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Ralph Vaughan Williams - Christmas Music | Chandos CHAN10385

Ralph Vaughan Williams - Christmas Music

£13.88

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Label: Chandos

Cat No: CHAN10385

Barcode: 0095115138526

Format: CD

Number of Discs: 1

Genre: Christmas

Release Date: 2nd October 2006

Gramophone Editor's Choice

Contents

Artists

Sarah Fox
Roderick Williams (baritone)
Joyful Company of Singers
City Of London Sinfonia

Conductor

Richard Hickox

Works

Vaughan Williams, Ralph

Fantasia on Christmas Carols
On Christmas Night
The First Nowell

Artists

Sarah Fox
Roderick Williams (baritone)
Joyful Company of Singers
City Of London Sinfonia

Conductor

Richard Hickox

About

Ths unique disc conducted by Richard Hickox (famous for his interpretations of Vaughan Williams), with the City of London Sinfonia presents the premiere recordings of two works by Vaughan Williams, On Christmas Night and Fantasia on Christmas Carols, and the only available recording of The First Nowell.
 
Vaughan Williams loved Christmas and had a lifelong passion for carols, admiring their freshness, beauty and nobility. Vaughan Williams’ seasonal compositions reflect his love of Christmas in general and of carols in particular.

The Fantasia on Christmas Carols was dedicated to Cecil Sharp and is based on four traditional English carols: The Truth sent from above, Come all you worthy gentlemen, On Christmas Night (The Sussex Carol) and There is a fountain filled with blood, plus hints of other carols. This is the first recording of the alternative scoring using an organ and strings accompaniment rather than orchestral.
 
On Christmas Night was originally called A Christmas Carol as it was a free adaptation of Dicken’s story of the same name. This ballet score commissioned by Adolf Bolm, a principal dancer with Diaghilev’s company and first performed in 1926. The work receives its premiere recording on this release. The score is very atmospheric and juxtaposes complex melodies with simple folk tunes, and interspersed with carols.
 
The First Nowell, a nativity play for soloists, chorus and small orchestra, was arranged and adapted from medieval pageants by Simona Pakenham. A number of traditional tunes are included in Vaughan Williams’s arrangement such as On Christmas Night, The Cherry Tree Carol and God rest you merry. Vaughan Williams said to Pakenham, ‘I think that every Christmas play ought to begin with God rest you Merry and end with The First Nowell.’

This truly is music to be played and cherished during the Christmas period.

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