Both the Folk Songs of the Four Seasons and this arrangement of In Windsor Forest are world premiere recordings. The Folk Songs of the Four Seasons is a substantial work by Vaughan Williams, over 40 minutes long, for women's chorus and orchestra. It is the most significant of his works never to have been recorded in any format. The Folk Songs of the Four Seasons was commissioned by the Women's Institute and first performed in 1950. The work has a Prologue and four sections: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The coupling is the rare arrangement for women's voices, by Guthrie Foote and Vaughan Williams, of the Cantata In Windsor Forest based on choruses from the opera Sir John in Love. This new Albion recording is issued to mark the 90th birthday of Sir David Willcocks on 30 December, 2009. Sir David is world famous for his recordings for EMI and for his work at King's College, Cambridge and the Bach Choir. For Sir David to record another major Vaughan Williams disc at the age of almost 90 is remarkable in itself and will ensure national and international interest in this recording. |
