Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge; Gurney: The Western Playland; Ludlow and Teme (1990)

Ardent collectors of British art songs will quickly snap up this disc, but others may find an album of song cycles based on A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad somewhat quaint and a bit of a specialty item. The three cycles -- On Wenlock Edge by Ralph Vaughan Williams as well as The Western Playland and Ludlow and Teme by Ivor Gurney -- date from 1907-1909 and reflect the sentimental, sweet emotionalism of the Edwardian era. The settings for male voices, string quartet, and piano are quite precious and lush, as might be ... Read More

Ardent collectors of British art songs will quickly snap up this disc, but others may find an album of song cycles based on A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad somewhat quaint and a bit of a specialty item. The three cycles -- On Wenlock Edge by Ralph Vaughan Williams as well as The Western Playland and Ludlow and Teme by Ivor Gurney -- date from 1907-1909 and reflect the sentimental, sweet emotionalism of the Edwardian era. The settings for male voices, string quartet, and piano are quite precious and lush, as might be expected in works of this period. Vaughan Williams lavishes six of Housman's poems with a moody, impressionistic atmosphere, and his conception is quite expansive and nearly symphonic in scope. In contrast, Gurney takes a more straightforward folk-song approach, and his lyrical settings move rather briskly, even when slower, more pensive music might have suited the texts better. Tenor Adrian Thompson and baritone Stephen Varcoe perform these songs with dignity and gentleness and the Delmé... Read Less

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1996, Hyperion UPC: 034571163857 CD See All