The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society has done yeoman's work in bringing neglected works by this 20th century composer to light and finding the right performers for them. The group does especially well in the latter capacity here; the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, has not been recorded commensurately with its talents. It's a smaller group that fits well with these functional pieces of religious music, and the singers' articulation and commitment to the texts would largely make the detailed booklet notes here ...
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The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society has done yeoman's work in bringing neglected works by this 20th century composer to light and finding the right performers for them. The group does especially well in the latter capacity here; the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, has not been recorded commensurately with its talents. It's a smaller group that fits well with these functional pieces of religious music, and the singers' articulation and commitment to the texts would largely make the detailed booklet notes here unnecessary if it were not for the wealth of information contained therein. The album contains a pair of world premieres. One is an adaptation of the well-known Mass in G minor as a "Communion Service in G minor" for Anglican services, prefaced by text readings from Anglican bishop Rowan Williams; Vaughan Williams himself had a hand in the arrangements. The other is "By the Bivouac's Fitful Flame," one of the posthumously discovered Three Nocturnes, which were settings of Civil War...
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