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Vaughan Williams - Serenade to Music Five Mystical Songs Fantasia on Christmas Carols Flos Campi / Sixtieen Soloists Thomas Allen Nobuko Imai Corydon Singers ECO Matthew Best | 
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| Artists: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Matthew Best, Thomas Allen, Nobuko Imai, English Chamber Orchestra, Corydon Singers, John Connell, Arthur Davids, Maldwyn Davies, Anne Dawson, Elizabeth Connell, Martin Hill, Gwynne Howell, Maciej Rakowski, Charles Tunnell, John Mark Ainsley
Label: Hyperion UK
Category: Music
List Price: $23.98
Buy New: $14.99
You Save: $8.99 (37%)
New (9) Used (2) from $14.99
Rating:  11 reviews
Sales Rank: 54057
Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
UPC: 034571164205
EAN: 0034571164205
ASIN: B000002ZNQ
Release Date: November 17, 1993
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
| • | Easter | | • | I got me flowers | | • | Love bade me welcome | | • | The Call | | • | Antiphon |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Not only is this album an essential compilation for Vaughan Williams fans, but it's also a treat for anyone who loves beautiful choral music--from the popular and unabashedly romantic Serenade to Music, properly performed here with eight solo singers, to the rarely recorded Fantasia on Christmas Carols. Baritone Thomas Allen, who performs the Five Mystical Songs and solos in the Fantasia, is simply outstanding. --David Vernier
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| Customer Reviews:
 This is one of the finest Vaughan Williams recordings ever. December 31, 2008
Pete (North America)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This CD contains two of my all-time favorite VW pieces - the Serenade To Music and the Fantasia On Christmas Carols. Two very different, but beautiful pieces. Neither are among VW's best known works. But I would still easily place this sublime recording well within the top ten Vaughan Williams recordings of all time.
THE FINEST FANTASIA ON COMPACT DISC! December 16, 2008
J P Falcon (Fords, New Jersey United States)
This is the second time that I am purchasing this performance of the Fantasia on Christmas Carols. Back when this recording was first released, there was a problem with "CD Rot", namely the compact discs were not pressed properly and therefore deteriorated over time. Though this is no longer a problem, my aged CD finally succumbed to the blight and is no longer playable.
But I cannot live without this performance of the Fantasia on Christmas Carols because it is by far the most enjoyable Holiday listening experience that I have ever found. What stands this performance above the rest is not only the emotional investment that Best and his forces put in the work, but the clarity of the winds and brass are excellent. When the baritone sings "God bless the Ruler of this house...", and comes to the line "God bless our Generation who lives both far and near..", there is some delightfully jaunty woodwind writing that only Vaughan Williams could create. These woodwinds are clearly heard in this recording as most times, they are lost in the orchestra. But it is when the orchestra swells and the bells toll that the chorus repeats what the baritone sang. When they sing "God bless our Generation who live both far and near.." it is the brass section that repeats the jaunty woodwind theme. At that moment, if you do not have a chill running down your spine, and perhaps even a tear of joy grace your cheek, then I do not know when such a musical moment will do it for you. So, I only hope I get this recording before the end of the Christmas season because I will sorely miss this performance if I do not. Enthusiastically Recommended!
 Fantasia on Christmas Carols November 25, 2007
Tim Kennedy
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I only listened to the Fantasia on Christmas Carols in depth at this moment in time. Sir Thomas Allen is superb in his interpretation of this choral masterpiece. He lives up to his reputation as one of the great British baritones of all times. He is able to express the baritone solo with superb musicianship and nuance. This is a challenging piece for choruses. It demands a level of musicianship which should not be attempted by amateur choirs. The choir is also superb and follows the composers dynamics respectively. I highly recommend the CD if you are only interested in this work. It's worth it.
Tim Kennedy
what a setting of Shakespeare! October 6, 2007
James R. Fitzsimmons (Long Beach CA)
How sweet the singers weave in and out of Serenade to Music! In line after line, Vaughan Williams amazingly goes from low register to high climax in short spans and phrases. 'How many things by season seasoned are' is a hair raising vocal line, while the pianissimos on 'harmony' are pure musical genius, and stunningly performed by the soloist. This is great composing given a definitive performance. I enjoy the other pieces on this recording, but I must confess that Flos Campi goes over my head like a low flying plane, and I just don't get it. But you must not go through life without listening to the Serenade - it ranks with his Lark Ascending and Tallis Fantasia for sheer beauty.
Small, endearing masterpieces from the twilight of empire January 15, 2006
Santa Fe listener
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
English society was still so secure in the imperial twilight (1910-40) that native composers could afford to ignore the revolution mounted by Schonberg, Webern, Berg, and Stravinsky, not to mention lesser modernists. Vaughan Williams is too lovable a compser to criticize for being a musical reactionary, and here we get some of his most endearing works for solo voices and chorus. The intent behind this Serenade to Music was to duplicate, as much as possible, the 16 stellar soloists for whome V-W wrote the work. That was already done, in truth, by Leonard Bernstien at the opening of Philharmonic Hall in 1962 with the likes of Jon Vickers, George London, Richard Tucker, and Eileen Farrell, to thrilling effect. Best's reading is quite low-key, mellifluous, and gentle by comparison.
His one world-class singer is Thomas Allen, who appears to splendid effect in V-W's haunting Five Mystical Songs to texts by George Herbert, which he sets as wonderfully as he set Shakespeare in the Serenade. The Corydon Singers have nothing to do in the Serenade but are vigorous and expert in the rest of the program, which includes the 12-min. Fantasia on Christmas Carols, again with Thomas Allen in great form, and Flos Campi with Nobuko Imai as the expressive viola soloist. The Christmas carols mostly sound serious and religious, in keeping with the Five Mystical Songs.
In all, Allen is the star here; the works themselves are essential V-W, each a small masterpiece that deserves to be better known in the U.S. Four staars for the Serenade, five for Allen's work.
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Vaughan Williams - Serenade to Music Five Mystical Songs Fantasia on Christmas Carols Flos Campi / Sixtieen Soloists Thomas Allen Nobuko Imai Corydon Singers ECO Matthew Best (Category: Music )
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