Vaughan Williams: Flos Campi

Lawrence Power has established himself as the most sought-after violist of his generation and his sumptuous tone and persuasive interpretations have lead to many comparisons with the pioneering British violist Lionel Tertis. Indeed, the three works on this disc were written for Tertis, who did so much to broaden the instrument’s musical repertoire and raise its status to an accepted solo instrument.

The two Vaughan Williams works display an unabashed romanticism and pastoral elegance. Flos Campi, meaning ‘Flower of the field’, was completed in 1925 and puzzled audiences with its ambiguous form and unusual orchestration.

Despite the prominent solo viola and wordless chorus, it is neither a concerto nor a choral work. The seamless viola line moves in unity with the orchestra and the chorus appears as a body of instruments, creating an effect of mesmerizing beauty and calm. The little-performed Suite for viola and small orchestra was written ten years later and contains some of the composer’s most lyrical inventions.

The lush orchestration and memorable themes in Sir John McEwen’s 1901 concerto expose this large-scale work as a neglected gem of the viola repertoire and Power’s performance is sure to set a new benchmark. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, under the expert and unfailingly sensitive guidance of Martyn Brabbins, provides expert backing throughout.

Arcadia Lost presents a feast for lovers of English music, featuring three Ralph Vaughan Williams’ masterpieces and one of Benjamin Britten’s in performances given by, mostly, Australian musicians. Renowned British conductor Mark Wigglesworth directs the Sydney Symphony Orchestra in three of the works, all recorded live at Sydney Opera House. The viola soloist in Flos Campi is Roger Benedict with the choir Cantillation, while Michael Dauth is the violinist in The Lark Ascending. Following an explosive performance of Britten’s Sinfonia da Requiem, the final work is Vaughan Williams’ song-cycle On Wenlock Edge for tenor, piano and string quartet, performed by Steve Davislim with Benjamin Martin and the Hamer Quartet.

The glistening solo violin of Michael Dauth, concert master of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, captures the lark’s swirling flight in Vaughan Williams’ hugely popular The Lark Ascending. In the composer’s much less well-known Flos Campi (“flower of the field”), the SSO’s principal viola Roger Benedict gives glorious voice to this most passionate music for viola, chorus and orchestra. The Song of Solomon, one of the greatest love poems in all literature, is at the heart of this evocative piece.

In On Wenlock Edge tenor Steve Davislim brings the greatest tenderness and drama to the six settings of A.E. Houseman’s A Shropshire Lad poems, which in Michael Kennedy’s description in the booklet notes “tell of unrequited or unfaithful love and of soldiers marching away to die in foreign fields”. The brilliant young Hamer Quartet and pianist Benjamin Martin vividly underscore the tumultuous emotions of the work.

Now rightfully acknowledged as a towering figure, Vaughan Williams was the first composer to write in the English language, using folksong in the Norfolk Rhapsody, a Tudor hymn in the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, and absorbing and transforming his influences in the stunningly beautiful Serenade to Music.

During the 16th and 17th centuries England had been a leading participant in the delevopment of European music, but after the early death of Purcell in 1695, music in England came to be dominated by musicians of foreign origin: notably Handel and Mendelssohn. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) is the best-known of a new generation of composers that came after Elgar and made up what became known as the English Musical Renaissance. Along with Gustav Holst, Vaughan Williams travelled the country collecting and preserving English folksong traditions, and was largely responsible for the revival of interest in folksong. So strong was his interest in the subject that, like Holst, folksong was absorbed into his compositional style and was to influence his concert music, giving it a uniquely English quality. Starting with the evocative Thomas Tallis Fantasia, (RVW's look back at his great 16th-century predecessor) this set contains some of the composer's best-known and most-loved music, including the popular Fantasia on Greensleeves and the beautiful Lark Ascending.