Vaughan Williams - The Early Chamber Music

RECORD OF THE WEEK (THE SUNDAY TIMES)
PREMIOS CD COMPACT 2002 (CHAMBER)
10 DE REPERTOIRE
PICK OF THE MONTH (THE STRAD)

'This set would draw interest even if it didn't contain five world premiere recordings, such is the quality and insight of the music-making'
(BBC Music Magazine)

'This revelatory collection of early chamber works by the giant of the 20th-century English style is fascinating and captivating' (The Scotsman)

'The Nash's playing is simply outstanding and makes the best possible case for giving many of these works a permanent place in the repertoire' (Daily Telegraph)

'exuberant, robust, immensely likeable music (The Nash Ensemble obviously love playing it)' (Classic FM Magazine)

It is hard to imagine the discontent of a composer responsible for some of the most beautiful music ever written. However, it seems that the over-zealous self-criticism of the youthful Ralph Vaughan Williams has denied the world the pleasure of much of his early chamber music, banished to a cupboard for up to a hundred years … until now!
Vaughan Williams destroyed many of his earliest works, for which the world can only mourn the loss. Other early manuscripts, mercifully, were stored away, and following his death in 1958, donated by his widow to the British Library. Understandably, there have been many requests to investigate and perform these works over the years, and to avoid the increasing threat of piracy and unedited versions, R.V.W. Ltd and Faber Music have worked together to produce authorized editions.

Together with a number of more familiar works, there are five previously unrecorded works on this disc, three of which Gustav Holst would have been familiar with in 1903 when he wrote to his great friend: "your best - your most profound and beautiful style or 'atmosphere' - is an indescribable sort of feeling as if one was listening to very lovely lyrical poetry".

The performances by The Nash Ensemble on this extraordinary 2-CD set secure that this treasure chest is one to cherish.