Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer: Hugh Rowlands, Thomas Stoddart, Edward Hughes, Angus McPhee, Katy Hill, Adrian Horsewood, Timothy Murphy, Eloise Irving, Chapel Choir Of The Royal Hospital Chelsea
Conductor: William Vann
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Albion
Release: 2018
Size: 1.18 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Vaughan Williams: Traditional English Carols
01. No. 1, And All in the Morning
02. No. 2, On Christmas Night
03. No. 3, The Twelve Apostles
04. No. 4, Down in Yon Forest
05. No. 5, May Day Carol
06. No. 6, The Truth Sent from Above
07. No. 7, The Birth of the Saviour
08. No. 8, Wassail Song
Vaughan Williams: 2 Carols
09. No. 1, Come Love We God
10. No. 2, There Is a Flower
11. trad.: O Little Town of Bethlehem (arr. R. Vaughan Williams, descant by Thomas Armstrong)
12. Vaughan Williams: The Golden Carol
13. Vaughan Williams: Wither’s rocking hymn
14. Vaughan Williams: Snow In The Street, “From Far Away we Come to You”
15. Vaughan Williams: Blake’s Cradle Song, “Sweet Dreams form a Shade”
Vaughan Williams: 9 Carols
16. No. 1, God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
17. No. 2, As Joseph was a-Walking
18. No. 3, Mummer’s Carol (Cherry Tree Carol)
19. No. 4, The First Nowell
20. No. 5, The Lord at First
21. No. 6, Coventry Carol
22. No. 7, I Saw Three Ships
23. No. 8, A Virgin Most Pure
24. No. 9, Dives and Lazarus
Vaughan Williams was (with Cecil Sharp) one of the foremost collectors of folk songs from 1903, and collected many traditional carols as well. This collection is of carols as he arranged them, thus presenting his view of Christmas in the first half of the 20th century. He also wrote four completely new carols for the Oxford Book of Carols (tracks 12 to 15). The recording concludes with the first complete recording of Nine Carols for Male Voices, commissioned by the British Council in 1941 for performance by and for British troops serving in Iceland. Nearly half of the recording is accounted for by world première recordings. The recording was made in February 2018 in St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead. William Vann directs the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea. Hugh Rowlands accompanies 13 of the 24 tracks on the church’s Willis organ. An earlier release with William Vann as Director of Music, SOMMCD0161 Carols from Chelsea, earned critical press acclaim, Gramophone commenting on the ‘first-class personne’l an ‘tension and subtlety in the performances’.