Question:
Among the CDs I just received from Vanguard's going out of
business sale is one of Alfred Deller et cie singing Vaughan
Williams folksong settings. I'm disappointed. It'd good enough on
its own, but not in comparison with what I hear in my mental ear.
I first became familiar with this repertory on an Everest LP,
with Imogen Holst directing the Holst Singers. That recording was
much more full-bodied. Deller's piping, hollow voice just doesn't
cut it. The Everest LP, btw, included iirc the English Folksong
suite for viola and piano and maybe one or two other items
besides the folksong settings.
The LP was licensed, probably from EMI.
A few years ago I mounted a methodical search for a CD release of
the Imogen Holst-led recording and came up with no leads. There
was no sign it had ever made it to CD.
But knowing that the internet is full of people with extremely
thorough knowledge, let me ask: have these IH-led performances of
VW folksong settings ever made it to CD? If so, does anyone have
any idea where I could find a copy other than watching the
auction and second-hand sites?
Alternatively, is there any decent CD release of VW folksong
settings that isn't infested with counter-tenors and falsettists?
Answer:
Some Imogen Holst recordings were also issued by World Record Club in the
early 60s. I have a 1963 recording of theirs (on LP) called "English Folk
Songs" with the Purcell Singers, Rosamunde Strode (sop) and Patrick Shuldham
Shaw (bar) accompanied by Daphne Ibbott and directed by Imogen Holst. The
record also includes the six studies on English folk song for viola and
piano (violist is Jean Stewart). WRC did release quite a bit of Everest and
Westminster material at around this time but this looks like one of their
own recordings.
WRC was taken over by EMI sometime later in the 60s but I cannot recall
seeing this recording ever being re-issued in any format unlike, for
instance, her recordings of her father's Choral Fantasia and Psalm 86, which
were also made by WRC and re-issued on CD by EMI.
And, no, I'm not prepared to part with my LP copy!
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