Composer: Sir Granville Bantock, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer: John Gielgud, Margaret Godley, Margaret Rolfe
Orchestra: BBC Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Sir Adrian Boult
Number of Discs: 2
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Albion
Catalogue: ALBCD023-024
Release: 2015
Size: 267 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
CD 01
Bantock: 2 Choruses from the Pilgrim’s Progress
01. No. 1, In Praise of Famous Men
02. No. 2, The Pilgrim Now Hath Found His Lord
Vaughan Williams: The Pilgrim’s Progress
03. Introduction
04. Dream
05. Christian Meets the Neighbours
06. The Slough of Despond
07. Mr. Worldly-Wiseman
08. Return of Evangelist
09. Christian at the Wicket-Gate
10. Christian Loses His Burden
11. Shepherd-Boy’s Song
12. Christian Meets Mistrust and Timorous
13. Christian Meets Watchful, the Porter
14. Christian in the Armoury
CD 02
Vaughan Williams: The Pilgrim’s Progress
01. Christian Meets Apollyon
02. The Valley of the Shadow of Death
03. Faithful
04. Vanity Fair and the Death of Faithful
05. Christian Meets Hopeful
06. Giant Despair and Doubting Castle
07. The Delectable Mountains
08. Christian and Hopeful Meet the Heavenly Hosts
09. Conclusion
This is the first commercial release of the BBC’s radio broadcast of a play based on The Pilgrim’s Progress in September 1943, with incidental music by Vaughan Williams. This was eight years before Vaughan Williams completed his opera of the same name, so there are dramatic and musical differences. Sir Adrian Boult conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and the cast of actors is led by John Gielgud as Christian.
Additionally, there are recordings from 1929 of two choruses by Sir Granville Bantock written for a production celebrating the tercentenary of John Bunyan.