A Shropshire Lad/Banks of Green Willow

Frank Bridge (Composer), George Butterworth (Composer), Hubert Parry (Composer), William Boughton (Conductor), English String Orchestra (Orchestra), Christopher Hirons (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Christopher Hirons
• Orchestra: English String Orchestra
• Conductor: William Boughton
• Composer: Frank Bridge, George Butterworth, Hubert Parry
• Audio CD (November 18, 1997)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Nimbus Records
• ASIN: B0000037C0
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #57,448 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars English finest, April 27, 2000

By	John van Maris (Rotterdam Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Shropshire Lad/Banks of Green Willow (Audio CD)

This cd is worth buying already for the first 4 tracks, being most of the work that remains of George Butterworth, a composer who died too young as an officer in the battle of the Somme in 1916. If one hears the delicate and intense melodies and harmonies, the perfect setting of the instruments, one has to wonder what would have become of George Butterworth if he had not been shot by a German sniper. Gerald Finzi seems to be influenced by the work of Butterworth, and it is easy to hear how and why that is.The works of the other composers on this cd, especially the work of Parry, make it obvious that there is a good English tradition in classical music, that should deserve more of our attention.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars English fantasy, October 29, 2000

By	Timothy F. Ortlieb (USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Shropshire Lad/Banks of Green Willow (Audio CD)

If there was ever a disc to provoke longing for the England of bygone eras, this is it. It is easy to lose oneself in the fantasy of the melancholy Butterworth selections. As part of the brief legacy of a gifted composer whose life was cut tragically short, these pieces seem to yearn with regret for lost innocence and opportunity. Parry's "Lady Radnor Suite" takes a deliberate look to the Victorian past and the result is charming and inventively substantive, not derivative. The Suite by Frank Bridge (Britten's mentor) is somewhat more rarefied but equally rewarding, capturing the composer in a pensive mood at times. The wistfully bitter-sweet final movement seems like a fitting end to this disc.

The recording was made in a highly sumptuous acoustic and the somewhat distanced sound could not be more appropriate in aiding the evocation of a time and place far removed. The performances are completely committed, polished and fully worthy of the music.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wondrous and moving, May 17, 2009

By	Colin Glithero "nedalleyn" (Auburn,WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Shropshire Lad/Banks of Green Willow (Audio CD)

Previous reviewers have already described the music on this CD as well or better than I could, but I have to support their praise of one of the finest discs in my collection. Both the Parry and the Bridge suites are music of grace and charm, but the four works by George Butterworth are small masterpieces. Like Vaughan Williams, Butterworth was a dedicated and knowledgeable collector of English folk songs. The longest piece of his on this disc,The Shropshire Lad, does not, in fact, contain any folk melodies, but is strongly evocative of the rural setting of the poem sequence of that name by A.E.Houseman, which Butterworth had previously set to music. He used the melody from one of the songs in this song-cycle as the theme of the orchestral work. The two English Idylls, and The Banks of Green Willow, are based directly on folk songs.Unlike many composers who have sought to adapt folk music, Butterworth is able to use a rich, full range of orchestral sound while preserving the simplicity and directness of the original tunes. All of his works on this CD are of the highest quality. The two Idylls are shorter and simpler, the Shropshire Lad has a great romantic sweep, but my favorite has to be The Banks of Green Willow, a beautiful treatment of two classic English folksongs, the title song and Bushes and Briars. On a lighter note, I have two other reasons for liking this disc. Several decades ago The Banks of Green Willow was used to introduce a BBC radio adaptation of the classic historical novel, Lorna Doone. As a pre-adolescent I thus became hooked on classical music and on reading books that were too old for me. Also,this CD was recorded in the Great Hall at the University of Birmingham(the one in England, not Alabama). Guess where I took my finals. Brum rules!!