Vaughan Williams - Along the Field on Wenlock Edge · Merciless Beauty · Ten Blake Songs, and others / Ainsley · The Nash Ensemble [IMPORT]

Ralph Vaughan Williams (Artist), John Mark Ainsley (Artist), The Nash Ensemble (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 10, 2000)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Hyperion UK
• ASIN: B00004WMWQ
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #165,226 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incomparable singing of English music, October 4, 2001

By	M Eskenazi "melanieeskenazi" (London,U.K.) - See all my reviews

This notable recording is a welcome addition to John Mark Ainsley's catalogue of English music; his lovely, cultivated yet heartfelt voice is heard to advantage throughout the disc, wonderfully supported by the Nash Ensemble. "On Wenlock Edge" is here given the best recorded performance I know; it is superbly sung and played, with "Bredon Hill" being an especially high point, from the lovely rising phrase of the first line through the drama of the central section and the poignancy of "And would not wait for me." "Is My Team Ploughing?" is sung with real mastery; dramatic without hand-wringing, melancholy without melodrama, it is a perfect example of the art of a singer unequalled today in the interpretation of English song.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blake Songs are the highlight, February 18, 2001

By A Customer

I bought this recording because I adore the Blake songs and wished to have a recording of them at long last, and these are without question the highlight of this CD for me. I enjoy all the other songs, and Mr. Ainsley sings in tune with a beautiful tone, but they tend to blend together into one long opus.

5.0 out of 5 stars Unsurpassed setting of poetry to music, August 23, 2006

By	Bill Pen (Hamburg, PA USA) - See all my reviews

Apart from the quality of the performance here, it's worth noting that perhaps no one has done a finer job of setting great poetry to music than Vaughan Williams. His settings of Blake's poems are superb: they reveal aspects of Blake many readers miss. His settings of A. E. Housman's poems are just as good. (Housman is not listed here, but he wrote about ten of the poems on this record.) I recommend that those teaching Blake or Housman play selections from this. High school students in particular are likely to find Blake more accessible after hearing the songs.