Kent Sinfonia: Royal Throne of Kings: Ralph Vaughan Williams and Shakespeare
Albion Records

This immensely rewarding collection is distinguished on many counts, beginning with sterling performances by the James Ross-conducted Kent Sinfonia, soprano Eloise Irving, and pianist Malcolm Riley. The recording intersperses Ralph Vaughan Williams' Shakespeare-inspired orchestral music with five songs by the composer set to texts from The Bard's plays and performed by the recital duo. Enhancing the project's value, much of the music presented on Royal Throne of Kings hasn't appeared in a recorded form until now. Beyond the performances themselves, the seventy-two-minute release is notable for the variety of its contents, encompassing as it does overtures, suites, songs, and a cinematic, long-form fantasy.

Recorded in February and April 2024, the material derives from numerous sources, some of it written in 1912 and 1913 when Vaughan Williams composed and conducted music for plays presented at Stratford-upon-Avon and the fantasy assembled from incidental music he created for BBC radio in 1944 that went unused. Complementing the music from the early 1910s are pieces written in later decades when he reengaged with Shakespeare. Bits and pieces have been revived, newly arranged, and, in the cases of the Henry IV Suite and Stratford Suite, newly assembled. Helming things expertly is Ross, who's conducted in twenty countries across the globe and conducted more than 1,500 works. In addition to being the Artistic Director of Kent Sinfonia, Ross is the Music Director of Sidcup Symphony Orchestra, Haslemere Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, and other companies and also directs the UK-based record label Ulysses Arts.

Though the composer came to Stratford-upon-Avon eager to couple era-appropriate music to the periods of the plays, the company's preference for the incidental music to which it'd grown accustomed meant Vaughan Williams was only able to impose his creative will upon two plays, Henry V and Richard II. Even so, his efforts as Music Director, while short-lived, had an impact, at least according to Birmingham's Evening Mail, who in August 1912 stated that in but a single month he'd “put the music of the theatre on a much higher level.”

The minute-long “My Kingdom For a Horse” (Richard III, 1913) offers an exciting lead-in to the towering Richard II Concert Fantasy (1944), arranged by Nathaniel Lew and originating out of a commission from the BBC Drama Department. In place of the thirty-four separate cues Lew published of the material created for the production is a single-movement, seventeen-minute treatment. Certain cues had to be excluded for practical reasons, but Lew has done a remarkable job of re-presenting the music in a bold new form. Structured as a series of scenes, the piece advances through contrasting episodes, from the brooding of its opening seconds to the abrupt radiance that sets in quickly thereafter. Ominous passages, foreboding declamations, and rousing affirmations are woven skilfully together in a travelogue that has all the action and drama of a film score. During the darker passages, timpanis rumble, muted brass intone portentously, and strings shudder; in lighter moments, tenderness, yearning, and hope emerge. Those familiar with Richard II will no doubt draw equivalences between the music and particular scenes in the play, but the instrumental piece holds up splendidly as a standalone expression.

Arranged by Malcolm Riley, Henry IV Suite (1913) progresses through seven largely short movements that draw on folk dances and other sources. Introduced by the regal dance figures of the strings-only “Induction,” the piece moves on to the equally rousing “Falstaff and Prince Hal” and spirited dance tune “Interlude - Princess Royal.” The longest part at four minutes, “Music to My Weary Spirit” sets the light-hearted tone of the preceding movements aside for an extended lamentation written, apparently, for the scene of the King's death and featuring strings alone. Two treatments of the plainsong “Angelus ad Virginem” cap the suite, the first as a stately vocal hymn (sung by the Albion Singers) and the second as a majestic orchestra-only expression. Composed in the same year, the Lew-arranged Stratford Suite combines twenty cues from scores for five different plays and couples original material with arrangements of elements from folk, hymn, plainchant, and other sources. A suitably stately “Royal March” leads into an oboe-led “Greensleeves,” jubilant “Dances,” desolate “Intermezzo,” and dignified “Finale.”

Reconstructed by David Owen Norris from orchestral parts and edited by Riley, the overture Vaughan Williams wrote in 1913 for Henry V appears in all its exultant glory. Originally scored for two mezzo-sopranos with piano accompaniment, the gentle, rather Copland-esque “Dirge for Fidele” (1922) appears here in a Riley arrangement for strings and harp. At album's end, Two Shakespeare Sketches from ‘The England of Elizabeth' presents two short pieces derived from the composer's penultimate film score, The England of Elizabeth (1955). Based on two sixteenth-century songs and arranged by Muir Mathieson, “The Wind and the Rain” and “It was a Lover and His Lass” conclude the recording upliftingly with charming folk dance expressions.

In diametric contrast to the album's instrumental settings are the songs performed by Irving and Riley, the first, “The Willow Song” (1897), delivered with stirring resonance by the singer and pianist. Though the song's a lament for lost love, one will come away from it with Irving's repeated “Sing willow, willow, willow, willow my garland shall be” lingering long after it's over. Irving also elevates “Orpheus with His Lute” (1903) with her lovely, vibrato-sweetened voice, the song's text taken from Henry VIII. As memorable is the material Vaughan Williams wrote in 1925 for Three Songs From Shakespeare, with the second, “When Icicles Hang From the Wall,” exuding the irreverence and playfulness of the earlier songs. Whereas “Take O Take Those Lips Away” is sober, “Orpheus With His Lute”—the vocal treatment arriving twenty-two years after the initial instrumental version—is an evocation lovely for its serene, swoon-inducing tone.

Under Ross's assured guiding hand, Kent Sinfonia and the recitalists deliver unerring performances of the composer's material. Royal Throne of Kings is, needless to say, an abundantly rich gathering of musical treasures that for Vaughan Williams devotees and scholars will be regarded as indispensable and for others offers a deeply rewarding listen.

November 2024