Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer: Roderick Williams, William Vann, Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Helen Ashby, Kate Ashby, Nicholas Ashby, Cara Curran, Benedict Hymas, James Arthur
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Albion
Catalogue: ALBCD044
Release: 2021
Size: 998 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Folk Songs from the Eastern Counties
01. No. 1, Bushes and Briars
02. No. 2, Tarry Trowsers
03. No. 3, A Bold Young Farmer
04. No. 4, The Lost Lady Found
05. No. 5, As I Walked Out
06. No. 6, The Lark in the Morning
07. No. 7, On Board a Ninety-Eight
08. No. 8, The Captain’s Apprentice
09. No. 9, Ward, the Pirate
10. No. 10, The Saucy Bold Robber
11. No. 11, The Bold Princess Royal
12. No. 12, The Lincolnshire Farmer
13. No. 13, The Sheffield Apprentice
14. No. 14, Geordie
15. No. 15, Harry, the Tailor
16. Traditional Country Dances
Penguin Book of English Folk Songs
17. No. 95, Salisbury Plain
18.No. 15, Banks of Green Willow
19. No. 18, The Basket of Eggs
The Motherland Song Book, Vol. 3
20. No. 8, We Be Three Poor Mariners
21. No. 1, The Arethusa
This is the third in a series of four albums recording all 81 of the folk songs in English that Ralph Vaughan Williams arranged for voice and piano or violin. 57 of the 81 songs have not previously been recorded in these arrangements.
This third album has 21 tracks including 14 world premières. The principal collection (15 tracks) comprises folk songs collected by Vaughan Williams himself from “The Eastern Counties” – primarily Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire – and published by him in these arrangements in 1908. These are thus the earliest works in the series. Additionally, there are Twelve Traditional Country Dances arranged for Maud Karpeles in 1931 and Songs from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs and other Songs from The Motherland Song Book.
Praised by Opera for her “dramatic wit and vocal control”, British soprano Mary Bevan is internationally renowned in baroque, classical and contemporary repertoire, and appears regularly with leading conductors, orchestras and ensembles around the world. Opera singer Nicky Spence is one of Scotland’s proudest sons and his unique skills as a singing actor and the rare honesty of his musicianship are steadfastly earning him a place at the top of the classical music profession.
Roderick Williams is one of this country’s most sought after baritones and is constantly in demand, encompassing a repertoire from the baroque to world premières. In 2016 he won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the Year award.
A multiple-prize winning and critically acclaimed conductor and accompanist, William Vann is equally at home on the podium or at the piano and is the founder and Artistic Director of the London English Song Festival.
Other recordings in the series: Volume 1 Folk Songs from Sussex (ALBCD042); Volume 2 – Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachian Mountains (ALBCD043)