Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis
Composed in 1910 for the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival, the Fantasia was one of the first major successes for the young Vaughan Williams. He revised the work twice after its first performances, first in 1913 and then again in 1919.
Vaughan Williams based his Fantasia on Thomas Tallis's ‘Third Tune’ which he had already included in the English Hymnal (edited by Vaughan Williams in 1906) as the melody for the hymn 'When Rising from the Bed of Death' by Joseph Addison. Tallis’s original tune was one of nine he contributed to the Psalter of 1567 for the first Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Matthew Parker.
This work, with its pleasing melodies, has featured in several movies. It was played in the 1988 film Remando al viento starring Hugh Grant as Lord Byron, was prominently featured in the 2003 film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World with Russell Crowe, and was seamlessly woven into the post-crucifixion music of John Debney's score to the 2004 film The Passion of the Christ.
Holst St Paul’s Suite (Orch. Version)
Holst met Vaughan Williams in 1895 while they were students at the Royal College of Music and the two remained lifelong friends, although there is little similarity in their music. They depended heavily on one another for lifelong support and assistance and Vaughan Williams introduced Holst to folk songs, which pleased and surprised him with their beauty, and to plainsong hymns, which Holst loved throughout his life.
Around 1904 Holst was appointed Musical Director at St. Paul's Girls' School, Hammersmith, his biggest teaching post and one which he greatly enjoyed, remaining there until his death. When a music wing was added onto the school, a sound-proof teaching room was built for Holst where for nearly twenty years of his remaining lifetime he wrote nearly all of his music. The St. Paul's Suite for the school orchestra was the first composition he wrote there.
Originally written for strings, Holst added wind parts to include an entire orchestra if necessary. The suite incorporates the folksong "Dargason" and the beautiful "Greensleeves".
Elgar Violin Concerto
Commissioned in 1909 when Elgar was at the height of his fame, it is dedicated to the Austrian virtuoso Fritz Kreisler who was the soloist at the first performance on 10 November 1910.
The première of the concerto was Elgar's last great popular success; not even the Second Symphony, Falstaff or the Cello Concerto achieved the immediate popularity of this work or the First Symphony.
The score carries the Spanish inscription, "Aqui está encerrada el alma de ....." ("Herein is enshrined the soul of ....."), a quotation from the novel Gil Blas by Alain-René Lesage. This inscription is one of Elgar's enduring enigmas.
