Much to Love

 

That how it is with the music of Vaughan Williams.

And yet, not everything is a winner with this listener.

These three sets of incidental music scores, ones to be played during Greek tragedies, don't capture my imagination.

This can often be the case with incidental music, where the stage drama takes the driver's seat. When the music is taken on its own, it can sound threadbare and scattered. Plus, these are such dreary stories, despite their classic heritage.

That is where I sit with this recording. I have no problem with the performances, even if the music isn't particularly captivating. On the other hand, I love how Albion digs up so much rare music by Ralph Vaughan Williams.

A review from 2023

Ralph Vaughan Williams’ most famous musical setting of Greek literature must be Aristophanes’ The Wasps, found complete on Hallé. While that one was a broad comedy, full of full orchestral and choral effects, here we have three tragedies from Euripides – The Bacchae, Electra, and Iphigenia in Taurus.

I was not particularly entranced by this music. Vaughan Williams seems to be stepping out of the way of the words and theatre, providing endless recitatives and lyrical interludes with often beautiful commentary from the chorus. It just didn’t hold my attention and sounded very un-Vaughan Williams.

Iphigenia was probably my favorite. It has a fair bit more to do, both from the chorus and orchestra, equaling the contributions from the solo singer. The variety is also provided by more ‘movements’, although there is still quite a lot of chanting.

Nothing bad could be said about these performances, though. The Britten Sinfonia under leader Alan Tongue sounds lovely, aided by fine Albion sonics, and the contributions from the Joyful Company of Singers is solid. Heather Lowe’s mezzo soprano is effective enough as speaker and singer.

But this is the only place to find this rare music from Vaughan Williams.

Works
The Bacchae (11.47)
Electra (20.44)
Iphigenia in Tauris (29.51)

Soloists
Heather Lowe, mezzo-soprano

Performers
Joyful Company of Singers
Britten Sinfonia
Alan Tongue, conductor

Label: Albion
Year: 2017
Timing: 62.44

Three Greek tragedies receive incidental music from Vaughan Williams, complete with orchestra, chorus, vocalists, and narration.

Yet, the music seems to take a back seat to everything else. What we do get is rather scattered and purposeful rather than something to grab the listener.