Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Patrick Hadley
Performer: Jane Irwin, Mary Bevan, Leigh Melrose, The Joyful Company of Singers
Orchestra: Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Paul Daniel
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Albion
Catalogue: ALBCD012
Release: 2011
Size: 245 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. Vaughan Williams: The Garden of Prosperine
02. Vaughan Williams: In the Fen Country
Hadley: Fen & Flood(Arr. R. Vaughan Williams)
03. Part I: The Fens
04. Part I: The Monks of Ely
05. Part I: Gothic
06. Part I: The Dissolution
07. Part I: Walsingham
08. Part I: The Dutch
09. Part I: The Powte’s Complaint
10. Part I: The Glory of the Commonwealth
11. Part I: The Puritans
12. Part II: The Painful Plough
13. Part II: Shipping
14. Part II: The Lynn Apprentice
15. Part II: The Floods
16. Part II: Calm
17. Part II: St. Nicholas
Folksongs from the Eastern Counties
18. The Captain’s Apprentice
Vaughan Williams completed The Garden of Proserpine in 1899 and the work was begun in 1897 or 1898. For the twenty-something composer, it was a first attempt at a large-scale work, 489 bars long (at 24 minutes) for soprano soloist, chorus and full orchestra. Given that Vaughan Williams had only produced a handful of songs and some chamber pieces by this date, it is an impressive achievement that, in the closing pages, achieves that combination of radiance and nobility that is so characteristic of this composer in his later works. This is a premier recording.
In the Fen Country was completed in 1904 and first performed in 1909 by Thomas Beecham, the melodic outlines and the spirit of folk music is prevalent in this work.
Hadley’s Fen and Flood was inspired by the devastating events of the night of January 31 1953 when a deadly hurricane force wind created a storm tide up to 18 feet above mean sea level. Overall 2,400 people both here and in The Netherlands lost their lives. Vaughan Williams persuaded his friend Hadley to allow him to arrange the work for SATB. The new arrangement was first performed in 1956 and was dedicated to Vaughan Williams. This is a world premier recording.
The recording was recorded at The Lighthouse Poole with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Paul Daniel with soloists Jane Irwin, Mary Bevan, Leigh Melrose and the Joyful Company of Singers under Peter Broadbent.