Vaughan Williams: A Cotswold Romance, Death Of Tintagiles

$10.99
Label
Chandos
Release Date
July 31, 2012
Format
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    Featuring ⌄
    • COMPOSER
      VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, RALPH
    • ORCHESTRA / ENSEMBLE
      London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Orchestra
    • PERFORMER
      Hickox, Mannion, Randle, Brook
    Product Details ⌄
    • RELEASE DATE
      July 31, 2012
    • UPC
      095115172827
    • CATALOG NUMBER
      CHAN 10728 X
    • LABEL
      Chandos
    • NUMBER OF DISCS
      1
    • GENRE
      Orchestral & Symphonic
    Works ⌄

    1. The Men of Cotsall (Chorus)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    2. Sweet Little Linnet (Hugh)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Thomas Randle

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    3. Hugh's Song of the Road (Chorus, Hugh)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Thomas Randle

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    4. Love at First Sight (Hugh, Mary, Chorus)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Thomas Randle, Rosa Mannion

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    5. The Best Man in England (Baritone solo, Chorus)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Matthew Brook

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    6. Alone and Friendless (Hugh)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Thomas Randle

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    7. The Fight and its Sequel (Baritone solo, Mary, Hugh, Chorus)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Matthew Brook, Rosa Mannion, Thomas Randle

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    8. Hugh in the Stocks (Hugh)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Thomas Randle

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    9. Mary Escapes (Mary, Chorus)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Rosa Mannion

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    10. Freedom at last (Hugh, Mary, Chorus)

      Composer: Maurice Jacobson

      Ensemble: London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Orchestra

      Performer: Thomas Randle, Rosa Mannion

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    11. Prelude: Largo - Andantino - Adagio -

      Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    12. Lento -

      Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    13. Allegro -

      Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    14. Lento - Andante tranquillo - Lento -

      Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    15. Moderato -

      Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    16. Allegro -

      Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Richard Hickox

    17. Lento

      Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

      Ensemble: London Symphony Orchestra

      Conductor: Richard Hickox


This re-release of two rarely heard works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, A Cotswold Romance and Death of Tintagiles, forms part of the new commemorative Hickox Legacy series on Chandos Records, leading up to (and continuing beyond) the fifth anniversary, in Nov 2013, of the conductor’s untimely death. The recording is released on the Classic Chandos label.

Vaughan Williams composed his ‘ballad-opera’ Hugh the Drover, from which A Cotswold Romance is adapted, between 1910 and 1914. In his own words, he had an idea for an opera written ‘to real English words, with a certain amount of real English music’. The finished product, set in the Cotswold Village of Northleach during the Napoleonic wars, certainly does contain a host of identifiable English elements: the bringing-in of May, the bustling fair, and the prize-fight, for instance. Accommodating his publishers’ request for a version of the music which was more appropriate for concert performance, Vaughan Williams came up with the cantata A Cotswold Romance for tenor and soprano soloists with mixed-voice chorus and orchestra. The writing has the open, fresh, and vital quality that coloured many of Vaughan Williams’s works composed before the First World War.

In contrast, Death of Tintagiles, the incidental music for Maurice Maeterlinck’s play of the same name, is powerfully atmospheric and possesses a strong elegiac quality throughout. In five acts, the play concerns the tragic fate of a young child, Tintagiles, at the hands of his suspicious and jealous grandmother. Vaughan Williams perfectly captures the sense of foreboding and gloom in the play. In its simplicity and overall atmosphere the music recalls both Holst and Sibelius, while in the tender moments there are hints of A London Symphony, too.

BBC Music Magazine wrote of this disc: ‘Richard Hickox directs a vivid performance [of A Cotswold Romance] with splendid support from his assembled forces… Although not major works, these are notable additions to the catalogue, and the performances could hardly be better *****’.