Vaughan Williams: Five Mystical Songs and other British Choral Anthems

by Roderick Williams, Vasari Singers, Jeremy Backhouse

Overview

It is the Five Mystical Songs of Ralph Vaughan Williams that get the marquee billing here, along with their performer, baritone Roderick Williams, and it was probably these performances that landed this album on classical best-seller lists in the fall of 2022. The golden age of Williams' voice is proving remarkably durable as he approaches his seventh decade, and its layers are beautifully suited to these settings of George Herbert's mystical 17th century poetry. The Five Mystical Songs are heard here in a new arrangement for soloist, choir, and organ, hardly out of line given the multiplicity of versions of this work made by Vaughan Williams himself. The program as a whole is also attractive, however. The Vaughan Williams comes at the end, and preceding it, is a group of British choral works dating back to Samuel Wesley that elegantly shows both the range and the unity of this long tradition. There are some wonderful and rarely heard examples of text-setting; sample Harold Darke's O Gladsome Light, Op. 38, No. 2. The veteran Vasari Singers may have been eclipsed intonationally by younger groups, but their commitment and their ability to put together an intelligent program remain unmatched. A sleeper of a small release that will land on many gift lists in 2022 and beyond. ~ James Manheim

Product Details

Release Date:	10/14/2022
Label:	Naxos
UPC:	0747313441679
Rank:	137392

Tracks

1. O clap your hands (version for choir and organ)
2. Lux ¿¿terna
3. Two Psalms~Psalm 148 'Lord, who hast made us for thine own'
4. O gladsome light, Op. 38, No. 2
5. Four Anthems - No. 3. Like as the hart
6. Give unto the Lord, Op. 74 'Psalm 29' (version for choir and organ)
7. Wash me throughly
8. O taste and see
9. Blessed be the God and Father
10. A Song of Wisdom (Bible Songs, Op. 113/6) (version for sopranos and organ)
11. My beloved spake (version for choir and organ)
12. Five Mystical Songs~No. 1. Easter
13. Five Mystical Songs~No. 2. I got me flowers
14. Five Mystical Songs~No. 3. Love bade me welcome
15. Five Mystical Songs~No. 4. The Call
16. Five Mystical Songs~No. 5. Antiphon

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Roderick Williams   Primary Artist,Baritone (Vocal)
Vasari Singers   Primary Artist,Choir/Chorus
Jeremy Backhouse   Primary Artist,Conductor
Rachel Limb   Soprano (Vocal)
Kate Jurka   Soprano (Vocal)
Elizabeth Limb   Soprano (Vocal)
Martin Ford   Organ
Julia Smith   Soprano (Vocal)

Technical Credits

Robert Seymour Bridges   Text Translation
Rufus Brodersen   Editing
Lisa Moss   Cover Design
Kim Rowley   Cover Photo
Marc Gascoigne   Photography
Ash Mills   Photography
Paul Robertson   Photography
Dave Rowell   Engineer
David Bray   Liner Notes
Francis Ralph Gray   Text Paraphraser
Will Brown   Editing
Patrick Hadley   Composer
Gustav Holst   Composer
Edward Elgar   Composer
John Cameron   Composer
Ralph Vaughan Williams   Composer
Herbert Howells   Composer
Adrian Peacock   Producer
Harold Darke   Composer
George Herbert   Text
Charles Villiers Stanford   Composer
Benjamin Ealovega   Photography
Samuel Sebastian Wesley   Composer