Customer Reviews

Hodie / Fantasia on Christmas Carols

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It is always a wonderful thing to find a beloved recording transfered to CD. My old LP is still on my shelves and has been there since 1973, though the recording dates from 1965. It is a fine performance of an unjustly neglected Christmas work.

Vaughan Williams was 81 when he wrote this. It is a portmanteau piece, a form pioneered by Britten, with narrations alternating with chorals, hyms and songs enclosed within a prologue and epilogue. The words set range from the biblical to Thomas Hardy. The narrations, sung by a boys' choir accompanied by a chamber organ, tell the story of the Nativity, and are often followed by a short tenor solo with full orchestral accompaniment. These brief, melismatic sections are of extraordinary emotional power. They still make me go all funny after 30 years. Set in this regular framework go the assorted numbers which vary in character from a gentle lullaby to the glittering March of the Three Kings (the words of which were written by the composer's wife). The work has been criticised for the disparate styles of the settings - some songs like early RVW, others set to the glassy, late orchestral style of Sinfonia Antartica. To me it adds variety as well as demonstrating the sheer breadth of his music. This is a gorgeous piece to play on Christmas day and it will refresh your spirit no end.

The performance is first rate, with a trio of distinguished soloists. The recording is remarkably good for its age.

The Fantasia on Christmas Carols is a much earlier work and its title is self- explanatory. It is a very attractive work which is given a perfectly acceptable performance here. A mystery is the name of the band : "String Orchestra", which sounds alarmingly generic. Guildford, a town to the west of London, does have a semi-professional orchestra so maybe the players are from this.

The insert notes are by Michael Kennedy, who was a close friend of the composer and is the leading authority on his music. Full texts are included for Hodie.

I have played this recording every Christmas for the past 28 years at least, first in the original LP from Angel, and then the first CD release, which for a while was out of print. I am so happy to see that it is again available.

If you do not know the Vaughan Williams Hodie, you are missing some of the loveliest Christmas music ever composed. A brilliant mosaic of musical styles serving to set poetry of the most diverse sources,the various parts are all bound together by the Gospel narration of the Nativity story sung by boy's choir. The result, far from being a hodge-podge, is instead deeply felt, organic, and filled with that pastoral, mystical and intensely affecting quality of the best of RVW's work. The soloists are terrific, especially the young Janet Baker at her most radiant. The sound is still quite fresh and beautifully recorded.

I cannot imagine Christmas Eve without this heavenly music!

This recording, on a rather scratched LP borrowed from the local library, was my introduction to the music of Vaughan Williams, back when I was in high school. It made me a Vaughan Williams fan for life. It is one of the great mysteries that Vaughan Williams, who called himself a "Christian agnostic" could write music of such profound spiritual depth. There are moments here that only the hardest of heart could not find deeply affecting.

The music itself is virtually a survey of every style in which RVW wrote, yet there is no sense that the piece is a cut-and-paste affair. Despite the variety of musical styles, Hodie is very subtly organized--so much so that on the 100th hearing it seemed as if I were still discovering internal references. If I absolutely had to choose a favorite part, I think it would be the opening section of the final chorus, setting the famous opening words from St. John's Gospel.

The soloists are all magnificent. John Shirley-Quirk's singing of "The Shepherds Sing" is wonderful, and won me over to George Herbert's poetry. Richard Lewis's "Bright Portals of the Sky" is an astonishing performance of extraordinarily demanding music. And every note from Janet Baker's throat is a miracle. When the three join for the March of the Three Kings and the final movement, wow!

Where some recordings become less wonderful on repeated hearing, this one only gets better. I looked for it for years--resisting the temptation to purchase other recordings of this work--knowing that a recording this great would have to be reissued. However, knowing the record companies, that could change at any time, so if you love Vaughan Williams buy now.

The other reviewers have it right in giving this disc five stars, at least for Hodie. First the bad news: the Fantasia is given here in a slightly bloodless version for baritone, chorus, strings, and organ, which can't quite match the original.

Now the good news: the performance of Hodie on offer here is amazing. As good as Hickox is in his later EMI recording, he and his team of soloists are clearly outmatched. We have captured here early recordings of both Dame Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk, two of the great British singers of modern times, each in gorgeous voice and both deeply committed to the work. If you need much convincing of this, try "It was the winter wild" or "The Shepherds sing"; you won't be disappointed. Of course, we shouldn't leave Richard Lewis out, even though he has a somewhat smaller role in the proceedings than the other two. In exchange, he has the challenging hymn "Bright portals of the sky," which he delivers with seeming ease. Their trio in the "March of the Three Kings" is the crowning moment of the work, until topped a few minutes later by the bank-holiday fervor of the finale.

The choral and orchestral work is on pace with that of the soloists: I would say that one can hear more orchestral and choral detail on this disc remastered from the mid-1960's than is available on the Hickox recording!

So, in short, this disc is a must-have for Hodie; if you want the "Fantasia" too, go for Matthew Best's recording with Thomas Allen, the Corydon Singers, and the English Chamber Orchestra on Hyperion.

I first heard Hodie on the initial vinyl release of this performance over 30 years ago. It's one of the finest choral works of the 20th century, and a rare instance where the nobility of the music matches the nobility of texts--and what texts! Milton, the Bible, Thomas Hardy, George Herbert--some of the finest religious poetry in English. The performance is, quite simply, perfection. Willcocks owns every note of the score, and the soloists are perfectly matched.

I could go on for pages, but it would be superfluous. Just buy it. At this price, it's a steal.

Although Vaughan Williams is part of that school known as the English pastoralists--which inevitably makes one think of sheep, not musicians--his music also has some of most forceful passages ever written by English composers (Elgar and Walton included). "Hodie" is among these: the mixture of the traditional English oratorio choral sound with RVW's unique orchestral voice gives us a cantata of exceptional power, sweep, and grandeur. This recording is particularly splendid: the choir enunciates clearly and gives a resonant performance, the children's choir is innocent without being cloying (something of a minor miracle with children's choirs, at least in my experience), and the soloists are in fine voice--especially Janet Baker, who sounds as if she owns this music. The coupling with RVW's "Fantasia on Christmas Carols" is apt, and the "Fantasia" is well-performed as well. A perfect recording for Christmas--or any other time of year, for that matter. (A note: this is one of the releases in EMI's "British Composers" series, and I've yet to go wrong with any of them. This series should be anybody's first stop when investing in British music.)

I first became aware of Hodie when I performed the work in high school. While it is true that Vaughn-Williams does use a variety of styles, this is much more than a compendium of musical approaches. Each style is well chosen to provide an appropriate context for the words in a way matched by few composers - intimate in "The Oxen", hushed and reverential in "No sad thought his soul affright", and imposing and even majesterial in "The March of the Three Kings". I can't imagine how anyone could listen to the Epilogue (especially as performed here) with it's quoting of the beginning of St. John's gospel without being utterly undone.

Because of the beauty of the work and the quality of the performance, it quickly became one of my most beloved recordings, defining for me how this work should be performed just as Karl Richter's Mass in b Minor and Colin Davis's Mozart Requiem have. The singers all have incredibly beautiful voices and each use their voice very sensitively. Just listen to John Shirley-Quirk's simple yet eloquent singing in "The Oxen", describing the animals in the manger on their knees at cradle of God incarnate or Janet Baker's "Lullaby" with a beauty that can bring tears to your eyes. Richard Lewis likewise provides a good range from the heroic to the sensitive - one of the best performances of his I have heard. The choral work is likewise fantastic. I have been searching for this work on CD for years to replace my well-loved but somewhat worn-out LP copy and am delighted that it is finally available again.

More so than Messiah, this work has come to define Christmas for me. If you love choral music, Vaughan-Williams's work, works that can put you in touch with the Divine, or you just appreciate beautiful singing, I would STRONGLY urge you to purchase this recording while it is still available.

Thank goodness this classic is back after being out of print for 10+ years! The later digital recording (out of print) just dosen't match this one either in interpretation or soloists. The remastering tops the earlier CD issue as well-grab this one!

I first encountered this recording over thirty years ago on an Angel LP. I listened to it at the time the university chorus I was singing in was preparing for a performance of the whole work. (We performed it with orchestra, organ, and boys' chorus; faculty members were the soloists.) This was in the early 1970s, and the music was a revelation to me as an undergraduate music student.

This music has gotten under my skin and become part of me. I always listen to "Hodie" at least once in the run-up to Christmas, and sometimes during the twelve days after. The more I listen, the more interlinked all the sections seem--Vaughan Williams was a master of the craft of composition! I also defy anyone to listen to and absorb this whole work and not be moved by the mystical Epilogue and final chorus--this is the resolution of so much that has gone before in this work.

This recording was valuable for me in the process of learning the work, and it's valuable now to have it available on CD and sounding much, much better than it ever did on that old Angel LP! There is nothing to take exception with whatsoever in the performance. I could wish for more sonic impact--in a live performance of this work, the battery of percussion and the full organ make a shattering impact when they're called for--but in terms of recording technique, this stays within the bounds of 1965 limitations. But the performance is truly wonderful, and it's good to have it back in the catalogue!

TWO SEPARATE RECORDING SESSIONS, DIFFERENT PERFORMING GROUPS= 1965, DAVID WILLCOCKS - 1966, BARRY ROSE. BOTH FIRST CLASS!

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) loved 'the lilt of the chorus at the music hall... children dancing to a barrel organ...the rousing fervor of a Salvation Army Hymn...St. Paul's and a great choir singing in one of the festivals'. Indeed, both of these compositions were written and performed first at Festivals: the 'Fantasia' first at the Three Choirs Festival at Hereford in 1912, and the 'Hodie' first performed at the same festival but in 1954.

Although Vaughan Williams wrote this originally for soloist, mixed chorus , full orchestra and organ, in this version (he wrote several varied combinations to suit smaller performance groups)we have a soloist, mixed chorus, string orchestra and organ. The work is founded on four traditional English carols: 'This is the truth sent from above'; 'Come all you worthy gentleman'; 'On Christmas night all Christians sing';'God Bless the ruler of this house'. Not quite in the same league as 'Hodie', the Fantasy is a charming and moving work, and Barry Rose (conductor) and John Barrow (skilled baritone), and the Choir of Guilford Cathedral make a good case for it. Quite enjoyable to hear! The carols are not obsecure, but I would think familiar to many listeners, if not all.

Vaughan Williams's 'Hodie' (This Day) is a very clever mosaic of musical styles and referred to as a cantata, oratorio etc. depending upon the source. Suffice it to say that it is an 'anthology' work, the texts taken in this case from the Bible, Milton and Thomas Hardy, skillfully selected to mirror the Christmas theme and the varied aspects of V.William's personal style. It is a gripping blend of mysticism, celestial glory and human expectations and desires, the result of which imbues 'Hodie' with a flowing vitality and creativity. The 'oratorio' is linked together by narration of the Nativity from the Gospels by boy choristers, accompanied by organ - a compositional device used by Bach in his Passions, for which V.W. had a great love.

The London Symphony Orchestra and Bach Choir give their all and make the music leap from the speakers in the more bounding sections, and playing and singing with all due reverence in the quieter ones. The delicacy Willcocks brings to the score allows the listener to hear the layers of orchestral detail, showing the work to be quite inventive.

The Choristers of Westminster Abbey and organist Sir Philip Ledger are outstanding in their contribution. The boys sing the narratives with a pure, beatific tone and display a musical maturity beyond their years, which, I might add is typical of British Cathedral choirs. Ledger does not at anytime overwhelm them, using just the right amount of tone without ever becoming inaudible - a near-unearthly balancing act!

The soloists are a director's 'dream team': Richard Lewis (tenor) is haunting as the angel in the first narration and captures the mystic quality in the third narration; Dame Janet Baker (mezzo-soprano) renders all her solos with her usual sturdy, clear and resonant sound, and captures the darker twists and turns in "It was the winter wild". I had some minor difficulty in understanding some of her words, but only for brief instances. She sings a very touching 'Lullaby'. John Shirley-Quick is quietly stunning throughout his solo parts. His deep and beefy tone is a perfect fit for 'The Oxen'.

Recorded in 1965, it shows Willcock's great affection and all involved for this work. The sound is incredibly good in its digital remastering. This recording has power and clarity, but also a translucence and an unearthly feel for the undercurrents underlying V.W.'s music, which Willcocks apparently was able to bring to the surface.

Just a listening experience you don't want to miss, and an inspirational experience for the Christmas season and perhaps continuously. Good liner notes and text included.