Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Royal Throne of Kings – Ralph Vaughan Williams and Shakespeare
Eloise Irving (soprano), Malcolm Riley (piano), Albion Singers, Kent Sinfonia/James Ross
rec. 2024, St. Gregory’s and St. Martin’s Church, Wye, UK (orchestral works); St. Leonard’s Church, Hythe, Kent, UK (songs)
Albion Records ALBCD062 [72]
This is the most intriguing disc I have reviewed so far this year. Virtually all the works are heard here for the first time. Often, they have been arranged or realised by hands other than Ralph Vaughan Williams. This explores a corner of his catalogue which I know but never imagined I would hear. The press release explains that RVW was enamoured of Shakespeare, an inspiration “throughout his long composing career”.
The concert begins with Richard III: My Kingdom for a Horse from incidental music for Francis Robert Benson’s Shakespearean season at Stratford-upon-Avon. Benson (1858-1939) was an actor/manager who ran his own company. He had a thirty-year association with Stratford. Michael Kennedy’s catalogue notes that the surviving manuscript includes the Hampshire Dargason, a Requiem derived from the score to Richard II, and the present piece. The 47 seconds of this “filmic” music make a great overture. It was edited by composer, organist and scholar Malcolm Riley.
RVW had produced a score for Benson’s 1913 production of Richard II, but he did not reuse the material when he came to prepare the score for a 1944 radio broadcast. Kennedy notes that there are “thirty-four timed sections to cover fifteen scenes”. Nathaniel Lew has assembled them into a satisfying Concert Fantasy. A précis of the play says: “In Richard II, the titular king wrestles with his sense of self and confronts the repercussions of his choices. Deposed from the throne, he reflects on power, fate, and the fragility of authority. The play weaves political intrigue and poetic introspection, leaving us pondering the nature of leadership and downfall.” Lew does not follow the progress of the plot, but his score is sympathetic to the play’s temper. It is a worthy addition to RVW’s catalogue.
Several songs on this disc are a bonus. Eloise Irving sings with innocent beauty. The Willow Song is an early, unpublished piece for voice and piano. The tune was “found” in a book of lute solos. The words are from Othello: Desdemona reflects on love, treachery and impending tragedy.
Everyone enjoys the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. RVW set Shakespeare’s Orpheus and His Lute; the text comes from Henry VIII, Act III Scene 1. It was premiered at the Bechstein Hall on 2 December 1904. Vaughan Williams made another setting of these words in 1925. It was the last number in Three Songs from Shakespeare. The other two are Take, O take, those lips away from Measure for Measure, and When icicles hang by the wall from Love’s Labour Lost. All three have a gnomic effect; the last is more austere than the 1903 edition.
RWV wrote the incidental music for King Henry IV, Part 2 for Benson’s 1913 season, too. Once again, Malcolm Riley realised this Suite. The liner notes say that RVW “drew freely on existing folk dances and other sources”, and on his own music for other plays. The first movement, the reflective Induction, uses a tune from the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book, Alman in G minor. This may have been an overture to the play. Livelier is Falstaff and Prince Hal, using Halfe Hannikin, which first appeared in Playford’s English Dancing Master of 1651.
There is a traditional dance for the Princess Royal movement. As far as I recall, there is no such character in the play, but I guess RVW used an eponymous tune. The heart of the Suite is the beautiful Music to my Weary Spirit, which accompanied the king’s death in Act IV. It is a transcription of Dowland’s Pavane Lachrymae played on muted strings. It is the loveliest thing on this disc, and could well be excerpted by a well-known classical radio station.
The fifth movement, Arrest, is a fetching arrangement of Lady in the Dark, from Playford’s later The English Dancing-Master from 1657. There follows a lively Gloria Tibi, a splendid miniature anthem. The Suite ends with a lively Happy Life, which takes its title from King Henry’s earnest wish for his son: “No prince nor peer shall have just cause to say, God shorten Harry’s happy life one day!” This lovely music should have a life beyond this disc.
The most significant work on this disc is the premiere recording of the original Henry V Overture. Written for Benson’s 1913 season at Stratford, it was long known in its incarnation for brass band, completed in 1933 but not performed until 1979. The original score has been lost but Malcolm Riley and David Owen Norris have reconstructed it from the remaining orchestral parts kept by the Shakespeare Trust. It is quite different than the brass band version. Gone are the “martial fanfares” and the pastoral section based on an old French melody. The two main tunes heard are the Agincourt Carol and the Earl of Oxford’s March. This “vigorously nationalistic medley” is satisfying and uplifting as befits Shakespeare’s noble play that examines courage, doubt and destiny. It is another important addition to RVW’s discography.
Source-wise, the most complex work on this fascinating programme is the Stratford Suite, realised by Nathaniel Lew. It is based on music composed for five plays produced at the above-mentioned Stratford Festival: Henry IV Part II, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Richard II, Richard III, and Twelfth Night. According to the liner notes, the “cues used include thirteen arrangements of folk songs, one hymn tune based on plainchant, three original compositions, two fanfares, and one phrase of a march from the mid-seventeenth-century Elizabeth Rogers Virginal Book.”
The “original” music includes the Royal March and the Prelude to Act II of Richard II, and the Solemn March from Richard III. The booklet lists the “found” melodies. The arrangement of Greensleeves is quite as ravishing as the more famous Fantasia, but without the central section, Lovely Joan. I am a Ricardian who believes that the misaligned Duke of Gloucester needs to be reassessed and a balanced view projected. So, I declare that the short Solemn March is a fitting tribute. I hope that this Suite becomes a favourite with orchestras both professional and amateur. It is Nathaniel Lew’s sumptuous re-creation of RVW’s music.
Malcolm Riley made an exquisite transcription of the Dirge for Fidele. I wish it lasted longer! This beautiful piece for string orchestra and harp will remind you of the sheer perfection of RVW’s Dives and Lazarus. Originally devised for two mezzo-sopranos and piano, it was issued in 1922 as a standalone arrangement of Fear no more the heat o’ the sun from Cymbeline, Act IV.
The final offering, Two Shakespeare Sketches from The England of Elizabeth, also has a complex genesis. In 1955, RVW was commissioned to write the score for the British Transport Film The England of Elizabeth. Some years later, the conductor and composer Muir Mathieson adapted the score for the concert hall. Three movements celebrated Oriana as Explorer, Poet and Queen. Andrew Penny and Andre Previn, among others, recorded the score. At around the same time, Mathieson arranged two sections from the Poet movement. These are adaptations based on two sixteenth-century songs, The Wind and the Rain and It was a lover and His Lass. The first has a prominent fiddle part. The second is solid and a touch rumbustious. Nearly all the music from the score was issued on Chandos (CHAN10244) in Stephen Hogger’s edition.
The recording is excellent. Equally good are the liner notes developed by John Francis and Malcolm Riley, with additional material by Nathaniel Lew and David Owen Norris. Short resumes of the performers are included. The booklet is well-illustrated, with a wonderful painting Richard III by an unknown artist. The Kent Sinfonia and the Albion Chorus directed by James Ross give outstanding performances. Soloists Eloise Irving and Malcolm Riley give ideal performances of the songs.
This is an essential investment for all RVW enthusiasts.
John France
Previous review: Nick Barnard (October 2024)
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Contents
My Kingdom for a horse (1913) edited by Malcolm Riley
Richard II Concert Fantasy (1944) arr. Nathaniel Lew
The Willow Song (1897)
Henry IV Suite (1913) edited by Malcolm Riley
Orpheus with his lute (1903)
Albion Singers (1913) reconstructed David Owen Norris, edited by Malcolm Riley
Three Songs from Shakespeare (1925)
Stratford Suite (1913) arr. Nathaniel Lew
Dirge for Fidele (1922) arr. for strings and harp by Malcolm Riley
Two Shakespeare Sketches from ‘The England of Elizabeth’ (1955) arr. Muir Mathieson
