Vaughan Williams: Songs of Travel; Elgar & Butterworth: Orchestral Songs [Import]

Ralph Vaughan Williams (Composer), Edward Elgar (Composer), George Butterworth (Composer), Simon Rattle (Conductor), Vernon Handley (Conductor), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Orchestra), Robert Tear (Performer), Thomas Allen (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Robert Tear, Thomas Allen
• Orchestra: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
• Conductor: Simon Rattle, Vernon Handley
• Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Edward Elgar, George Butterworth
• Audio CD (February 27, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: EMI
• ASIN: B00000DOCZ
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #178,071 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. On Wenlock Edge - Robert Tear

2. On Wenlock Edge: From Far, From Eve And Morning - Robert Tear

3. On Wenlock Edge: Is My Team Ploughing - Robert Tear

4. On Wenlock Edge: Oh, When I Was In Love With You - Robert Tear

5. On Wenlock Edge: Bredon Hill - Robert Tear

6. On Wenlock Edge: Clun - Robert Tear

7. Songs Of Travel: The Vagabond - Robert Tear/Thomas Allen

8. Songs Of Travel: Let Beauty Awake - Robert Tear/Thomas Allen

9. Songs Of Travel: The Roadside Fire - Robert Tear/Thomas Allen

10. Songs Of Travel: Youth And Love - Robert Tear/Thomas Allen

11. Songs Of Travel: In Dreams - Robert Tear/Thomas Allen

12. Songs Of Travel: The Infinite Shining Heavens - Robert Tear/Thomas Allen

13. Songs Of Travel: Whither Must I Wander - Robert Tear/Thomas Allen

14. Songs Of Travel: Bright Is The Ring Of Words - Robert Tear/Thomas Allen

15. Songs Of Travel: I Have Trod The Upward And The Downward Slope - Robert Tear/Thomas Allen

16. Pleading Op.48, No.1 - Robert Tear

17. Three Songs Op.59: Was It Some Golden Star? - Robert Tear

18. Three Songs Op.59: Oh, Soft Was The Song - Robert Tear

19. Three Songs Op.59: Twilight - Robert Tear

20. Two Songs Op.60: The Torch - Robert Tear

See all 24 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Lovely songs, but the orchestrations are second-best, October 25, 2008

By 

Santa Fe Listener (Santa Fe, NM USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vaughan Williams: Songs of Travel; Elgar & Butterworth: Orchestral Songs (Audio CD)

In general these are forgotten arraangements, even though Vaughan Williams, Elgar, and Butterworth made the orchestrations themselve. Everything is beautifully sung and played, so collectors don't need to heistate. The two RVW song cycles with Robert Tear and Thomas Allen, under a young Simon Rattle, date from 1983, while the rest, conducted by the late Vernon Handley and sung by Tear, come from 1979.

I'm not convinced that general listeners need to buy this CD before hearing the standard piano versions (this would go without saying when it comes to, say, Wolf and Schubert lieder, which also get turned into orchestral versions here and there). Particularly in the case of "On Wenlock Edge" the nature of the music is drastically altered, for the worse. Originally the instrumentation was for string quartet and piano; the strange, almost ghostly timbre of that setting reflected the RVW's three-month study with Ravel in Paris, just before these songs were composed. When inflated with a string orchestra plus harp, celesta, and brass, we lsoe the haunting impressionistic atmosphere of quiet poems set to quiet melodies. I can see why the orchestral arragnement fell out of favor after a few performances in the 1920s.

As for "Songs of Travel," these are more robust songs, and they stand up to a full orchestra a bit better. The drawback here is that unlike Mahler's "Des Knaben Wunderhorn," the orchestral working-out is modest and cautious -- little is added through instrumental color. The solo voice is overshadowed for no particular reason. I realize that I've set myself at odds with the previous reviewer, who finds these orchestrations superior to the original piano-and-vioce versions, but there you go.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Orchestral settings surpass piano ones, September 23, 2008

By 

Alan Montgomery "Opera lover" (Oberlin, Oh USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Vaughan Williams: Songs of Travel; Elgar & Butterworth: Orchestral Songs (Audio CD)

This release is an important one. Most recordings of Songs of Travel are with piano (Terfel, et al) and convey only a little of the atmosphere of the songs. The really first rate orchestrations are partially by Vaughan Williams and partially by someone else, who simply filled in the two or three songs VW did not orchestrate. You can't tell who did what, which is a good compliment. Sir Thomas Allen's interpretation is warm and inviting.
On Wenlock Edge was originally for tenor and string quartet, but these orchestrations (by VW) are wonderful, filling out the textures of the songs beautifully. Robert Tear's voice is not the most beautiful in the English tenor style of singing, but he does well with the songs.
Sir Simon Rattle accompanies with alert affection. Some tempos here and there are a little different from other recordings, but never dangerously so.
I am reviewing based on the LP release of these songs, so I don't know the other songs, but the recording is well worth your investment for the two bigger cycles alone.