Ralph Vaughan Williams - Chamber Music (Nash Ensemble)

Information

Composer: Ralph Vaughan Williams

• The Lake in the Mountains, for piano
• 6 Studies in English Folksong, for cello & piano
• Phantasy Quintet for 2 violins, 2 violas & cello
• Violin Sonata in A minor
• String Quartet No. 2 in A minor

Nash Ensemble

    Ian Brown, piano

    Marianne Thorsen, violin

    Elizabeth Wexler, violin

    Lawrence Power, viola

    Louise Williams, viola

    Paul Watkins, cello

Date: 2002

Label: Hyperion

https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dc.asp?dc=D_CDA67313

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Review

Vaughan Williams’ searching Second Quartet of 1942­44 is a key work in his output‚ straddling the very different worlds of the Fifth and Sixth symphonies. Whereas the Gramophone Award­winning Maggini Quartet brought an intrepid range of expression and bracing rigour to this work‚ the Nash adopt a rather warmer‚ more yieldingly intimate approach. In their hands‚ the ‘Romanza’ second movement emerges with a songful purity which anticipates the glorious ‘Cavatina’ of the Eighth Symphony. If they don’t evince quite the same sense of unanimity of vision and tingling concentration as the Maggini‚ it’s a sensitive‚ delectably unforced display all the same. This also holds true for the marvellous Phantasy Quintet from 1912‚ another supremely thoughtful and affectionate performance‚ if less tightly­knit than that of their super­budget rivals. Elsewhere‚ Marianne Thorsen and Ian Brown form an eloquent partnership in the underrated Violin Sonata‚ written during 1952 for Frederick Grinke and premièred by him in a BBC broadcast on October 12‚ 1954 (the composer’s 82nd birthday). It’s a meaty‚ purposeful utterance (‘fine and challenging’ was the verdict of Joseph Szigeti‚ an early champion)‚ the last of whose three movements comprises a set of six variations on a theme taken from a 1903 Piano Quintet in C minor (withdrawn by Vaughan Williams some 15 years later). That just leaves the Six Studies in English Folksong of 1926‚ a winsome sequence of miniatures‚ given here in its original guise for cello and piano‚ and the moody The Lake in the Mountains for solo piano‚ taken from the score for Michael Powell’s 1941 film‚ 49th Parallel. Sound‚ balance and presentation are excellent; this disc will surely give much pleasure.

-- Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

https://www.amazon.com/Vaughan-Williams-Violin-Sonata-Quartet/dp/B00006644H

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Ralph Vaughan Williams (12 October 1872 – 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His compositional teachers included Hubert Parry and Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music in London, Max Bruch in Berlin, and Maurice Ravel in Paris. Vaughan Williams' works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over sixty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Vaughan_Williams

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The Nash Ensemble of London is an English chamber ensemble. It was founded by Artistic Director Amelia Freedman and Rodney Slatford in 1964, while they were students at the Royal Academy of Music, and was named after the Nash Terraces around the academy. The Ensemble has won awards from the Edinburgh Festival Critics and the Royal Philharmonic Society, as well as a 2002 Gramophone Award for contemporary music. In addition to their classical repertoire, the Ensemble performs works by numerous contemporary composers, and has given premier performances of more than 200 works.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nash_Ensemble

http://nashensemble.org.uk/

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