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Naxos

English Song Series 14 - Vaughan Williams: Songs Of Travel

$19.99 Only 3 left

Details

Composer: VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Artist: Roderick Williams/Ian Burnside
Format: CD
Label: Naxos
Released: Oct 18, 2005
Catalog #: 8557643
UPC: 747313264322

About

This disc brings us three of Vaughan Williams?s finest song cycles, and the single song Linden Lea , and the combination is very satisfying. Vaughan Williams wrote some of the 20th century?s most beautiful and evocative songs, songs that sound like no other composer and that stay long in the memory after one gets to know them. Vaughan Williams had a keen ear for text-setting, and is one of the rare 20th-century composers whose music amplifies the poems he set without overwhelming them.

This is a lovely compilation, featuring some of the composer?s most effective works in this form. The performances are very good, without erasing the best competition from one?s mind. Roderick Williams is an intelligent and musical singer, with a pleasant light baritone voice. The tone is a bit throaty, but not offensively so, and he sings with a reasonably strong feel for dramatic inflection. There is no question that those who find this repertoire appealing will enjoy this disc, although Naxos could have helped improve that enjoyment by providing texts.

It is when we start comparing with the best competition that the limitations of these performances become clear. Benjamin Luxon?s richly colored and imaginatively inflected performances of the Songs of Travel and Poems by Fredegond Shove (Chandos CHAN 8475), Anthony Rolfe Johnson?s similarly effective recording of the Songs of Travel and The House of Life (EMI 75785) are both more satisfying recordings, not to mention Bryn Terfel?s remarkable reading of the Songs of Travel (DG 445 946), which is coupled with other English songs.

Still, if you own none of this repertoire and find this particular compilation an effective program, Williams and Burnside give good, solid performances that make clear the composer?s genius in this idiom.

FANFARE: Henry Fogel

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Tracklist 20 tracks

1 No. 1. The Vagabond 03:24

Track
1

Title
No. 1. The Vagabond
Duration
03:24
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
2 No. 2. Let Beauty awake 01:57

Track
2

Title
No. 2. Let Beauty awake
Duration
01:57
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
3 No. 3. The Roadside Fire 02:17

Track
3

Title
No. 3. The Roadside Fire
Duration
02:17
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
4 No. 4. Youth and Love 03:34

Track
4

Title
No. 4. Youth and Love
Duration
03:34
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
5 No. 5. In Dreams 02:18

Track
5

Title
No. 5. In Dreams
Duration
02:18
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
6 No. 6. The Infinite Shining Heavens 02:15

Track
6

Title
No. 6. The Infinite Shining Heavens
Duration
02:15
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
7 No. 7. Whither must I wander? 04:14

Track
7

Title
No. 7. Whither must I wander?
Duration
04:14
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
8 No. 8. Bright is the ring of words 02:10

Track
8

Title
No. 8. Bright is the ring of words
Duration
02:10
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
9 No. 9. I have trod the upward and the downward slope 01:54

Track
9

Title
No. 9. I have trod the upward and the downward slope
Duration
01:54
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
10 No. 1. Love-sight 04:29

Track
10

Title
No. 1. Love-sight
Duration
04:29
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
11 No. 2. Silent Noon 04:09

Track
11

Title
No. 2. Silent Noon
Duration
04:09
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
12 No. 3. Love's Minstrels 05:21

Track
12

Title
No. 3. Love's Minstrels
Duration
05:21
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
13 No. 4. Heart's Haven 03:46

Track
13

Title
No. 4. Heart's Haven
Duration
03:46
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
14 No. 5. Death in Love 04:28

Track
14

Title
No. 5. Death in Love
Duration
04:28
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
15 No. 6. Love's Last Gift 04:15

Track
15

Title
No. 6. Love's Last Gift
Duration
04:15
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
16 Linden Lea 02:44

Track
16

Title
Linden Lea
Duration
02:44
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
17 No. 1. Motion and Stillness 02:01

Track
17

Title
No. 1. Motion and Stillness
Duration
02:01
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
18 No. 2. Four Nights 03:33

Track
18

Title
No. 2. Four Nights
Duration
03:33
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
19 No. 3. The New Ghost 05:15

Track
19

Title
No. 3. The New Ghost
Duration
05:15
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
20 No. 4. The Water Mill 03:04

Track
20

Title
No. 4. The Water Mill
Duration
03:04
Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer
Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside