"Do you realize," a friend told composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, "that none of your best-sellers are your own?"
He was referring to the Fantasia on Greensleeves, the English Folk Songs Suite, and the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. And while it's a clever remark that the composer found very funny, the truth is, all three works are very much his own.
In fact, I would argue that Vaughan Williams' particular form of greatness is not in saying things that have never been said before--but in presenting familiar or forgotten things in a way that makes them seem fresh and relevant.
In this hour, an exploration of two of Vaughan Williams' best-loved works, and the folk songs that inspired them.
Featured Recordings
Title | Label & No. | UPC |
Ralph Vaughan Williams [for the Fantasia on Greensleeves] | EMI Eminence CD-EMX 2179 | 0077776411422 |
Under the Greenwood Tree [for vocal of "Greensleeves"] | Naxos 8.553442 | 0730099444224 |
Vaughan Williams: The Collector's Edition, disc 10 [for the English Folk Songs Suite] | EMI 2066362 | 5099920663629 |
Heather Wood: Fast Folk (Vol. 3, No. 9), Songs of Tradition [for "Lovely Joan," whose tune is used as a secondary theme in the Fantasia on Greensleeves] | iTunes download] | |
US Navy Sea Chanters: Homeward Bound [for "Seventeen Come Sunday"] | Coker & McCree (iTunes download) | |
Anne Briggs: A Collection [for "My Bonny Boy"] | Topic Records TSCD504 | 714822050425 |
Alan Lomax: Classic Ballads of Britain and Ireland, Vol. 2 [for "Blow Away the Morning Dew," sung by Emily Bishop] | Rounder Records 1776 | 011661177628 |
The Gordons: Time Will Tell Our Story [for "John Barleycorn"] | Blueberry Hill BBH 122 | 683884021226 |
Luke Kelly: Working Class Hero [for "High Germany"] | Celtic Airs Records CACD0203 | 5391513560354 |
HeartSounds: Behind the Green Bushes [for "Green Bushes"] | HeartSounds 610 388 7523 | 0634479013638 |
Martin Simpson: The Bramble Briar [for song, "Dives and Lazarus"] | Topic Records TSCD513 | 714822051323 |
Bournemouth Symphony: English String Music [for Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus] | Naxos 8.550823 | 0730099582322 |
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