Isobel Baillie (soprano)
Elsie Suddaby (soprano)
Eva Turner (soprano)
Lilian Stiles-Allen (soprano)
Muriel Brunskill (contralto)
Astra Desmond (contralto)
Margaret Balfour (contralto)
Mary Jarred (contralto)
Walter Widdop (tenor)
Parry Jones (tenor)
Frank Titterton (tenor)
Heddle Nash (tenor)
Roy Henderson (baritone)
Robert Easton (bass)
Harold Williams (baritone)
Norman Allin (bass)
Keith Falkner (bass-baritone)
William Thomas Best (piano)
Percy Kahn (piano)
Gerald Moore (piano)
BBC Choir
Royal Choral Society
BBC Symphony Orchestra
Orchestra of British National Opera Company
Royal Albert Hall Orchestra

Conductors

Hugh Allen
John Barbirolli
Thomas Beecham
Edward Elgar
Eugene Goossens Sr
Henry Wood

Works

Bantock, Granville

Jester Songs

» Serenade

Butterworth, George

A Shropshire Lad: Six Songs

» I Loveliest of trees

» VI Is my team ploughing?

Elgar, Edward

The Dream of Gerontius, op.38

» The Angel's Farewell

Gounod, Charles

Ave Maria (after JS Bach)
Faust

» O merveille!

Leoncavallo, Ruggiero

Pagliacci

» Prologue

Mascagni, Pietro

Cavalleria rusticana

» Voi lo sapete, o mamma

Parry, Charles Hubert Hastings

England

Puccini, Giacomo

La Boheme

» O Mimi tu piu non torni

Tosca

» Vissi d'arte (Act 2)

Somervell, Arthur

Shepherd's Cradle Song

Traditional

Mull Fisher's Love Song

Vaughan Williams, Ralph

Linden Lea
Serenade to Music
Silent Noon

Warlock, Peter

There is a lady sweet and kind

Woodforde-Finden, Amy

A Request

Artists

Conductors

Hugh Allen
John Barbirolli
Thomas Beecham
Edward Elgar
Eugene Goossens Sr
Henry Wood

About

Exploring the sixteen singers chosen for the first performance. Vaughan Williams composed Serenade to Music in honour of Dr Henry Wood's 50th anniversary as a conductor in 1938.

It was written for sixteen named soloists, and recorded by them on 15 October 1938 - ten days after the first performance. This album - uniquely - comprises 18 newly-remastered tracks from 78 rpm records, including the Serenade to Music itself, and one track featuring each of the sixteen named singers, as well as one singer (Keith Falkner) who would have been among their number had he not been abroad at the time. There is considerable variety among the eighteen tracks, with songs and operas represented. The album notes include biographies of the singers and full texts.