- Munich Philharmonic Orchestra
- Royal Opera
- Michael Finnissy
- Polish National Opera
- Insula Orchestra
- Antonia Köster
- Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra
- Margaret Brouwer
Made from Rarer Stuff
KEITH BRAMICH is intrigued by unusual Christmas carols collected in Herefordshire
'... clear, stylish and sympathetic performances.'
This 2024 recording on Albion Records, the Ralph Vaughan Williams label, presents twelve traditional carols from Herefordshire, UK, collected, edited and arranged by Vaughan Williams and local folklorist Ella Mary Leather, who lived in the Herefordshire village of Weobley. If you're not familiar with this area, it's a largely rural English county on the border with mid-Wales.
This album's detailed liner notes by John Francis, chairman of both Albion Records and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, give much information about Ella Mary Leather (née Smith, 1874-1928). An important member of the local community, she was born in Dilwyn, a few miles north of Weobley. It's now known, for example, that her contributions to our wealth of collected folk songs are much greater than originally thought. Her 1912 work The Folk-lore of Herefordshire is scientifically important, she collected songs from local singers and travelling gypsies, and she collaborated with both Cecil Sharp and Vaughan Williams.
Mrs Leather and Vaughan Williams first met in Weobley in 1908, and after several further visits, they published Twelve Traditional Carols from Herefordshire in 1920. What normally comes to mind when thinking of Christmas and Herefordshire is the well-known This is the truth sent from above, which we know in two different versions, one collected by Ella and Ralph in the village of King's Pyon, Herefordshire, plus the more familiar version discovered by Cecil Sharp in nearby Shropshire. But you won't find this carol here, as this new release is made from rarer stuff.
To my ear, all the music on this album is new. Some of the carol names - Dives and Lazarus, God Rest You Merry Gentlemen, On Christmas Day and The Angel Gabriel - are very familiar, as are the words to these carols, but one fascinating thing about the pieces on this recording is that the melodies are all different to those I expected, even though I grew up quite near to the area where this music was collected, albeit many decades later.
Listen — God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen
(ALBCD064 track 18, 0:00-0:37) ℗ 2024 Albion Records :
The performances of these carols are presented here in two versions. The first, recorded specially for this album, is for unaccompanied SATB choir, sung here by the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea directed by William Vann, who also feature on several other Albion Christmas discs, including the recently released A Christmas Fantasia, reviewed here recently.
Listen — Dives and Lazarus
(ALBCD064 track 9, 0:00-0:40) ℗ 2024 Albion Records :
The second version of the set of twelve carols, in different keys, are for solo voice, here the bass-baritone Derek Welton and piano, played here by Iain Burnside, in previously issued recordings.
Listen — Dives and Lazarus
(ALBCD064 track 21, 0:33-1:06) ℗ 2024 Albion Records :
Other carols here are generally even less known to us, with both words and music unfamiliar. An example is Christmas Now Is Drawing Near at Hand, with words sung by labourer William 'Stumpy Bill' Colcombe who lived to the age of ninety-two and ended his days in the Weobley workhouse.
Listen — Christmas Now Is Drawing Near at Hand
(ALBCD064 track 3, 0:35-1:11) ℗ 2024 Albion Records :
The first carol in the set is sung in two different versions, each with a different tune and significantly different text. It seems that many of these carols had large numbers of verses - up to fourteen in one case - and selections had to be made for the recording.
Listen — The Holy Well (first version)
(ALBCD064 track 13, 0:30-0:51) ℗ 2024 Albion Records :
Listen — The Holy Well (second version)
(ALBCD064 track 2, 1:44-2:31) ℗ 2024 Albion Records :
John Francis' liner notes provide detailed information about each of the unusual carols here, and there are many fascinating facts about the music, the words and how the material was collected.
Don't buy this album to hear all your favourite Christmas carols - buy it to be amazed at the sheer variety of unusual folk song material available, and for these clear, stylish and sympathetic performances.
Copyright © 12 November 2024
Keith Bramich,
Herefordshire, UK
