Hallé, Sir Mark Elder & Roderick Williams - A Shropshire Lad: English Songs Orchestrated by Roderick Williams (2022)

This album represents the culmination of what leading British baritone Roderick Williams described as ‘a dream come true’. It features premiere recordings of his orchestrations of songs by Vaughan Williams and other composers associated with him and is released to commemorate those who perished in WWI.

Featuring orchestrations by Williams of his favourite songs from the 20th-century English repertoire this album contains works by Vaughan Williams and composers associated with him. It includes specially commissioned new arrangements of songs by women composers Ina Boyle, Ruth Gipps, Madeleine Dring and Rebecca Clarke.

The album features the work of composers who were killed in the First World War, George Butterworth, William Denis Browne and Ernest Farrar and is released to coincide with Remembrance Day.

These songs portray the composers’ evocative responses to the poetry they set, and Williams’s orchestrations further convey the songs meaning through highly effective use of orchestral instruments and textures.

Roderick Williams OBE is one of Britain’s most sought-after baritones and is constantly in demand on the concert platform and in recital, encompassing a repertoire from the baroque to world premieres. In 2016 he won the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Singer of the Year award. He is also a composer and has had works premiered at the Wigmore and Barbican Halls, the Purcell Room and live on national radio. He was awarded an OBE for services to music in June 2017.

This release follows hugely successful previous Vaughan Williams volumes including most recently (June 2022) Sinfonia Antartica (no.7) and no.9 (CDHLD7558).

“Some years ago, I wrote that ‘few orchestras today play Vaughan Williams as well as the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder’, a belief I still hold. This pair of symphonies on the new album ranks as some of Elder’s greatest work with Hallé…” – Michael Cookson Music Web International

Tracklist
01. Great Things (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams)
02. Sea Fever (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams)
03. The Joy of Earth (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams)
04. To Gratiana Dancing and Singing (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams)
05. Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 1, Loveliest of trees
06. Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 2, When I was one-and-twenty
07. Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 3, Look not in mine eyes
08. Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 4, Think no more, lad
09. Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 5, The lads in their hundreds
10. Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 6, Is my team ploughing?
11. The Pulley (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams)
12. The House of Life (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 1, Love-sight
13. The House of Life (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 2, Silent noon
14. The House of Life (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 3, Love’s minstrels
15. The House of Life (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 4, Heart’s haven
16. The House of Life (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 5, Death in love
17. The House of Life (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams): No. 6, Love’s last gift
18. Take, O Take Those Lips Away (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams)
19. When I set out for Lyonesse (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams)
20. The seal man (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams)
21. Silent noon (Orchestrated by Roderick Williams)