Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. 'Quartet In C Minor' is in four movements with a total duration of about 25 minutes. The opening Allegro is similar in style to Dvorak in its lyricism, though there is a darker, more brooding atmosphere towards the close. It is tempting to detect a hint of folk-song in the theme of the Andantino, played by the viola, but that may be stretching hindsight too far. The mov…

Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. Quartet in C Minor is in four movements with a total duration of about 25 minutes. The opening Allegro is Dvorák-ish in its lyricism, though there is a darker, more brooding atmosphere towards the close. It is tempting to detect a hint of folk-song in the theme of the Andantino, played by the Viola, but that may be stretching hindsight too far. The movement has a wistfu…

Par PHILIPS JULIAN. Four Sonnets of John Clare by Julian Philips is a 12-minute work for baritone and piano which sets four sonnets by the English poet John Clare. The work reflects on different aspects of Clare\'s human experience: the transcience of worldly renown, the loss of inspiration, a fear of neglect in death and a love of the numinous in nature, and the music seeks to match Clare\'s poet…

Lullay, my liking is scored for accompanied two-part choir, allowing for various upper-/lower-voice combinations: two-part trebles or sopranos, upper voices only (S/A), or men only (T/B). If performed by a four-part choir, sopranos and tenors should read the upper line, and altos and basses read the lower. The keyboard part can be played on piano or organ, or harp. An inspiring selection of new wo…

A Hymne To God My God is a composition by renowned composer Michael Ball arranged for quadruple SATB choir as an a cappella performance. The piece is a setting of texts by English poet John Donne and it was commissioned in 1984 by the BBC for the 30th anniversary of the BBC Northern Singers.   This wonderful work includes a wealth of lush harmonies created by the sizeable sixteen voices. The …

Arr. Philip Sparke. Par HOLST GUSTAV. Christina Rossetti wrote the words to this famous Christmas carol in 1872 in response to a request from the magazine Scribner's Monthly for a Christmas poem. They were set to music by Gustav Holst (1874-1934) for inclusion in the first edition (1906) of The English Hymnal, edited by his life-long friend, Ralph Vaughan Williams. Philip Sparke has carefully arra…

My Ladye Greensleeves is one of the most famous and well-loved British folk melodies. A popular legend has attributed the tune to King Henry VIII but in reality it is unlikely to have been written by him and probably dates from the Elizabethan era. It has remained popular for over four centuries and has been arranged many times most famously by Ralph Vaughan Williams in his Fantasia on Greensl…

In The Bleak Midwinter is one of three hymns that Holst composed at the request of Ralph Vaughan Williams for the English Hymnal which he was editing. Rossetti’s poem had not been published until 1904 after her death and so was a new text to Holst though it has become familiar now through this setting and that of Harold Darke.Holst was a writer of hymns over several religious streams Hymn…