Or perhaps, they actually were tasty...?
There is a lot of good Vaughan Williams music here!
If you are familiar with The Pilgrim's Progress, an opera by Vaughan Williams, the Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains is a precursor, in the form of a dramatic scene.
I feel for this work hook, line, and sinker, if nothing else than for the fine singing from Bryn Terfel in a rare appearance on Hyperion. As a matter of fact, this recording has a whole line-up of British vocal soloists.
If you know the composer's Dona Nobis Pacem (BLOG) as a choral symphony wartime reaction, his Song of Thanksgiving is a celebration of the war's conclusion, one I didn't know before this recording. It is a fun 15-minute cantata, even if it isn't the masterpiece Dona is, complete with Sir John Gielgud filling in a narration.
Plus there is more choral music to be had here. This really is a solid program, and features a goodly variety of choral literature from Vaughan Williams. Terrific!
A review from 2022
What a gem this off-the-beaten-path Vaughan Williams recording is! None of the music could be considered important or essential, I don’t think, but each are a rousing delight and receive splendid performances from all involved. The 90’s Hyperion recording still sounds great, particularly for its balances of voice to orchestra, which all of these works feature heavily. This can also be found as part of a 4CD set, also on Hyperion .
If RVW’s Dona Nobis Pacem cantata was a dread-filled warning for a coming war, A Song of Thanksgiving could be considered a sister composition celebrating the end of conflict. A nonagenarian at this recording, Sir John Gielgud is a welcome, steady voice of wisdom, in a spoken role that doesn’t take over the music. I was really take with this work in particular, it is grandly majestic and quite a thrill, but it is sadly relegated to dusty corners in performance.
The Three Choral Hymns are well written works, each celebrating a different Christian observation, and each are quite diverse from one another. I am not enraptured with the Magnificat, which is far from a service work aside an unusually sensual flute spotlight. Psalm 100, though, is a glorious coronation piece, which ratchets up for its celebratory occasion.
The real occasion here, though, is The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains, a precursor work to RVW’s later opera Pilgrim’s Progress . We get a young Bryn Terfel in a rare appearance on Hyperion taking the lead Pilgrim, and the music and tale is most interesting, if not a bit unusual. It is full of drama and bucolic atmosphere, plus wonderful singing from the sextet of British soloists and instrumentalists.
The pick-up orchestra City of London Sinfonia sounds great here, and the Corydon Singers, despite being a smooth, slightly distant chorus, sells all of this music beautifully. Matthew Best obvious has a love of these rare works, and it is nice to have it all together, even if this is more for the dedicated RVW fan than the casual listener.
Works
Song of Thanksgiving (15.57)
Three Choral Hymns (12.31)
Magnificat (14.11)
The Hundredth Psalm (7.46)
Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains (21.37)
Soloists
Lynne Dawson, soprano
Linda Kitchen, soprano
Catherine Wyn-Johnson, contralto
John Mark Ainsley, tenor
John Bowen, tenor
Adrian Thompson, tenor
Alan Opie, baritone
Bryn Terfel, baritone
Jonathan Best, bass
Ensembles
John Scott, organ
Roger Judd, organ
London Oratory Junior Choir
Corydon Singers
City of London Sinfonia
Matthew Best
Label: Hyperion
Year: 1992
Timing: 72.57
I was really taken with this recording, and Matthew Best followed up his interest in Pilgrim's Progress progressions as a work elsewhere on Hyperion (BLOG).
But that is not all, as the rest of these choral works are meaty and exciting too.
Of course, the Corydon Singers do a wonderful job, supported here by the City of London Sinfonia to make this a grand occasion.
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