ALBION RECORDS RELEASES ROYAL THRONE OF KINGS:
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS AND SHAKESPEARE ON 1 NOVEMBER 2024
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Albion Records ALBCD062 Royal Throne of Kings
060158190621 Release Date: 1 November 2024 (CD, downloads, streaming)
Kent Sinfonia - James Ross, conductor – Eloise Irving, soprano – Malcolm Riley, piano
060158190621 Release Date: 1 November 2024 (CD, downloads, streaming)
Kent Sinfonia - James Ross, conductor – Eloise Irving, soprano – Malcolm Riley, piano
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Ralph Vaughan Williams loved Shakespeare: the Bard inspired him throughout his long composing career. Royal Throne of Kings brings this music back to life, much of it heard here for the first time.
In 1912 and 1913 Vaughan Williams composed and conducted music for Shakespeare plays in the Memorial Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon, where Sir Frank Benson presented plays for many years. He composed some new music, but preferred to use music of Shakespeare's own time whenever possible. The album includes a Henry IV Suite assembled from the surviving cues by Malcolm Riley, and a Stratford Suite, put together from several plays by Nathaniel Lew. Vaughan Williams wrote his Henry V Overture in 1913, but the full score has long since been lost. Twenty years later, he wrote an overture for brass with the same title, based on his earlier overture, but it was developed in a completely different way. Some orchestral parts survived at Stratford, enabling David Owen Norris to reconstruct the original version for this recording. Comparison between the two versions is interesting - the later version is on Albion's ALBCD052 Vaughan Williams on Brass album.
Nathaniel Lew has arranged a Richard II Concert Fantasy, using incidental music commissioned from Vaughan Williams by BBC Radio in 1944 but not used at the time.
The orchestral music is played by Kent Sinfonia, conducted by James Ross. Five songs by Vaughan Williams from Shakespeare's plays are interspersed, with soprano Eloise Irving and Malcolm Riley, piano.
Conductor James Ross comments: 'Vaughan Williams’s music has a special warmth and depth of humanity. This album captures the composer's instinctive sympathy with the characters of Shakespeare's plays. Vaughan Williams pays tribute to the music of Shakespeare's time but goes far beyond pastiche. His music for Richard II transcends 'incidental music', bringing us a musical portrait of the complex and often dark world that Shakespeare evokes.'
The producer for the orchestral music was Andrew Walton and engineer was Deborah Spanton. Malcolm Riley engineered the vocal settings, and Melanie Riley was the producer for these tracks. The orchestral recordings were made at St. Gregory and St. Martin’s Church, Wye, Kent, on 16-17 February 2024. The songs were recorded at St. Leonard’s Church, Hythe, Kent, on 29 April 2024.
'Conducted by Vaughan Williams expert, Dr. James Ross, the listener will recognise folk-tunes which appear in other guises, such as Henry lV’s ‘Princess Royal’ — also heard in the quick-march opening to the composer’s jaunty ‘Sea Songs,’ ‘Halfe Hannikin’ (Sir John in Love and Fat Knight), Dowland’s ‘Pavane Lachrymae’ ...
What makes this recording such an exciting find, the production such a success — so atmospheric and authentic, throughout — is the use of a smaller orchestra, in this instance the poised, elegant, silvery strings (listen out for the latter quality in Track 18) of the often-overlooked Kent Sinfonia. Recorded in Kent churches (Wye and Hythe), James Ross’s players bring an atmosphere of the theatre to the proceedings, but sacrifice nothing in the expansive and spine-tingling moments in Richard ll, or in Henry V’s appointment with destiny in the “vasty fields of France” (the seven-minute long ‘Henry V Overture’).
The recording has plenty of ‘air’ around it, so the dry acoustic of studios and modern concert-halls is, mercifully, avoided. A Tudorish brass sound, spot-on woodwind and martial side-drums ring out from the spaces of the mediaeval churches ... With informative programme notes, excellent photography and artwork from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society’s John Francis, the CD is complete joy from start to finish: my ‘album of the year.’
Stuart Millson, The Brazen Head, 12 September 2024
What makes this recording such an exciting find, the production such a success — so atmospheric and authentic, throughout — is the use of a smaller orchestra, in this instance the poised, elegant, silvery strings (listen out for the latter quality in Track 18) of the often-overlooked Kent Sinfonia. Recorded in Kent churches (Wye and Hythe), James Ross’s players bring an atmosphere of the theatre to the proceedings, but sacrifice nothing in the expansive and spine-tingling moments in Richard ll, or in Henry V’s appointment with destiny in the “vasty fields of France” (the seven-minute long ‘Henry V Overture’).
The recording has plenty of ‘air’ around it, so the dry acoustic of studios and modern concert-halls is, mercifully, avoided. A Tudorish brass sound, spot-on woodwind and martial side-drums ring out from the spaces of the mediaeval churches ... With informative programme notes, excellent photography and artwork from the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society’s John Francis, the CD is complete joy from start to finish: my ‘album of the year.’
Stuart Millson, The Brazen Head, 12 September 2024
'Conductor James Ross, here and through the programme, has a good sense of flow and expressive range of the music...
Another excellent survey from Albion, sensitively performed and beautifully presented.'
Nick Barnard, MusicWeb International, 23 October 2024
'A delightful assembly of works Vaughan Williams wrote for productions of Shakespeare plays.'
Ronald Corp, British Music Society, 27 October 2024
'The mine of unrecorded, unplayed Vaughan Williams is running out and this may well be one of the last major discs of his undiscovered orchestral music.'
Planet Hugill, 28 October 2024
'This is the most intriguing disc I have reviewed so far this year. Virtually all the works are heard here for the first time...
The Kent Sinfonia and the Albion Chorus directed by James Ross give outstanding performances.'
John France, MusicWeb International, 30 October 2024 and The Land of Lost Content, 6 November 2024
'Dirigent James Ross hat das Werk mit dem Orchester Kent Sinfonia ... lässt Shakespeares Zeit farbig auferstehen.'
Dr Renate Wagner, Online Merker, 31 October 2024
'Unfailingly sympathetic performances, one and all, with top-notch production values and exemplary presentation to match.'
The Gramophone, November 2024
'This immensely rewarding collection is distinguished on many counts, beginning with sterling performances by the James Ross-conducted Kent Sinfonia, soprano Eloise Irving, and pianist Malcolm Riley. ... Enhancing the project's value, much of the music presented on Royal Throne of Kings hasn't appeared in a recorded form until now. Beyond the performances themselves, the seventy-two-minute release is notable for the variety of its contents, encompassing as it does overtures, suites, songs, and a cinematic, long-form fantasy. ... Helming things expertly is Ross, who's conducted in twenty countries across the globe and conducted more than 1,500 works.
The minute-long “My Kingdom For a Horse” (Richard III, 1913) offers an exciting lead-in to the towering Richard II Concert Fantasy (1944), arranged by Nathaniel Lew and originating out of a commission from the BBC Drama Department ... Lew has done a remarkable job of re-presenting the music in a bold new form. Structured as a series of scenes, the piece advances through contrasting episodes, from the brooding of its opening seconds to the abrupt radiance that sets in quickly thereafter. Ominous passages, foreboding declamations, and rousing affirmations are woven skilfully together in a travelogue that has all the action and drama of a film score. During the darker passages, timpanis rumble, muted brass intone portentously, and strings shudder; in lighter moments, tenderness, yearning, and hope emerge. Those familiar with Richard II will no doubt draw equivalences between the music and particular scenes in the play, but the instrumental piece holds up splendidly as a standalone expression.
Under Ross's assured guiding hand, Kent Sinfonia and the recitalists deliver unerring performances of the composer's material. Royal Throne of Kings is, needless to say, an abundantly rich gathering of musical treasures that for Vaughan Williams devotees and scholars will be regarded as indispensable and for others offers a deeply rewarding listen.'
Ron Schepper, Textura, 4 November 2024
'This very welcome CD continues Albion's aim of bringing to contemporary ears music by a great composer that has gone unheard for over a century. ... The performances throughout are consistently very good indeed and it is good to hear the first-class Kent Sinfonia in disc in this repertoire.'
Robert Matthew-Walker, Musical Opinion, Winter 2024
'Royal Throne of Kings: Vaughan Williams [ve Shakespeare]' adlı albümde Stratford Memorial Theatre ve BBC arşivlerinden daha önce kayda alınmamış eserler müzikseverlerin beğenisine sunuyor.
Andante, 8 November 2024
Kent Sinfonia
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James Ross
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Eloise Irving
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Malcolm Riley
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Royal Thone of Kings: Ralph Vaughan Williams and Shakespeare - Track List
Richard III (1913)
1. My Kingdom For a Horse: 0’47
Richard II (1944)
2. Richard II Concert Fantasy: 17’12
Arranged by Nathaniel Lew
3. The Willow Song (1897): 3’06
Henry IV (1913)
Henry IV Suite arranged by Malcolm Riley
4. I Induction: 2’00
5. II Falstaff and Prince Hal: 1’00
6. III Interlude - Princess Royal: 0’41
7. IV Music to My Weary Spirit: 4’14
8. V Arrest: 1’17
9. VI Gloria Tibi: 1’22
10. VII Happy Life: 1’36
11. Orpheus with His Lute (1903)
Henry V (1913)
12. Henry V Overture (original version): 7’00
Reconstructed from orchestral parts by David Owen Norris, edited by Malcolm Riley
Three Songs From Shakespeare (1925)
13. Take O Take Those Lips Away: 0’59
14. When Icicles Hang From the Wall: 1’09
15. Orpheus With His Lute: 1’42
Stratford Suite (1913)
Arranged by Nathaniel Lew
16. I. Royal March: 4’24
17. II. Greensleeves: 3’00
18. III. Dances: 4’09
19. IV. Intermezzo: 2’18
20. V. Solemn March: 1’20
21. VI. Finale: 3’24
22. Dirge for Fidele (1922): 3’44
Arranged for Strings and Harp by Malcolm Riley
The England of Elizabeth (1955)
Two Shakespeare Sketches from ‘The England of Elizabeth’
Arranged by Muir Mathieson
23. I. The Wind and the Rain: 1’24
24. II. It was a Lover and His Lass: 1’40
Total running time: 72’13
Kent Sinfonia, conducted by James Ross (tracks 1-2, 4-10, 12, 16-24)
Albion Singers, conducted by James Ross (track 9)
Eloise Irving, soprano, with Malcolm Riley, piano (tracks 3, 11, 13-15)
Richard III (1913)
1. My Kingdom For a Horse: 0’47
Richard II (1944)
2. Richard II Concert Fantasy: 17’12
Arranged by Nathaniel Lew
3. The Willow Song (1897): 3’06
Henry IV (1913)
Henry IV Suite arranged by Malcolm Riley
4. I Induction: 2’00
5. II Falstaff and Prince Hal: 1’00
6. III Interlude - Princess Royal: 0’41
7. IV Music to My Weary Spirit: 4’14
8. V Arrest: 1’17
9. VI Gloria Tibi: 1’22
10. VII Happy Life: 1’36
11. Orpheus with His Lute (1903)
Henry V (1913)
12. Henry V Overture (original version): 7’00
Reconstructed from orchestral parts by David Owen Norris, edited by Malcolm Riley
Three Songs From Shakespeare (1925)
13. Take O Take Those Lips Away: 0’59
14. When Icicles Hang From the Wall: 1’09
15. Orpheus With His Lute: 1’42
Stratford Suite (1913)
Arranged by Nathaniel Lew
16. I. Royal March: 4’24
17. II. Greensleeves: 3’00
18. III. Dances: 4’09
19. IV. Intermezzo: 2’18
20. V. Solemn March: 1’20
21. VI. Finale: 3’24
22. Dirge for Fidele (1922): 3’44
Arranged for Strings and Harp by Malcolm Riley
The England of Elizabeth (1955)
Two Shakespeare Sketches from ‘The England of Elizabeth’
Arranged by Muir Mathieson
23. I. The Wind and the Rain: 1’24
24. II. It was a Lover and His Lass: 1’40
Total running time: 72’13
Kent Sinfonia, conducted by James Ross (tracks 1-2, 4-10, 12, 16-24)
Albion Singers, conducted by James Ross (track 9)
Eloise Irving, soprano, with Malcolm Riley, piano (tracks 3, 11, 13-15)
'This royal throne of kings, this scepter’d isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war, This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England….'
William Shakespeare, Richard II
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Dirge for Fidele
Dirge for Fidele on Apple Music's Classical AM playlist
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Electronic press kit and pre-release listening link available for reviewers from Albion Records.
