Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Folk Songs - Volume 4
Mary Bevan (soprano); Nicky Spence (tenor); Roderick Williams (baritone)
William Vann (piano)
rec. 2018/20, Henry Wood Hall, London; Potton Hall, Suffolk
Texts included
ALBION ALBCD045 [60]
This is the final volume in Albion’s project to record all of Vaughan Williams’ folk song arrangements for solo voice and it’s fitting that, by design, the last release coincides with the year in which we celebrate the 150th anniversary of this great English composer. My colleague Jonathan Woolf and I have been reviewing this series independently of each other. I’ve greatly enjoyed reviewing Volume 1, Volume 2 and Volume 3. On this occasion, Jonathan beat me to the draw and I think that in his review he has drawn attention to one particularly important fact about this set as a whole: “It’s strange to think that VW, so associated with the folk song revival, has been represented on disc by so few of these songs and in that respect this volume is no different from the previous three, as thirteen tracks out of nineteen constitute world premiere recordings. In the series, 53 of 81 songs have not previously been recorded in these arrangements.”
For me, another very significant feature of this series is that it has drawn attention to the fact that VW did not content himself with collecting and arranging English folk songs. He did the same service for the other elements of the British Isles and, indeed, his interest ranged even wider. Volume 2 included nine songs which VW arranged after Cecil Sharp (1859-1924) and Maud Karpeles (1885-1976) collected them in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of the USA. The major constituent of this concluding volume is fifteen arrangements of songs which Karpeles collected in Newfoundland.
I commented when reviewing Volume 2 that “the enterprise and adventure of Sharp and Karpeles in making these expeditions in the early years of the twentieth century [between 1916 and 1918] should not be underestimated. The transatlantic voyage could be arduous enough, but the vast geographical expanse of the Appalachian Mountains must have been dauntingly remote in those days. Undeterred, these intrepid collectors set off in pursuit of folk songs.” If anything, the ambition, determination and, frankly, sheer guts of Karpeles in venturing to Newfoundland twice, in 1929 and again in 1930, was even more remarkable. She went alone in order to harvest folk songs and, as John Francis points out in his absorbing booklet essay, the interior of Newfoundland was largely uninhabited at this time. The main economic activity was fishing and “the rugged coastline made travel by land difficult, so most travel was done by sea, often on weekly mail-steamers”. Intrepid seems barely enough to describe Karpeles’ efforts. On her return, she selected thirty of the songs she had collected and, in 1934, commissioned a number of composers to arrange them. The lion’s share went to VW
- the other arrangers were Clive Carey, H J Foss and M Mulliner. All thirty
were published as 'Folksongs from Newfoundland' by Oxford University Press
in 1934, and VW's fifteen arrangements were re-published, separately, in
1968.
All the arrangements are for voice and piano and it is worth saying at once that VW was discerningly inventive in his piano parts. Never does he overwhelm the vocal line. One key attribute is that several of the songs are lengthy, narrative affairs and in these cases, VW varies the accompaniment so that interest is sustained. Mind you, in these performances, the artistry of William Vann and his three singers ensures there’s no danger of the attention wandering. Furthermore, the songs are intelligently paced by the performers so that the music never drags.
Let me pick out a few highlights. ‘The Bloody Gardener’ consists of no less than ten verses. The scansion of the text is very free – as happens in one or two other songs as well – but William Vann is ‘with’ his singer at all times and makes the most of the variety of accompaniments that VW provided. In addition, Roderick Williams offers characterful singing. The story related herein is not the most pleasant, but it is compellingly related. A little earlier, you may be surprised, as I was, by the jauntiness of the tune and accompaniment for ‘The Cruel Mother’, another song allotted to Williams. The tale is that of a single mother who murders her twin babies in order to save them from starvation. Really, it’s only in the last two verses that the music takes on the dark hue that one might expect, given the subject matter.
‘Lord Akeman’ is another lengthy song. John Francis is right to describe it as “hauntingly beautiful”. In addition, it’s not musically straightforward. Nicky Spence and William Vann construct a compelling narrative.
It is worth pointing out that ‘The Lover’s Ghost’ is not the same melody as the one which VW used in his SATB arrangement which bears the same title (and I think the words are different too). ‘She’s like the Swallow’ is probably the best-known song in this Newfoundland collection, and rightly so. It’s a gently melancholic gem which Roderick Williams sings warmly. Unsurprisingly, ‘The Maiden’s Lament’ is also melancholy. Mary Bevan is very expressive here. The deliberately spare piano accompaniment is very effective. Incidentally, this arrangement is somewhat unusual among VW’s folk songs, I think, in having a through-composed accompaniment.
Towards the end of the programme, we hear Williams in the lively ‘Proud Nancy’. The music trips along in compound time and there’s a fine spring in both the singing and the piano playing. The words of ‘The Winter’s Gone and Past’ make clear the Irish origins. Mary Bevan gives a lovely performance. The last song, ‘Young Floro’ tells a touching tale of unrequited love. Nicky Spence is very convincing as the unfortunate would-be lover.
Before we set sail for Newfoundland, as it were, there are four songs from the British Isles which pleasantly detain us. ‘Servant Man and Husbandman’ is quite a lengthy dialogue between two characters, portrayed respectively by Spence and Williams. Lengthy it may be, but the singers, with vivacious support from William Vann, invest the text with such life that one forgets quite how many verses there are. The performance sparkles. This entire series was mainly recorded in a few days of sessions in June 2020. A handful of the settings had been recorded previously and had appeared on earlier Albion releases but, rightly, those performances were included in this set of four CDs. One such is
The Turtle Dove which we earlier encountered on an album entitled The Song of Love (review). Obviously, it had to be included here for the sake of completeness but, more than that, it would have been a sin and a shame not to reprise the 2018 recording by Roderick Williams. VW’s arrangement of this haunting tune is justly famous; Williams’ wonderfully expressive singing of it is perfect.
All good things come to an end, they say, and this series of discs devoted to the folksong arrangements of Ralph Vaughan Williams has most assuredly been a good thing. It has brought so many new discoveries. Let it not be forgotten that 53 of these 81 arrangements (that’s 65%) had never been recorded in any format. So, an aspect of VW’s work which had been unjustly neglected by the recording industry has been made available for all to hear. That makes these discs an invaluable contribution to the composer’s discography. And the importance lies in two areas. Firstly, it reminds us just how vital was the work of VW and his fellow folksong enthusiasts in ensuring that these timeless melodies and lively words, which tell us so much about our heritage, were not allowed to die out. Secondly, they reinforce the message of how vital folksong was to VW’s art as a whole: here we can experience his first thoughts on many melodies that found their way into later works.
But it was never enough “just” to record these arrangements. The task had to be done in a way that brought these often-simple songs vividly to life. That’s the triumphant success of this series. It’s hard to imagine that the arrangements could have been in better, more inspired hands than those of Mary Bevan, Nicky Spence, Roderick Williams and William Vann. The three singers have entered fully into the spirit of these songs and sung them in ways that have made the words and music spring from the page to communicate very directly with the listener – and, of course, direct communication was exactly what folksongs were
- and are - all about in the first place. William Vann’s sympathetic, often sparkling piano playing shows us time and again just how fine and sensitive were VW’s arrangements.
As you’d expect, given that the vast majority of the recordings were made in a single set of sessions, the recordings are absolutely consistent. Producer Andrew Walton and engineer Deborah Spanton have done a first-rate job, recording the performances in an ideal fashion. Last, but by no means least, the booklet essays by John Francis have enriched the whole series. Goodness knows how much work has gone into researching his essays, but they have been a mine of invaluable information and insights, stylishly presented. I have learned a great deal from the way in which he has put these songs into their contexts.
This disc is a worthy and highly enjoyable conclusion to an important series. If you’re a Vaughan Williams fan and, for some reason, you haven’t yet investigated these discs I urge you to do so. They will surely deepen your understanding and appreciation of this great composer.
John Quinn
Previous review: Jonathan Woolf
Contents
A Selection of Less Known Folk Songs, Volume 2 (1935)
The Jolly Plough Boy
Folk Songs for Schools (1912)
The Cuckoo and the Nightingale
Servant Man and Husbandman
The Turtle Dove (1934)
Fifteen Folk Songs from Newfoundland (1934)
Sweet William’s Ghost
The Cruel Mother
The Gypsy Laddie
The Bloody Gardener
The Bonny Banks of Virgie-o
Earl Brand
Lord Akeman
The Lover’s Ghost
She’s like the Swallow
The Maiden’s Lament
Proud Nancy
The Morning Dew
The Winter’s Gone and Past
The Cuckoo
Young Floro
