Vaughan Williams: Riders to the Sea; Epithalamion; Merciless Beauty at Music Hills.com

Riders to the Sea, opera: "Where is she?"
Riders to the Sea, opera: "Where is the bit of new rope"
Riders to the Sea, opera: "Wait, Nora"
Riders to the Sea, opera: "You didn't give him his bit of bread?"
Riders to the Sea, opera: "Bartley will be lost now"
Riders to the Sea, opera: "They are all gone now"
Merciless Beauty, rondels (3) for soprano or tenor, 2 violins & cello (or voice & piano): No. 1, "Your eyen two"
Merciless Beauty, rondels (3) for soprano or tenor, 2 violins & cello (or voice & piano): No. 2, "So hath your beauty"
Merciless Beauty, rondels (3) for soprano or tenor, 2 violins & cello (or voice & piano): No. 3, "Since I from love"
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 1, "Prologue": "Early, before the worl
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 2, "Wake Now": "Wake now, my love, awa
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 3, "The Calling of the Bride": "Now is
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 4, "The Minstrels": "Hark how the mini
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 5, "Procession of the Bride": "Lo! whe
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 6, "The Temple Gates": "Open the templ
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 7, "The Bell Ringers": "Ring y the bel
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 8, "The Lover's Song": "Ah! When will
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 9, "The Minstrel's Song": "Now welomce
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 10, "Song of the Winged Loves": "The w
Epithalamion, cantata for baritone, chorus & string orchestra (based on 'The Bridal Day'): No. 11, "Prayer to Juno": "And thou, great

Music reviews of Vaughan Williams: Riders to the Sea; Epithalamion; Merciless Beauty

Music Review: Vaughan Williams operatic masterpiece
Rating: 5 Stars

The music and text are closely integrated in a symphonic way. The score calls for a sea machine which is used in an atmospheric way similar to the way RVW uses the wind machine in Sinfonia Antartica. There are no numbers and the atmosphere is somewhat grim throughout, as can be imagined. It needs close listening to reveal all its secrets. Maurya's final, long aria is very beautiful and emotionally very powerful and the opera ends in unexpected repose.

The three Chaucer Rondels, 'Merciless Beauty', is here recorded with tenor and string trio. The disc is completed by the cantata 'Epithalamion', which is something of a rarity. Epithalamion is a song or poem in praise of the bride and bridegroom and the composer's cantata derives from a masque he wrote in 1939 based on poems by Edmund Spenser. The dances were removed to produce the work which is for baritone, chorus, piano, flute and string orchestra. Lasting for over half an hour, it is a considerable work in the composers most lyrical vein and it ought to be better known.

All the performances are first rate, particularly Helen Watts as Maurya. The recording of the opera dates from 1971 but wears its age lightly. The other recordings date from 1987.