Sarah Fox, Dame Sarah Connolly, David Butt Philip, Neal Davies, London Mozart Players, William Vann – Parry: Scenes from Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound, Blest Pair of Sirens (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:48 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos
Hubert Parry (1848-1918), regarded by many (including Edward Elgar) as the finest English composer since Purcell, and as the father of the modern English tradition, is best known for his hymn Jerusalem (immortalised by the Women’s Institute and English cricket supporters alike!). His anthem I was glad, written for the coronation of Edward VII, in 1902, has been used also at the coronations of George V, Elizabeth II, and Charles III (who is a proclaimed fan of Parry’s music). He taught composition at London’s Royal College of Music from 1883 to 1895, when he succeeded Sir George Grove as director of the College, a post he held until his death. His distinguished list of pupils included Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst, Frank Bridge, and John Ireland. Inspired initially by the German romantics Mendelssohn and Schumann, Parry quickly became a devotee of Brahms and Wagner, whose influences can be heard in much of his output. But, from his earliest works, his own individual voice can be heard very clearly. Commissioned for the Three Choirs Festival, in Gloucester in 1880, his Scenes from Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound is just such an early work. The première received a mixed reception, but despite numerous repeat performances, in Cambridge, Oxford, and London, all with rave reviews, the piece sank into obscurity. Vernon Handley gave a performance for BBC Radio 3 in 1980, to mark the centenary of the première, but this world première recording is the first chance for modern audiences to hear this outstanding work.
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Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Roderick Williams, William Vann – Ralph Vaughan Williams: Folk Songs, Vol. 3 (2021)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:00:41 minutes | 983 MB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Albion
This is the third in a series of four albums recording all 81 of the folk songs in English that Ralph Vaughan Williams arranged for voice and piano or violin. 57 of the 81 songs have not previously been recorded in these arrangements.
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Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, William Vann, Joshua Ryan & Richard Horne – I Vow to Thee, My Country (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:16:16 minutes | 1,24 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © SOMM Recordings
SOMM RECORDINGS announces the release of I Vow to Thee, My Country, believed to be the first recording to feature all of Gustav Holst’s sacred choral music, by the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea directed by William Vann, with organist Joshua Ryan and Richard Horne on tubular and bass bells.
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Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea & William Vann – In Remembrance (2018)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:20:28 minutes | 1,29 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © SOMM Recordings
In the centenary anniversary year of the end of the First World War and on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the beginning of the Second World War, SOMM Recordings pays tribute to those who fought and fell in battle with In Remembrance. A moving compendium of music spanning 130 years, it features the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the Choir of Chelsea Pensioners, Staff and Volunteers, sopranos Katy Hill and Leah Jackson, baritone Gareth John and organists James Orford and Hugh Rowlands under the direction of William Vann. Founded in 1682 by King Charles II, the Royal Hospital is home to the world-famous Chelsea Pensioners – retired veterans of the British army – whose contributions on three tracks adds its own special poignancy to In Remembrance. Moving choral works commemorating courage and offering comfort by Hubert Parry (his anthemic Jerusalem), Gustav Holst (the stirring I Vow to Thee, My Country) and Edward Elgar (his serene partsong They are at rest) are heard alongside equally affecting pieces by their contemporaries and successors, Charles Villiers Stanford, John Ireland, Douglas Guest and Charles Harris.
Read more![Joshua Ryan, William Vann, Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea - Vaughan Williams: Earth's Wide Bounds (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/04/03/bst877u7l5z7a_600.jpg)
Joshua Ryan, William Vann, Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea – Vaughan Williams: Earth’s Wide Bounds (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:05 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Albion
The centerpiece here is the first complete recording of the Communion Service in G minor – the 1923 English translation and revision of the Latin Mass in G minor which had been published just a year earlier. In keeping with the 1662 Anglican communion service then in use, the Gloria comes at the end; the service begins with sung responses to the ten commandments, read for us here by Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury. Five movements require a quartet as well as a double chorus.
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Joshua Ryan, William Vann, Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea – Vaughan Williams: Earth’s Wide Bounds (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:18:05 minutes | 1,37 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © Albion
The centerpiece here is the first complete recording of the Communion Service in G minor – the 1923 English translation and revision of the Latin Mass in G minor which had been published just a year earlier. In keeping with the 1662 Anglican communion service then in use, the Gloria comes at the end; the service begins with sung responses to the ten commandments, read for us here by Rowan Williams, former Archbishop of Canterbury. Five movements require a quartet as well as a double chorus.
(more…)
![Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, William Vann - The Reeds by Severn Side (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz] Download](https://imghd.xyz/images/2022/05/17/ndn5ujbkfdypc_600.jpg)
Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, William Vann – The Reeds by Severn Side (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:19:45 minutes | 1,31 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Digital Booklet, Front Cover | © SOMM Recordings
SOMM Recordings announces the release of The Reeds by Severn Side, a ravishing collection of choral works by Edward Elgar, sung by the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea, led by director William Vann, accompanied by organist Joshua Ryan.
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Sarah Fox, Kathryn Rudge, Toby Spence, Henry Waddington, London Mozart Players & William Vann – Parry: Judith (2020)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 02:11:12 minutes | 2,24 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Chandos
Recorded after the first London performance for over 130 years, Parry’s neglected oratorio here appears for the very first time. Having been commissioned by the Birmingham Festival, Parry decided to combine the Old Testament stories of Manasseh and Judith. A good deal of the libretto was provided by Parry himself, who took other texts from the biblical books of Isaiah, Psalms, and Judith. Having originally conceived the work in four acts, Parry condensed it into two. Judith was premiered by Richter in Birmingham in August 1888, and it consolidated Parry’s reputation as a choral composer, numerous performances following in Edinburgh and in London. Although popular in his lifetime, Judith fell into obscurity after Parry’s death.
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Britten Sinfonia, Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Graham Ross & William Vann – Pan’s Anniversary (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:11:44 minutes | 1,22 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Albion
In 2022, we celebrate Vaughan Williams’s 150th birthday, and the pinnacle of Albion Record’s contribution to this important milestone is this Pan’s Anniversary album, which contains five world premiere recordings.
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