RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
ORCHESTRAL FAVORITES (2003)
320 KBPS

Ralph Vaughan Williams, (October 12, 1872 – August 26, 1958) was an influential English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also an important collector of English folk music and song.
Vaughan Williams' music has often been said to be characteristically English, of the same genre as the works of Gustav Holst, Frederick Delius, George Butterworth, William Walton, and others.
If that Englishness in music can be encapsulated in words at all, those words would probably be: ostensibly familiar and commonplace, yet deep and mystical as well as lyrical, melodic, melancholic, and nostalgic yet timeless. Ackroyd quotes Fuller Maitland, who noted that in Vaughan Williams's style "one is never quite sure whether one is listening to something very old or very new."
There is in Vaughan Williams often a tangible flavour of Ravel (Vaughan Williams's mentor over a 3-month period spent in Paris in 1908), though not imitation. Ravel described Vaughan Williams as "the only one of my pupils who does not write my music."
Vaughan Williams's music expresses a deep regard for and fascination with folk tunes, the variations upon which can convey the listener from the down-to-earth (which he always tried to remain in his daily life) to the ethereal. Simultaneously the music shows patriotism for England in the subtlest form, engendered by a feeling for ancient landscapes and a person's small yet not entirely insignificant place within them.
Widely acclaimed in his native Britain and throughout the world, the talents of composer Vaughan Williams stretched to opera, symphony composition, ballet, stage music, and a lot more besides. Here, the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra work their way through a selection of Williams's works, including "Fantasia on Greensleeves;" "Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1;" "Concerto Grosso;" and "Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis." The mercurial James Judd conducts throughout, neatly guiding the Orchestra through these incredible works. This cd is a perfect introduction to a rather obscure yet talented composer.

1. Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, for 2 string orchestras
2. Norfolk Rhapsody for orchestra No. 1 in E minor
3. In the Fen Country, symphonic impression for orchestra
4.Fantasia on Greensleeves, for harp, flute & strings (arranged by R. Greaves; from the opera "Sir John In Love")
Concerto grosso for strings in 3 groups
5. Intrada
6. Burlesca Ostinata
7. Sarabande
8. Scherzo
9. March & Reprise

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