Ralph Vaughan Williams:
01. Toward the Unknown Region. Song for Chorus and Orchestra [11'39]
02. Willow-Wood. Cantata for Baritone and Orchestra* [13'55]
03. The Voice out of the Whirlwind. Motet for Chorus and Orchestra [5'15]
04. 5 Variants of Dives and Lazarus for Strings and Harp [11'38]
05. - 07. The Sons of Light. Cantata for Chorus and Orchestra [19'24]
*Roderick Williams- baritone; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones
Naxos 8.557798 (recorded February and May 2005; this CD issued 2005)
(flac and scans)
Recording venue: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
Recording engineer: Mike "Mr Bear" Clements; Producer: Adrian Hunter
This interesting collection of infrequently recorded vocal works by Vaughan Williams was recorded about the time when the Naxos label changed from being very much a budget label with lower-rung performers and recording teams in familiar classics to what has become one of the world's leading labels of both familiar and discovered repertoire with top performers and recording engineers.
This is a good example, with uniformly fine performances and only the purely orchestral 5 Variants of Dives and Lazarus being at all familiar. In fact, this was the first recording of Willow-Wood, and the unfairly neglected gem receives a magnificent performance from one of the world's finest baritones, Roderick Williams, in one of his earliest recordings. The sound quality is, as expected from Mike Clements, also very fine.
01. Toward the Unknown Region. Song for Chorus and Orchestra [11'39]
02. Willow-Wood. Cantata for Baritone and Orchestra* [13'55]
03. The Voice out of the Whirlwind. Motet for Chorus and Orchestra [5'15]
04. 5 Variants of Dives and Lazarus for Strings and Harp [11'38]
05. - 07. The Sons of Light. Cantata for Chorus and Orchestra [19'24]
*Roderick Williams- baritone; Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra conducted by David Lloyd-Jones
Naxos 8.557798 (recorded February and May 2005; this CD issued 2005)
(flac and scans)
Recording venue: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
Recording engineer: Mike "Mr Bear" Clements; Producer: Adrian Hunter
This interesting collection of infrequently recorded vocal works by Vaughan Williams was recorded about the time when the Naxos label changed from being very much a budget label with lower-rung performers and recording teams in familiar classics to what has become one of the world's leading labels of both familiar and discovered repertoire with top performers and recording engineers.
This is a good example, with uniformly fine performances and only the purely orchestral 5 Variants of Dives and Lazarus being at all familiar. In fact, this was the first recording of Willow-Wood, and the unfairly neglected gem receives a magnificent performance from one of the world's finest baritones, Roderick Williams, in one of his earliest recordings. The sound quality is, as expected from Mike Clements, also very fine.
