Ralph Vaughan Williams: Let All The World In Every Corner Sing: Unison Voices:

Even for Ralph Vaughan Williams the prospect of two world premieres within 24 hours must have been something of a rarity. Such was the case however on the first two days of June 1953, when his now classic arrangement of The Old Hundredth Psalm was sung at the Coronation of Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey, being preceded the evening before by the premiere of 'Silence and Music', fourth of ten partsongs of A Garland for the Queen, commissioned from leading British composers by the Arts Council of Great Britain to honour the new monarch. Long unavailable except as separate items from individual publishers, this historic collectionis now reissued complete by Stainer & Bell in its original single-volume format, allowing conductors and singers to choose from a rich collection of choral music with which to mark the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and, in 2013, the 60th anniversary of the Coronation itself. In addition to VW's contribution, A Garland for the Queen includes important settings by Bax, Berkeley, Bliss, Finzi, Howells, Ireland, Rawsthorne, Rubbra and Tippett. The collection moreover draws on the work of poets whose names likewise feature prominently in the annals of mid-century British literary talent: Clifford Bax, Edmund Blunden, Paul Dehn, Christopher Fry, Christopher Hassall, James Kirkup, Louis MacNeice, Walter de la Mare, Henry Reed and Ursula Wood. Intended as a counterpart to The Triumphs of Oriana of 1601, the celebrated madrigal volume published in praise of Elizabeth I by Thomas Morley, A Garland for the Queen emulates its distinguished predecessor in its variety of moods and vocal combinations. There is material here to fit every aspect of celebration, from the airy five-part ensemble of Bax's 'What is it like to be young and fair?', and the soprano solo with SATB of Rawsthorne's Canzonet, to the lustrous contrasting of male and female timbres in Bliss's Aubade, and the rapturous eight-part setting of/ Recueil / Voix Mixtes

'From the Beginning of the World was commissioned by the Cardinall’s Musick and premiered at Cadogan Hall on the 20th July 2015 in the first of the 2015 BBC Proms Chamber Music Concerts. The concert launched The Tallis Edition a new project by the ensemble with an aim to throw new light on Tallis’s work and part of the commission brief was that my new piece should be a homage to this great English polyphonist. I spent several weeks in libraries attempting to find a suitable text eventually settling on excerpts from Tycho Brahe’s German Treatise on the Great Comet of 1577. Whether Tallis knew about the comet is unknown of course but this seismic event to me seemed emblematic of all the great changes that occurred during his lifetime in areas such as religion the calendar and time-keeping (finding out that Tallis lived out his last days in Greenwich was an extra bonus). The text also seems to speak to contemporary times: whilst Brahe may have thought the comet’s birth would cause the sun to ‘bring unnatural heat’ nowadays we know that its ‘venom [will be] spewed over the lands’ due to mankind’s continued pillaging of the earth’s natural resources. Yet our political ‘pseudo prophets’ prefer to distract us with an austerity delusion rather than confront a reality perpetuated by certain corporations for whom ‘seek[ing] their own honour’ is of primary value. The music itself is very influenced by Tallis and canons and imitation abound. During my time as a ‘cellist at the Yehudi Menuhin School I performed Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis many times and so From the Beginning of the World which also uses Tallis’s Third Mode Melody from the English Hymnal is really a homage to both composers.' - Cheryl Frances-Hoad.

Vaughan Williams's 6th Symphony was composed immediately after the Second World War and its dramatic and at times violent musical language was long felt to be a comment on that conflict (though the composer denied it had any programmatic intent). Its power and invention were immediately recognized and it has remained part of the concert repertoire ever since. For this newly engraved edition editor David Lloyd-Jones has consulted all extant sources and materials to create a score matching the composer's intentions.

Paperback-Vaughan Williams fist encountered the old English folk song Dives and Lazarus when he was 21 and here presents five variants that are in his own words 'not exact replicas of traditional tunes but rather reminiscences of various versions in my own collection and those of others'.The work was premiered in Carnegie Hall as part of the 1939 New York World's Fair and is a wonderful example of the sumptuous string textures and modal tonalities that have become the composer's trademarks.

Paperback-Vaughan Williams fist encountered the old English folk song Dives and Lazarus when he was 21 and here presents five variants that are in his own words 'not exact replicas of traditional tunes but rather reminiscences of various versions in my own collection and those of others'.The work was premiered in Carnegie Hall as part of the 1939 New York World's Fair and is a wonderful example of the sumptuous string textures and modal tonalities that have become the composer's trademarks.

Paperback-Vaughan Williams fist encountered the old English folk song Dives and Lazarus when he was 21 and here presents five variants that are in his own words 'not exact replicas of traditional tunes but rather reminiscences of various versions in my own collection and those of others'.The work was premiered in Carnegie Hall as part of the 1939 New York World's Fair and is a wonderful example of the sumptuous string textures and modal tonalities that have become the composer's trademarks.

Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. A heartfelt and subtly beautiful tribute to the dead of the First World War, Vaughan Williams' Third Symphony is amongst his most powerful works. Misunderstood at its premiere in 1922, the haunting 35-minute elegy is almost entirely quiet and contemplative, though beneath its tranquillity lies a deep sadness. In the second movement a lone trumpet calls over a bleak and desolate landscape whilst the fourth and final movement is framed by a wordless lament for solo soprano. Faber Music publishes this long-awaited hardback critical edition. 'His greatest and most original symphony'. Michael Kennedy/ Répertoire / Orchestre

Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. Unison, piano or organ From Five Mystical Songs./ Feuillet / Unisson et Piano ou Orgue