Vaughan Williams: A Song of Thanksgiving

This page lists all recordings of A Song of Thanksgiving, by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) on CD. Generally, more recent CDs are listed first, but with priority given to items that are in stock.

Words from various sources including The Bible, Shakespeare, and Kipling. For soprano solo, speaker, mixed chorus (SATB), and orchestra.

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Vaughan Williams

Anniversary Collectors Edition

Vaughan Williams:

On Wenlock Edge

George Maran, Ivor Newton (piano)

London String Quartet

Old King Cole

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult

A Song of Thanksgiving

Betty Dolemore (soprano), Robert Speaight (narrator), Harry Gabb (organ)

Luton Choral Society, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult

Serenade to Music

BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Henry Wood

“Massachusetts-born George Maran's 1955 Decca recording of On Wenlock Edge… an uncommonly sensitive and intimate rendering… there's no disputing the intoxicating spell cast by dedicatee Sir Henry Wood's October 1938 Columbia recording of the sublime Serenade to Music.” Gramophone Magazine, July 2008

“The sole CD premiere is the 1955 On Wenlock Edge by George Maran, a German-based American tenor - pleasant-toned enough but distinctly previous in enunciation, no match for Pears/Britten, or more recent versions.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2008 ***

Alto - ALC1025

(CD)

$6.99

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Vaughan Williams:

Symphony No. 6 in E minor

A Song of Thanksgiving

The Lark Ascending

Jean Pougnet (violin)

London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Luton Choral Society, Sir Adrian Boult

“No one else conveys that sense of dignified but profound suffering Adrian Boult sees and focuses so admirably in the Second Movement and finale of his 1949 recording.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008

Dutton - CDBP9703

(CD)

$6.99

Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days.

Vaughan Williams - Choral Works

from CDA66420, CDA66655, CDA66511 & CDA66569

Vaughan Williams:

Serenade to Music

Elizabeth Connell (soprano), Amanda Roocroft (soprano), John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Martyn Hill (tenor), Maldwyn Davies (tenor), Anne Dawson (soprano), Linda Kitchen (soprano), Alan Opie (baritone), Gwynne Howell (bass), Sir Thomas Allen (baritone), Sarah Walker (mezzo-soprano), Catherine Wyn-Rogers (mezzosoprano) & John Connell (bass)

English Chamber Orchestra

Fantasia on Christmas Carols

Thomas Allen (baritone)

English Chamber Orchestra

Flos Campi

Nobuko Imai (viola)

English Chamber Orchestra

Five Mystical Songs

Sir Thomas Allen (baritone)

English Chamber Orchestra

Dona Nobis Pacem

A Cantata for soprano and baritone soli, chorus and orchestra

Judith Howarth (soprano) & Thomas Allen (baritone)

Corydon Orchestra

Four Hymns

for tenor, viola and strings

John Mark Ainsley (tenor) & Matthew Souter (viola)

Corydon Orchestra

O Clap Your Hands (Psalm 47)

Lord, Thou has been our refuge

Sir Thomas Allen (baritone)

The Pilgrim's Progress - A Bunyan Sequence

Text and music adapted by Christopher Palmer from the 1942 radio version of The Pilgrim's Progress.

Sir John Gielgud, Richard Pasco, Ursula Howells (speakers), Aidan Oliver (treble)

The City of London Sinfonia

A Song of Thanksgiving

Sir John Gielgud (speaker), Lynne Dawson (soprano) & John Scott (organ)

The London Oratory Junior Choir

Three Choral Hymns

Magnificat

Catherine Wyn-Rogers (mezzo-soprano), Duke Dobing (flute) & Roger Judd (organ)

The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains

Bryn Terfel (baritone), Alan Opie (baritone), Adrian Thompson (tenor), Jonathan Best (bass), John Mark Ainsley (tenor) & Linda Kitchen (soprano)

The Hundredth Psalm

Corydon Singers, Matthew Best

Issued to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Vaughan Williams’s death, this collection is tantalizing: it starts with one of the best-selling discs in the the catalogue, the Serenade to Music, and includes such favourites as the Five Mystical Songs and The Hundreth Psalm. There are also two intriguing pairings: in Dona nobis pacem, RVW warns of the impending doom of WWII, in A song of thanksgiving we hear his moving response to its successful conclusion; in The shepherds of the delectable mountains we hear an early working of Bunyan’s literary masterpiece, later extensively reworked in the landmark 1942 BBC radio production of The Pilgrim’s Progress featuring Sir John Gielgud and reprised here, this time in condensed form.

“The performances are splendid, graced by such soloists as Thomas Allen (Dona nobis pacem, Five Mystical Songs) and Bryn Terfel (The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains)..The rapturous Serenade to Music has a cast of 16 singers fit to rival those of the original recording. Anne Dawson’s top note on the word “music” is spine-tingling.” Sunday Times, 1st June 2008 ****

“Performances like these don’t come along very often; each one is an absolute winner, and with rich, atmospheric recording quality the satisfaction is of a very special quality” CD Review

“Best has a fine sense of VW as a dramatic composer, bringing tremendous urgency to Dona Nobis Pacem and real passion to the Five Mystical Songs. Best's Serenade to Music is the original, not least in matching the star quality of the singers, but also in its magical atmosphere. He equally evokes VW's sensuous side, not only in Flos Campi but also in the Magnificat with its ecstatic writing for female voices.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 *****

Up to 40% off Box Sets

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Hyperion - CDS44321/4

(CD - 4 discs)

Normally: $28.49

Special: $21.36

In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day.

Vaughan Williams - The Collector’s Edition

Vaughan Williams:

Symphonies Nos. 1-9

Joan Rogers (soprano), William Shimell (baritone), Alison Barlow (soprano)

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley

Oboe Concerto in A minor

Jonathan Small (oboe)

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley

Serenade to Music

choral version

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley

Partita for double string orchestra

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley

The Wasps - Aristophanic Suite

London Philharmonic Orchestra & Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley

Prelude and Fugue in C minor

London Philharmonic Orchestra & Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley

Piano Concerto in C major

Piers Lane (piano)

London Philharmonic Orchestra & Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley

Piano Concerto in C for two pianos

Vitya Vronsky & Victor Babin

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult

Serenade to Music

16 soloists

London Symphony Orchestra & New Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult

English Folk Song Suite

(orchestral)

London Symphony Orchestra & New Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult

Norfolk Rhapsody No. 1

London Symphony Orchestra & New Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult

The Lark Ascending

London Symphony Orchestra & New Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

English Folk Song Suite

(band)

Concerto Grosso for String Orchestra

Tuba Concerto in F minor

Serenade to Music

(orchestral)

Northern Sinfonia of England, Richard Hickox

Old King Cole

Northern Sinfonia of England, Richard Hickox

Five Mystical Songs

Northern Sinfonia of England, Richard Hickox

Sea Songs

Northern Sinfonia of England, Richard Hickox

Variations for Brass Band

(orchestral)

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra & Northern SInfonia of England, Richard Hickox

String Quartet No. 1 in G minor

Britten Quartet

Violin Concerto in D minor 'Concerto Accademico'

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra & Northern SInfonia of England, Richard Hickox

Violin Sonata in A minor

Music Group of London

String Quartet No. 2 in A minor

Music Group of London

Toward the Unknown Region

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult

Dona Nobis Pacem

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult

Magnificat

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult

An Oxford Elegy

Kings College Cambridge & London Symphony Orchestra, David Willcocks

Flos Campi

Kings College Cambridge & London Symphony Orchestra, David Willcocks

Whitsunday Hymn

Kings College Cambridge & London Symphony Orchestra, David Willcocks

Sancta Civitas

Kings College Cambridge & London Symphony Orchestra, David Willcocks

Five Tudor Portraits

Bach Choir, New Phil Orch & LSO, David Willcocks

Benedicite

Bach Choir, New Phil Orch & LSO, David Willcocks

Five Variants of ‘Dives and Lazarus'

Bach Choir, New Phil Orch & LSO, David Willcocks

Hodie (A Christmas Cantata)

(w/strings & organ)

Janet Baker

Bach Choir & LSO, David Willcocks

Fantasia on Christmas Carols

(w/orch)

Kings College Cambridge, David Willcocks

All people that on earth do dwell

Kings College Cambridge, David Willcocks

Te Deum in G

Kings College Cambridge, David Willcocks

Household Music

Kings College Cambridge, David Willcocks

Four Hymns

Ian Partridge

Music Group of London

Merciless Beauty

Ian Partridge

Music Group of London

Ten Blake Songs

Ian Partridge

Music Group of London

On Wenlock Edge

Ian Partridge

Music Group of London

House of Life

Anthony Rolfe Johnson & David Willison

Songs of Travel

(piano)

A Song of Thanksgiving

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Adrian Boult

Epithalamion

Meredith Davies

London Philharmonic Orchestra & Orchestra Nova of Londo, David Willcocks

Riders to the Sea

Meredith Davies

London Philharmonic Orchestra & Orchestra Nova of Londo, David Willcocks

Hugh the Drover

Robert Tear / Sheila Armstrong / Michael Rippon & Robert Lloyd

Choristers of St Paul's Cathedral & RPO, Charles Groves

Sir John in Love

Felicity Palmer / Robert Tear / Robert Lloyd & Helen Watts

New Phil Orchestra, Meredith Davies

The Pilgrim's Progress (complete)

& rehearsal sequence

Ian Partridge / John Shirley-Quirk / Jean Temperley & John Noble

LPC / LPO, Adrian Boult

Job - A Masque for Dancing

London Symphony Orchestra, Adrian Boult

Celebrated as the musical poet of the English landscape, Vaughan Williams was also a visionary composer of enormous range: from the pastoral lyricism of The Lark Ascending and the still melancholy of Silent Noon to the violence of the Fourth Symphony and the grand ceremonial of All people that on earth do dwell, he assumed the mantle of Elgar as our national composer. This edition, released to mark the 50th anniversary of his death, presents all the major orchestral, chamber, vocal and stage works, as well as many lesser pieces and rarities, in the finest interpretations. All your favourite Vaughan Williams is here, in over 34 hours of music on 30 CDs

“A convincing and deeply moving showcase… exceptional value… it’s scope breathtaking. This is the essential set, and if you're at all drawn to VW you might as well buy the whole damn show now - because sooner or later you're going to anyway.” BBC Music Magazine, July 2008 *****

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