Susie Allan - Vaughan Williams - a Birthday Garland - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

SOMM RECORDINGS is delighted to announce Vaughan Williams - A Birthday Garland, the debut on disc of baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Susie Allan's popular concert tribute to Ralph Vaughan Williams originally marking the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth in 2022.Curating a Inchfantasy birthday party concertInch in tribute to Inchthe grand-daddy of 20th-century English songInch, Williams has assembled pieces by RVW and 18 fellow composers. The result is a wide-ranging celebration of the rich variety of English song over a century and more that pays tribute to Vaughan Williams' influence with songs inspired by poets ranging from Shakespeare and Tennyson to W.B. Yeats and Walt Whitman.First recordings include Herbert Howell's The Sorrow of Love, a setting of the Irish poet Seamus O'Sullivan; Sarah Cattley's A Square and Candle-lighted Boat, treating verses by RVW's cousin, Frances Cornford; and Roderick Williams' own distinctive take on William Blake's The Shepherd.The 30-song recital includes songs by RVW's teachers (Stanford, Parry, Wood, Bruch, Ravel), friends (Holst, Gurney, Howells, Butterworth, Finzi and others), and pupils (Grace Williams, Ina Boyle, Ruth Gipps, Elizabeth Maconchy and Madeleine Dring). Vaughan Williams' biographer Simon Heffer provides authoritative booklet notes.SOMM's previous Vaughan Williams releases include the widely acclaimed four-volume Vaughan Williams Live series (SOMM ARIADNE 5016, 5018, 5019-2, 5020); Mark Bebbington and Rebeca Omordia's InchcompellingInch (International Piano) survey of his Piano Music (SOMMCD 0164); and the Inchpriceless documentInch (MusicWeb International) coupling the Fifth Symphony and Dona nobis pace (SOMMCD 071).Roderick Williams and Susie Allan's previous SOMM releases include Celebrating English Song (SOMMCD 0177), lauded by Gramophone as Incha treatInch; the Ivor Gurney-focused Severn & Somme (