Description
Albion's 2013 recording from The Friary, Liverpool, with Paul Daniel and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, including world premières of early and late works by Vaughan Williams was warmly received by Classic FM and went on to be nominated for a Grammy award.
Vaughan Williams was just thirty when he composed The Solent in 1902 and eighty when he completed the Prelude on an Old Carol Tune in 1952. Over this astonishing period, the music is recognisably Vaughan Williams. On release, in September 2013, this recording was heavily endorsed by Classic FM, and sold very well indeed. It was nominated for "Best Classical Compendium" in the February 2015 Grammy Awards.
Roland Wood was born in Berkshire and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Patrick McGuigan and Robert Alderson, then at the National Opera Studio. In 2012 he sang the title roles of Bunyan and The Pilgrim in an acclaimed new production of Vaughan Williams's 'The Pilgrim's Progress' at ENO. He also features on ALBCD018 Vaughan Williams: Stars of the Night. Andrew Kennedy was a chorister at Durham Cathedral, and then a Choral Scholar at King's College, Cambridge. In 2005, he won the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Rosenblatt Recital Prize.
Nicholas Bootiman (viola) was born near Munich, Germany, where he started his first music lessons. He composes as a hobby, and as conductor co-directs the Reuleaux Ensemble.
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1840 and is the UK's oldest continuing professional symphony orchestra. Paul Daniel CBE became Music Director of the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine in 2013 and is also currently Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of Galicia. Paul conducts the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on ALBCD012 Vaughan Williams: The Garden of Proserpine.
Reviews
Andrew Kennedy brings a wholly disarming eloquence and infectious fervour to the Four Hymns of 1912-14… and Roland Wood lends splendidly lusty advocacy to those three indelible songs comprising Book I of the Songs of Travel in the composer's orchestration from 1905.
A tremendously rewarding and consistently absorbing compendium, this, flawlessly performed under Paul Daniel's idiomatic direction, and beautifully engineered to boot. A mandatory acquisition for all RVW acolytes. --Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone Magazine, November 2013
This is a major undertaking by Albion Records, and deserves to succeed as it is a triumph. --David Barker, Musicweb International
Clearly impressed by the Three Impressions, the RLPO and Paul Daniel perform them excellently, and the other items also. --Malcolm Hayes, BBC Music Magazine