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4.0 out of 5 stars
There'll always be an England!, Feb 19 2001
The best thing about this recording is the composite selection of this music on a single disc. The Corydon Singers, and particularly Thomas Allen (he of legendary career!) are quite fine, though quirkily I prefer John Shirley-Quirk's version of 'Five Mystical Songs' with Kings College Choir, especially his 'Love Bade Me Welcome' with his magnificent rendering of the last four words "and I did eat", which once heard will never forsake your memory. The spare, and thus intensely textured, sound of the Corydon Singers is best suited to the diaphanous 'Serenade to Music'. Absolutely beautiful stuff. Vaughan Williams' ability to set a text like no one else is clearly equal to his affinity for Shakespeare's arching mastery of the English language! It's a superb piece of writing, one that is basically ignored in this country, as are Vaughan Williams' symphonies, with the exception of the ubiquitous No. 2. When have you ever heard an American orchestra perform the inventive Eighth, for example, not to mention the redemptive Fifth? I agree with another reviewer that Adrian Boult's recordings of Vaughan Williams' music are generally the standard, his 'Serenade' is certainly praiseworthy. I think perhaps, however, I prefer this recording of the 'Serenade;' Matthew Best gives space and reason to all the beautiful ambience of the score. Flos Campi is well done here, Nobuko Imai's viola playing is utterly free of any affectation, displaying an unpretentious mastery of the score. The 'Fantasia' (one of Vaughan Williams' favorite musical motives, even when not properly so called!) demonstrates Vaughan Williams' ineffable veneration of the English hymn tune, a particularly fetching gift that annointed him (and us!) with justified righteousness again and again throughout his composing career, and, oddly enough, perhaps more than anything else secured for him a place in the pantheon of great composers. This is a very successful disc of the accomplished masterworks of an often misunderstood, and certainly under-represented composer. The English Chamber Orchestra moves from one subtle triumph to another in this recording. What if it had been designed as a 2-disc effort, and included Vaughan Williams' 'Benedictus', the 'Mass in G', 'Sancta Civitas', and 'The Lark Ascending'? Then one truly might have had ALL the essential choral and smaller orchestral works in one package!
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Some of the finest of English vocal music, Jan 9 2001
Of this collection, only the "Five Mystical Songs" will be familiar to most listeners. It is a treat to discover the remaining works all available in one package, and especially good to hear them."Serenade to Music" (with words by Shakespeare) is quintessential Vaughan Williams: a beautifully crafted piece echoing the height of Romanticism, with a unique and fascinating story behind it. The work was written for a Promenade Concert - more specifically, it was written for sixteen solo singers, who are identified by name in the published score and were amongst the best of their time. Not only was the piece a triumph for them at the concert, it also caught the attention of the composer Rachmaninov, who was moved to tears by the music. The piece is rarely performed because of the fact that it was specially composed for the first performers; as stated in the notes for this recording, it only works if the performers are of as high a standard as the originals. Hence, the "cast" of this CD includes some celebrated names from the world of vocal music: John Mark Ainsley, Thomas Allen, Maldwyn Davies, Anne Dawson, Martyn Hill, Diana Montague, Alan Opie and Jean Rigby are particular standouts. Their rendition is spell-binding and rivetting, although I find that there are moments when their more operatic traits get the better of them and ruin the tuning and clarity of melodic and harmonic details. I don't mean to say that it is a bad recording, but I have heard better ones (Sir Adrian Boult's will probably remain untouchable for a long time to come). Still, a pleasure to hear, and extremely moving - it's not hard to see why Rachmaninov was so deeply affected by the piece. Thomas Allen also serves as baritone soloist for the "Five Mystical Songs" and the rarer "Fantasia on Christmas Carols." As a choral singer, I have had the pleasure of performing these works myself, and this recording conveys them as stirringly as I remember them. In the former work, the bulk of the music is carried by the baritone; the chorus comes into its own for the final movement, "Let all the world in every corner sing" but is otherwise a background force. In the latter work, based on carol tunes collected and arranged by Vaughan Williams as part of his work as editor of the English Hymnal and Oxford Book of Carols, the music is shared more substantially by soloist and chorus. These performances give the music a wonderful 'glow,' just as they ought to have. In the case of the "Fantasia," it's well worth saving that track until Christmas... The last work on the disc is "Flos Campi," in which Vaughan Williams breaks with many tonal conventions in a stunning display of orchestration, filled with achingly beautiful melodic twists and lucious harmonies, hinting very strongly at the erotic. Nobuko Imai provides a characteristic viola solo, whilst the chorus is confined to textless vocalisation. The effect is pondered in much detail in the programme notes; suffice it to say, it is a work that will leave itself etched on the mind as one of the most haunting and mysterious ever written. Throughout this recording, the English Chamber Orchestra plays to perfection with Matthew Best at the helm. His Corydon Singers prove their considerable strength as a choral group with effortless control. This is a wonderful document - whatever the season.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent recordings, and an outstanding "Serenade", Dec 19 2000
In the liner notes, Christopher Palmer notes that Rachmaninoff himself wept at the beauty of "Serenade to Music" at its 1938 première; this may rank as the finest setting of Shakespeare ever created [it sets parts of Jessica's and Lorenzo's speeches in Act V of "Merchant of Venice"].I, too, have wept at the beauty of this recording. The sixteen soloists are all outstanding, by themselves and in the 'tutti' passages. As wonderful as other recordings have been (notably Bernstein and Boult), the singing in this one blows them all away. [It is worth noting that this may be the largest number of solos in any major work; even Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" calls for but eight.] The remaining works are no less wonderful: just as the "Serenade" fades away, Thomas Allen and the Corydon Singers begin a magnificent recording of the "Five Mystical Songs" with an impassioned "Rise Heart", and the work only gets better from there. "Fantasia on Christmas Carols" is another of Vaughan Williams's masterpieces, both for its showmanship and restraint; Best's forces deliver both admirably. And finally, the "Flos Campi," with Nobuko Imai on viola, is simply ravishing. This is one of my favorite disks, and one I would recommend highly to anyone.
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