From darkness to illumination
jean couture | Quebec city - Canada | 12/06/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"THIS CD made by the Naxos label is a major release shedding new light on the most distinguished British composer. The material spans roughly the entire career of Ralph Vaughan Williams. From `Willow-Wood' (1903) to `The Sons of Light' (1951) we embark on a journey of wondrous, fascinating music. As a result this disc further upholds the record company's enthusiastic commitment to modern music. The CD is part of Gramophone's Editor Choice (December 2005).
I'll begin first with the cantata `The Sons of Light', one of the highlights on the disc. The fact is that the entire album is uniformly excellent. For years i've been eagerly hoping for the release of that work on CD. The premiere recording of `The Sons of Light' was inscribed in 1980 by Sir David Willcocks on the Lyrita label (SRCS 125, for those who wish to try their luck at finding a sound copy of the original Long Play). Thankfully, Lyrita have reissued a superb CD package of it (which also includes the rarely performed `Ode on the Nativity' from Parry and a very fine version of Holst's `Mystic Trumpeter'). It is Naxos, thanks to the present recording, who made it available on CD in the first place. Interestingly, the texts were written by Ursula Vaughan Williams ; these poems talk about "celestial imagery (sun, moon, and the signs of the Zodiac)" and, more specifically, "the creation story which starts with the passage of the sun as expressed in Greek mythology." Needless to say, the score accommodates the texts ideally. Personally, i should concur with many other reviewers that i still marginally prefer the Lyrita but can attest as to the Naxos's wonderful merits.
As i listened, i began to write down my impressions. `The Sons of Light' has something special ; this is "typical" VW of the 1950's and, if anything, it bears some of the features of his film music composed during the previous decade. The work is vigorous ; there's a Holstian, mystic quality to it that i find compelling and intriguing. What a nice coupling this work could make, in concert or on disc, with Holst's `Planets'! In those musical territories we aren't that far from Walt Whitman's borders. This program contains great performances, it is not just "the usual good CD" one should expect to be released once in a while. In my opinion, it is one of the most significant discs of the last twenty years. The very opening of the work, starting with `Darkness and Light', soon hurries with in-your-face impacts of sound---its opening is as vast as the universe Whitman contemplates in `On The Beach At Night, Alone' from `A Sea Symphony'. I fully agree with Lewis Foreman (who wrote the notes to this CD) that VW's `Sons of Light' is "the least heard of his major works." And, yet, what a gorgeous achievement it is! Overall, a great performance by the Royal Liverpool chorus makes for wondrous, aptly done fluctuations of pace and intonation---revealing that what we have before us is another work of genius. There's a strange (though conclusively appropriate) "remoteness" to the work, a feeling of "coldness" sometimes close to the Sinfonia Antartica in its mood ; on that point reviewer Mike Wheeler (classicalsource.com) remarks pertinently that "the film-score `Scott of the Antarctic' leaves its mark on the orchestral writing", both works belonging to the same creative phase. Instrumentation is rather odd in the second part, `Song of the Zodiac', though truly effective and captivating it seems---with perhaps bits and pieces of echoes from `Job', `Sancta Civitas' and `A Song of Thanksgiving' as far as music is concerned. As a matter of fact, this is quite unlike anything else i've heard from Vaughan Williams. The percussion department is especially persuasive. The third part, `Messengers of Speech', is sensational and, to quote Foreman once more, comes back "to the creation story as told in the heavens, now celebrating the letters of the alphabet---because, as the poet puts it, `nothing can exist until it is named'." The grandiose-sounding, triumphant conclusion brings a great, triumphant album to an end. And if `The Sons of Light' seems to originate from a sort of void, from those "unknown regions" depicted by VW in his renowned earlier work, then its mighty music emanates through darkness out of which ultimately springs the light.
There are different qualities to the Lyrita and the Naxos CDs. The strings of the Lyrita (a nice example at about 5-6 minutes in the first movement) are unusually sweet and almost limpid, more so than on the otherwise fine Naxos. The brass section of the Naxos is plentiful in terms of energy and motion, and so this is the case with the Lyrita although conveyed in a different way. On either disc one can feel the power emerging from the depths of this thrilling score. David Lloyd-Jones and his musicians seem well prepared, the course of events proceeding along with no hint of a hitch. As such, the Naxos is a wonderful recording---so much so, i think, as to be competitive with the great Lyrita in most departments. However, in respect to supreme sound quality and stellar dynamics the Lyrita is decidedly unparalleled. As to which recording has ultimately the finest chorus, i'd favor the Willcocks by a small margin for iron-fisted authority and control. Nonetheless, this Naxos disc is a real gem---with some of the works especially sounding to their best advantage. Note that by contrast the rest of the program on the Naxos is all Vaughan Williams whereas the Lyrita CD (as i've already mentioned) completes the set with Parry and Holst.
`Willow-Wood' is a cantata for baritone, women's chorus and orchestra (it was designed for baritone and piano early in 1903). The words are by Dante Gabriel Rossetti's `The House of Life' from which the composer made a well-known song cycle. The orchestrated version has been first performed in September 1909 but soon was forgotten and never heard again---until now. Actually, Naxos remind me of BIS with their Sibelius rarities and, in the recent years, Hyperion, in their enterprising revival of unissued material pertaining to Vaughan Williams and other lesser known British composers. This new Naxos offering sprang to life as the outcome of an audacious project. As a result, `Willow-Wood' feels like---and is, indeed---a pioneering interpretation : To quote Mike Wheeler, it reveals "a fascinating glimpse of Vaughan Williams in his pre-Raphaelite phase, recognizably by the composer of Songs of Travel, and with moments of whole-tone harmony linking it to his 1903 orchestral piece In the Fen Country." Right from the start, i sensed a melodic "attitude" in typical VW's fashion. All the same, the song cycle `The House of Life' is stamped by folk music and sounds familiar, whereas `Willow-Wood' has a sort of Ravelian or Debussian poetic quality, a sort of impressionistic view rather unusual chez VW (the English composer studied with Ravel around 1908). Indeed, it tends to remind me quite a bit some passages of Ravel's `Daphnis et Chloe'. The work sounds different from everything else i have heard by the composer. His orchestration is absolutely stunning, notably in its imaginative poise. And, surprise! ...There's a wordless chorus, as in the Antartica and `Flos Campi' (or, delightfully, much like Ravel in his acclaimed `Daphnis et Chloe'). Roderick Williams, the baritone, is simply exquisite ; his voice is at once vibrant and mellow, and melts quite well with the rest of the ensemble. In all, recorded sound is superb and clear with good dynamic flexibility.
This recording of `The Voice out of the Whirlwind' is a rarity. The motet was composed in the 1940's and is based on words from the book of Job. Superficially it seems more energized or brisk than `Willow-Wood' and sounds perhaps more in the vein of `A Sea Symphony'---or `Job', from which it derives. For its sheer intensity, it'll stand comparison to the cantata `The Sons of Light'. The work is excellent although admittedly obscure. The Royal Liverpool singers are first-rate. Likewise, the orchestra plays beautifully, with inspiration and dedication. The more familiar Variants of Dives and Lazarus is yet another stupendous composition : The best perhaps is still Willcocks (conducting the Jacques Orchestra, on EMI), but i'm sure Lloyd-Jones comes pretty close---no question about that, his is one of the finest accounts on disc. Dives makes for some ravishing melodies and this interpretation doesn't fail to catch the mood exceptionally. At about 5 minutes 30 seconds a passage with harp and violin is cheerily beautiful, fluid and poetic. And how not to like the sweetness of those strings! Lloyd-Jones is truly inspired ; not that he isn't elsewhere, but here it sounds very special. Lots of praise goes for the orchestra, of course.
While `Toward the Unknown Region' (with words from Walt Whitman) receives a thoroughly honest---if not excellent---treatment, it falls a little short by the side of Boult (EMI), Sargent (EMI), Del Mar (also EMI) and Best (Hyperion). To be sure, those accounts are so great in their own individuality and class that it just seems darn impossible to top, or let alone equal, any of them. Still, the rendition from Lloyd-Jones has substantial merits, not the least in terms of sound and instrumental/vocal cohesion. The chorus does a very good job, if only lacking the rock-solid stability and 3-D ambience of the finest ensembles. And here, again, the Royal Liverpool singers deserve much praise, because what they are doing they do it right. For example, the ppp intonations at the entry of the first motif are done sublimely. The orchestral parts coalesce well with the voices and it all fits right into the gloriously built framework of this grand song-cum-cantata. I like the way the conductor shapes this music, with seemingly effortless ability. The breadth of the musical component nearly recalls that of a symphony. And there's a Bachian quality to the work which brings it close in kinship to a cantata, in spite of obvious differences in technique and structural outline. This is not a surprise though that the most cited influences are the likes of Wagner, Elgar or Parry (remember his `Blest Pair of Sirens') but the characteristic voice and dark tone of the composer shines through. It really is the piece of a master and, indeed, the Naxos digs deep into the score thanks to a meritorious performance reminiscent to that of Bryden Thomson's on Chandos. Even in light of Chandos' fine, customarily superior sound, engineer Mike Clements got to know how to get the best out of the Philharmonic Hall, and that is a strong point in favor of the Naxos recording. Good sound bolsters great music. And if this version doesn't displace the greatest of the bunch, then the many attributes it possesses make for a notable interpretation. The very structure of the work, and its sense of mystery, its dim atmosphere, its indistinct width and depth, is kept intact : We just get right through to the essence of Whitman's verse. Isn't precisely what Vaughan Williams had in mind when he achieved this, one of his best creations?
On the whole, a very fine offering with a couple of rarely heard jewels of ingenious British music. Outstanding material: Willow-Wood, Sons of Light. A solid five-star disc.*****"
Unmistakeably Vaughan Williams
Samer T Ismail | Danbury, CT | 01/25/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It has been said that everything Vaughan Williams wrote has a characteristic "sound," even if no two of his works sound alike. This disc exemplifies that idea: every piece here resonates with the sonorities that made Vaughan Williams famous, and yet they are very different works.
Even devoted fans of RVW's music may own only two of the works on this disc: "Toward the Unknown Region" and "Five Variants on 'Dives and Lazarus'." Both receive good recordings here, although better versions of both are available (on Hyperion and EMI, respectively).
But, of course, I suspect most RVW fans will be more interested in the rarer works on this disc. The shortest of these, "The Voice Out of the Whirlwind," is set to Biblical texts, and has a bit of a Holstian influence. That influence can also be seen, to an extent, on his cantata "The Sons of Light," to a libretto by his wife Ursula, which here gets its first recording on CD.
The final work--and the namesake of the disc--is "Willow-Wood," to words by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (to whom Vaughan Williams returned for his song cycle "The House of Life"), which, amazingly, receives its first performance in nearly a century (it was last performed in 1909). The resemblance to his early works is fairly obvious, as are comparisons to his "Magnificat" for alto, women's chorus, and orchestra.
While I wouldn't rush to call any of these definitive performances, it is hard to pass up a CD at a bargain price that fills in gaps as this one does."
Vaughan Williams rarities in very good performances
G.D. | Norway | 10/04/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Apart for the Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus the music on this disc comprises lesser-known Vaughan Williams works. Indeed, the fact that more than half of the music, to my knowledge, is new to CD alone makes this disc a must for all Vaughan Williams fans; but I don't think you need to be an ardent fan to enjoy the finely constructed and inventive works here (with one exception). To start with the well-known Dives and Lazarus, it receives a very fine, poignant performance here, although it might seem to drag a little. Benchmark is, I think, Hickox (although I haven't heard too many recordings of it), and although very good Lloyd-Jones isn't quite there.
Willow-Wood is probably the main curiosity, however. This imaginative fourteen-minute work for baritone, female chorus and orchestra has, apparently, not been heard since 1909, yet it is entirely idiomatic for Vaughan Williams at the time of composition. It is full of beautiful touches and realizes the lush, dark, breathing forest evocatively. The female voices are mostly used as part of the accompaniment, blending with the strings to create some effective, mysterious-sounding textures. It isn't a masterpiece, but a very fine work nonetheless, and it is marvelously sung by Roderick Williams, supported by an orchestra and a chorus fully able to make the most of the textural nuances and colors.
The other `new' piece is The Sons of Light, which as far as I know has never made it to cd. Unfortunately it is very much possible to hear why; this almost 20 minute work tells the creation story (in a version by Ursula Vaughan Williams) and was written to be sung by school choirs. It has some nice, atmospheric touches but is short on invention and imagination - worth hearing for the Vaughan Williams fan, but not a work to cherish, to put it mildly. It receives a committed performance here, but that helps only a little.
Towards the Unknown Region is more popular, obviously, and is perhaps the best work on the disc (perhaps apart from Dives and Lazarus), particularly for its glorious finale. A relatively early work, it is apparently often viewed as a companion piece to the Sea Symphony, and it does indeed exhibit many of the same qualities. The Voice of the Whirlwind, written 40 years later, is - perhaps surprisingly - rather similar in feel, although written with somewhat more sophistication (but less direct effectiveness) employing twisting, turbulent figures to evoke the whirlwind. It is obviously a difficult piece to perform, but the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra are definitely up to the task, as they are in all the works here. In sum, then, this disc of (mostly) rarities is a must for fans of the composer, but at the price an issue that also warrants a general recommendation, even if it doesn't quite represent the composer at his best (and in the case of The Sons of Light frankly at his least interesting)."
Track Listings (7) - Disc #1
