bit lumpy, but otherwise this is a lovely, festive disc.
Romance and Reverie: Holst and His Contemporaries Hannah Roper (violin), Martin Jacoby (piano), Emma Tring (soprano) ALBCD065
This disc is opened by Holst’s Invocation —however, not as you know it, but in an arrangement by Hannah Roper for violin and piano. I have to confess myself rather disappointed by both recording and arrangement. The violin is too closely miked, the piano sounds curiously compressed, and there is no bloom to the sound, which needs more space, glow, and resonance. There are also intonation issues in the violin part, most glaringly on the final top A. In the arrangement itself there are moments when the inversions seem to have been altered as a result of the registral changes to the violin part, which causes some of the harmonic progressions to sit somewhat oddly. I must admit that I dislike arrangements anyway, but especially in the case of such a beautiful and perfect original work —it is hard to understand why anyone would want to change it. I had more positive reactions to William Hurlstone’s Four English Sketches, gorgeous little pieces full of charm, poise, and lilting grace, although there are some technical issues in the violin part including occasional untidy co-ordination between right and left hands, made more noticeable by the close miking. More Hurlstone is included later on: the two short but charming works Revelry and Romance.
The disc also contains several works by Rebecca Clarke, the atmospheric Midsummer Moon and Three Irish Country Songs. Of the latter, I Know My Love is quite delicious, but I Know Where I’m Going is delivered by soprano Emma Tring more in the style of a musical than an art-song, which rather spoils it – however, we are thankfully back to a convincing Irish accent for the sprightly As I Was Goin’ to Ballymore, which is much better. There are also two works by Ethel Barns: Valse Caprice and Lament. Holst’s A Song of the Night precedes an arrangement of Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending for violin and harp, and the disc concludes with another Roper arrangement, this time of the Lyric Movement, again for violin and piano. Holst had a particular tone colour in mind when writing his works, which is of necessity completely changed by arranging them for violin and piano —it is simply not possible to do justice to Holst’s orchestra with just a piano. The playing here is quite aggressive and dissonant, and the intonation on the double-stops is poor, which makes for quite uncomfortable listening. A mixed bag of recordings, then, although the Hurlstone works at least are definitely worth hearing.
BIS
Arnold – Horovitz – Stanford – Finzi Michael Collins (clarinet), Michael McHale (piano) BIS-2097
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Sir Malcolm Arnold’s virtuosic 1951 Sonatina for clarinet and piano opens this disc, featuring celebrated clarinettist Michael Collins with Michael McHale on the piano. It is followed by Joseph Horovitz’s Sonatina, written thirty years later, with its romantic and sedate slow movement and slightly jazzy Con brio – great fun, and played with verve and spirit. Next are Sir Charles Villiers Stanford’s lyrical and attractive Three Intermezzi from over a century earlier, and then the best-known pieces on the disc, Gerald Finzi’s much-loved Five Bagatelles, here given excellent performances. Stanford’s Clarinet Sonata is the penultimate work, while Horovitz’s charming Two Majorcan Pieces from 1958 close the disc. These are works of great beauty and character, superlatively played by Collins and McHale. A hugely enjoyable recording.
Sorabji Vocal and Chamber Works Wild Beautiful Orchestra, Sharon Bezaly (flute) BIS-2683 SACD
This disc of music by Essex-born composer Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji opens with the short work Desir eperdu, which, along with Frammenti aforistici, is one of two works on the disc for solo piano, played with understanding and conviction by Chappell Kingsland. The longest work on the disc, the second track (coming in at sixteen minutes), is Il tessuto d’arabeschi for flute (Sharon Bezaly) and string quartet (with members of the Wild Beautiful Orchestra). Sharon Harms is the sympathetic soprano vocalist in Le mauvais jardinier, (3) Poèmes, Arabesque and Movement, while Andrew Garland is the baritone singer in Frammento cantato for baritone and piano, the Benedizione di San Francesco d’Assisi, and Frammento cantato – both for baritone and organ (with Chappell Kingsland accompanying Garland on piano and organ). The more substantial Cinque sonetti di Michelangelo Buonarroti for baritone and chamber orchestra again features the Wild Beautiful Orchestra, while Christopher Gundry sings baritone with pianist Bryan Chuan in the Trois Poèmes de Gulistān de Sa‘dī. More chamber music is represented by the Fantasiettina atematica for oboe, flute, and clarinet, with Sarah Bierhaus, Julie Thornton, and Jeremy Reynolds respectively. This music is dense, complex, often otherworldly and abstruse, and alternately lyrical and astringent. Too little of Sorabji’s prolific output is ever heard or recorded, so this release is welcome, especially given the excellent performances from all involved.
CHANDOS
Go, Lovely Rose – Songs of Roger Quilter James Gilchrist (tenor), Anna Tilbrook (piano) CHAN 20322
DISC OF THE YEAR (2024)
A new recording of songs by Roger Quilter – in my view one of the finest song composers to have ever lived – is to be warmly welcomed, especially from someone of the experience and calibre of James Gilchrist. The twenty-seven songs on the disc are sensibly broken down into sections by theme; we thus have Shakespeare Songs, A Floral Tribute, Folksongs, At the Graveside, German Songs, and Songs of Love. Gilchrist’s vibrato may be a little excessive for some, but he has the depth, understanding, integrity, and ability to communicate the words that many modern-day singers (with the honourable exception of Roderick Williams) seem to struggle to find. While other tenors may be more technically secure, none that I have heard in recent decades would be able to give performances of such egoless commitment and clarity. Add to this the superb, highly sensitive and sympathetic piano playing by Anna Tilbrook and the excellent production standards and booklet, and we have one of the best song releases of recent years. These are superlative performances of exquisite songs – my choice for the disc of the year 2024.
Eric Coates Orchestral Works, Volume 4 BBC Philharmonic, John Wilson (conductor) CHAN 20292
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
This is a release full of joy, guaranteed to bring a smile to the face: Volume 4 of the Chandos Eric Coates’ Orchestral Works series, with the effervescent John Wilson conducting the BBC Philharmonic. It is given a strong opening by the 1948 march Music Everywhere, written as the signature tune for Britain’s first independent television and radio station, Rediffusion. This is followed by Footlights, in which Coates reminisces of the days when he used to meet his wife, Phyllis, at the stage door of shows and plays in which she had appeared as an actress (once opposite Noël Coward) —a touching and delightful piece. I Sing to You was written in early 1940 in response to the demand for morale-boosting music during the war. The following The Three Bears was a commission from Coates’s three-year-old son Austin, who demanded that his father set his favourite bedtime story to music. The excellent programme notes by Richard Bratby tell us how, at a performance in November 1926, Elgar sat amidst the percussion section nodding and tapping his feet to the music, to the amusement (or possibly bewilderment) of the audience. The suite From Meadow to Mayfair charts Coates’s journey from his rural childhood home in Nottinghamshire in the first movement – with its reference to a favourite composer from his early days, Edward German— via the romance A Song by the Way to London, where he settled down with Phyllis. The third movement describes An Evening in Town, evoking the couple’s favoured pastime of a dinner and dance. The short Under the Stars from 1928 precedes the final, and longest, work on the disc: the Four Centuries suite, depicting in four movements the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries. This is another joyful and charming work, with its dancing solo flute interludes and its jazzy final movement providing a suitably exuberant and uplifting end to another superb disc.
cop
Cipriani Potter Complete Symphonies, Vol. 2 BBC National Orchestra of Wales; Howard Griffiths cpo 555 500-2
Philip Cipriani Potter was born in London in 1792, the Cipriani in his name chosen to honour his godmother, whose Italian family name it was. Potter came from a musical and reasonably wealthy family and studied with Thomas Attwood (a pupil of Mozart’s), William Crotch (the first Principal of the Royal Academy of Music), and Joseph Woelfl, a pupil of Leopold Mozart’s. He was an admirer of Beethoven and visited the composer, who subsequently wrote of him and his music in very favourable terms. Soon Potter achieved recognition and success as a pianist, teacher, and composer, eventually replacing Crotch as Principal of the RAM. Here we have two of his nine known symphonies (in C minor and B-flat major), the Concertante for Piano, Violin, Violoncello, Double Bass and Orchestra, and the Overture to “The Tempest.” The BBC National Orchestra of Wales under conductor Howard Griffiths gives assured and confident performances of these works, extremely pleasant on the ear.--Em Marshall-Luck
