Ralph Vaughan Williams: Rise, Heart

I was introduced to Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs through the legendary recording by John Shirley-Quirk, with the King’s College Choir and English Chamber Orchestra under David Willcocks (HMV ASD 2458). This has been my go-to version since the early 1970s, and I suspect that will not change. It successfully captures the grand scale of the work’s premiere at Worcester Cathedral on 14 September 1911, though RVW noted the chorus was ad lib.

Whilst there have been arrangements for wind ensemble and for solo piano accompaniment, this new Albion disc features the c.1925 arrangement for baritone, piano and string quintet. This is ideally suited for small ensembles, church performances, or intimate recitals.

Bearing in mind that RVW was not a “man of faith” in the traditional sense, but a self-described “cheerful agnostic,” the ethos of Five Mystical Songs is best understood as a spiritual journey. But it is important to add that he was deeply sympathetic to Christian liturgy, theology, and devotional language. The “cycle” becomes the point where three trajectories meet: the world of personal faith, George Herbert’s luminous poetry, and the composer’s instinctive English musical pastoralism. This is not a conventional song cycle but a bit like a private devotional journal set to music. Herbert’s poetry here feels less mystical than numinous, with an emphasis on human tenderness, vulnerability, and wonder. It is Christianity seen through the lens of the English countryside, where the sacred and the pastoral breathe the same air.

Roderick Williams, the Sacconi Quartet, Levi Andreassen, double bass, and pianist William Vann bring a warmth and instrumental colour that far exceeds the piano-only edition. It is a beautiful, deeply felt account.

In 1905 RVW published two settings of poems by Christina Rossetti. The melancholic When I am Dead, My Dearest considers an acceptance of death’s calm, inviting remembrance or forgetting, both without sorrow. Equally melancholic both in words and music is Dreamland where the poet has chosen a twilight journey into eternal rest, beyond sorrow or waking. Both have been recorded on Albion Records (ALBCD002) but this is the first recording with “a male protagonist.” They are both heartbreakingly lovely.

The liner notes explain that all eighty-one of Vaughan Williams folksongs have been issued on the Albion label (ALBCD042-45). For the present disc Roderick Williams has chosen eight of these and arranged them for string quartet. I think that they would make an effective song cycle, although there is no obvious connecting theme. The singer expresses the hope that these will provide a strong introduction to RVW’s folksongs.

Willow-Wood is a cantata based on four poems from Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s sonnet sequence The House of Life. It was composed in 1903, around the same time as his famous Silent Noon. The cantata was premiered at the St James’s Hall, London on 12 March of that year, by J. Campbell McInnes, baritone, and Evlyn Howard-Jones, piano.

In Rossetti’s poems, the ‘Wood’ is an imaginary landscape where Love and Loss meet. Contemporary critics felt the songs themselves were seen as “turbulent, shadowy, and melancholy.” Some suggested that the cantata needed an orchestra, as “its complexities and its breadth seem to demand an orchestral medium.”   The composer duly orchestrated it for a performance in 1909, adding a wordless female chorus. RVW himself was not happy with the final iteration, scrawling in his copy of the vocal score, “first (and last) performance…complete flop.” 

The programme notes pose the question: Does the cantata tell a story? It concludes that Willow-Wood is “a song of love and grief, love lost and love remembered. Poetry stands precedent over narrative and finds further expression in music.”

Whether this challenging work will ever become ‘popular’ is arguable. I find it just a touch too melancholy. That said, Roderick Williams champions its wide ranging and demanding vocal part with conviction.

The booklet text has been compiled by John Francis and provides clear information about the songs. The texts are printed. Resumes of the performers have been included. The booklet is beautifully illustrated, and the cover features a detail from the Ralph Vaughan Williams memorial window at All Saints, Down Ampney.

This is a deeply moving exploration of Vaughan Williams’ more intimate side, where Roderick Williams brings a rare, human warmth to both the well-loved Herbert settings and the shadowy rarities of Rossetti.

Contents
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Five Mystical Songs (1911) (arranged by Vaughan Williams for baritone, piano and string quintet): Easter; I Got Me Flowers; Love Bade Me Welcome; The Call; Antiphon.
Songs for voice and piano: When I am Dead, My Dearest (1903); Dreamland (1905)
Folk Song arrangements (Vaughan Williams’s piano accompaniments adapted
for string quartet by Roderick Williams): Captain Grant; The Saucy Bold Robber; She’s Like the Swallow; Proud Nancy; Barbara Ellen; The Brewer; O Who is That That Raps at My Window; Harry the Tailor
Willow-Wood (1903, revised 1909) for baritone and piano.
Roderick Williams (baritone); Sacconi Quartet, Levi Andreassen (double bass), William Vann (piano)
rec. 16-18 July 2025, St George’s Headstone, London 

Albion Records ALBCD 070

With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.