COMPOSERS: Vaughan Williams
LABELS: EMI British Composers
WORKS: Toward the Unknown Region; Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1; Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus; In Windsor Forest
PERFORMER: CBSO & Chorus, Bournemouth Sinfonietta & Symphony Chorus/Norman Del Mar
CATALOGUE NO: CDM 5 65131 2 DDD/ADD (1982/1)
British music has had few finer servants than Norman Del Mar, and this enterprising Vaughan Williams collection forms a fitting memorial. If the Tallis Fantasia and Variants of Dives and Lazarus recordings sound less than wholly atmospheric, the cogent musical structures are conveyed the more strongly. But in the two choral items perspectives seem ideally balanced; in Windsor Forest, a cantata on themes from the opera Sir John in Love, is particularly fresh and appealing. Terry Barfoot
Vaughan Williams: Toward the Unknown Region; Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1; Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis; Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus; In Windsor Forest
British music has had few finer servants than Norman Del Mar, and this enterprising Vaughan Williams collection forms a fitting memorial. If the Tallis Fantasia and Variants of Dives and Lazarus recordings sound less than wholly atmospheric, the cogent musical structures are conveyed the more strongly. But in the two choral items perspectives seem ideally balanced; in Windsor Forest, a cantata on themes from the opera Sir John in Love, is particularly fresh and appealing. Terry Barfoot
Our rating
4
Published: January 20, 2012 at 2:31 pm