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Vaughan Williams. Jim Westhead rev
Posted by Terence on April 29, 2022, 12:28 am
I am a great admirer of RVW's songs. I love The Five Mystical Songs, particularly 'Easter'. And RVW'S most beautiful song of them all is 'Orpheus with His Lute'. But Wenlock Edge is a true masterpiece, and the finest interpreter is John Mark Ainsley; an astonishing performance and a desert-island disk for me.
Assuming you mean the Nash Ensemble/Ainsley Hyperion disc it is a very fine performance I agree. Especially so in the context of the whole programme which includes RVW's "other" Housman cycle "Along the Field" which I think is a work of genius but far too little known.
BUT(!) for Wenlock Edge alone, for me, no-one has ever bettered the extraordinary performance by Ian Partridge and the Music Group of London which would be one of my all-time great recordings of anything. If we are on adjacent desert islands we can compare notes!
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I am a great admirer of RVW's songs. I love The Five Mystical Songs, particularly 'Easter'. And RVW'S most beautiful song of them all is 'Orpheus with His Lute'. But Wenlock Edge is a true masterpiece, and the finest interpreter is John Mark Ainsley; an astonishing performance and a desert-island disk for me.