This release is the companion volume to Albion’s 2016 “Vaughan Williams Christmas” album. This time, the selections come primarily from the Oxford Book of Carols. This 1928 publication was extremely influential. Vaughan Williams’ carol arrangements for this book turn up in many protestant hymnals. Some that is, but not all. And that’s what makes this […]
Albion Records
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A Vaughan Williams Christmas – A Refreshing Return to Basics
I tire easily of Christmas music — especially the traditional carols. Part of the reason is that I’ve heard the same overblown arrangements (and variations thereof) over and over. That’s what made this new Albion release so refreshing. It gets back to basics, and let me hear these pieces as Ralph Vaughan Williams intended when […]
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Ralph Vaughan Williams: Beyond My Dream — Music for Greek Plays
“Beyond My Dream” brings some early music of Ralph Vaughan Williams to light — and gives us a hint of what might have been. George Gilbert Murray published what were considered to be the definitive English translations of ancient Greek plays. And he had very definite ideas of how they should be staged — including […]
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Ralph Vaughan Williams: Discoveries
Ralph Vaughan Williams is one of my favorite composers. For me, then, Discoveries is a delight — and an aptly named one. The works on this album all emerge from the obscure corners of Vaughan Williams’ catalog. Though there’s very little “pure” RVW here (almost every work is either an arrangement or orchestration), it all […]