The raison d'être of this gorgeous composition is the text taken from the Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, sung by 16 soloists. Yet Vaughan Williams also arranged it without the vocal parts and that version minus Shakespeare's words is what gets more performances. VW, being the master melodist that he was, still holds our interest even with the purely instrumental arrangement. But the vocal version is in my opinion a masterpiece. VW was careful not to call the vocalists a chorus. Each singer gets a prominent solo part. That certainly makes this version expensive to perform and is probably why we don't hear it too often. I do like this staging which places each of the singers apart from each other, emphasizing their soloist status.
It’s was live stream concert during the pandemic with a limited audience on the 10 of December 2020. Edward Gardner conducting the Bergen Philharmonic and Edvard Grieg Choir, Norway
Michael
...thank you for the notes, they bring an appreciation even more!
Magical.
The raison d'être of this gorgeous composition is the text taken from the Merchant of Venice by Shakespeare, sung by 16 soloists. Yet Vaughan Williams also arranged it without the vocal parts and that version minus Shakespeare's words is what gets more performances. VW, being the master melodist that he was, still holds our interest even with the purely instrumental arrangement. But the vocal version is in my opinion a masterpiece.
VW was careful not to call the vocalists a chorus. Each singer gets a prominent solo part. That certainly makes this version expensive to perform and is probably why we don't hear it too often. I do like this staging which places each of the singers apart from each other, emphasizing their soloist status.
please can we know more about this performance
It’s was live stream concert during the pandemic with a limited audience on the 10 of December 2020. Edward Gardner conducting the Bergen Philharmonic and Edvard Grieg Choir, Norway
@@sashakagan thanks