Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge, Piano Quintet & Romance and Pastoral

Album review

Among Vaughan Williams devotees, the song cycle On Wenlock Edge from 1909 is celebrated as the composer's first truly characteristic work. With its ecstatic melodies, modal harmonies, and above all its ardent embrace of the English pastoral tradition, On Wenlock Edge provides the musical and expressive template for much of the composer's later music. The other two works here, however, are much less well known even among Vaughan Williams' devotees. The Romance and Pastorale for violin and piano written sometime before 1914 has had just two previous recordings, while the Piano Quintet from 1905 has had only one. With its full-bodied Brahmsian textures and warm-hearted Schubertian melodies, the Piano Quintet sounds wholly unlike the later Vaughan Williams until its closing Fantasia's rhapsodic sweep hints at it. On the other hand, the Romance and Pastorale do anticipate the mature composer in their clean textures, long-limbed melodies, and modal harmonies.
But whether the work is well known or nearly unknown, the performances here by London's Schubert Ensemble are consistently successful in making a strong case for the music. The quintet is muscular, but sensitive, with a burnished tone and an aggressive ensemble that suits the piece. Violinist Simon Blendis and pianist William Howard likewise turn in performances of the Romance and Pastorale that fulfill the works' expressive intent. With a powerfully poetic interpretation by strong but sensitive tenor Mark Padmore, the Schubert Ensemble's On Wenlock Edge takes its place with the finest recorded performances of the work. Recorded in clear but evocative digital sound, this disc should be heard by all Vaughan Williams' devotees.

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