Two Warlock Carols, Plus More from the English Singers

Several years ago I presented a few carols as performed by the pioneering English Singers, including "Corpus Christi" by the remarkable English composer Peter Warlock (Philip Heseltine).

Today we have another version of "Corpus Christi," performed by the BBC Chorus, along with a second Warlock song, "A Cornish Christmas Carol."

At the same time, I've done a new transfer of the English Singers' 78. The coupling for "Corpus Christi" is a setting of "The Holly and the Ivy" by Rutland Boughton. Also there are three new seasonal songs from the English Singers, also dating from the late 1920s:

• "In Dulci Jubilo" in a setting by R.L. Pearsall
• William Byrd's "O Christ Who Art the Light"
• "The Wassail Song" in the Ralph Vaughan Williams arrangement

Leslie Woodgate

See my 2013 English Singers post for more on this important group.

The BBC Chorus recordings, which come from 1936, are conducted by BBC choral director Leslie Woodgate. The soloists in "Corpus Christi" are contralto Ann Wood and the young tenor Peter Pears, making what may be his first recording.

"A Cornish Christmas Carol" is a setting of a text is by Henry Jenner in a translation by Trelawny Dayrell Reed. Warlock makes use of "Nowell, Nowell" in his setting.

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More Vaughan Williams Vocal Works in Historic Performances

This is a companion post to the recent item on my other blog presenting songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams in historic performances - "On Wenlock Edge" with Steuart Wilson and "Linden Lea" and "Silent Noon" with John McCormack.

Today we have three more leading English singers in notable Vaughan Williams performances - Astra Desmond, Roy Henderson and Heddle Nash. Also included is the first recording of the composer's "Serenade to Music," as led by its dedicatee, Sir Henry Wood, and sung by 16 famous artists of the era, including Desmond, Henderson and Nash.

The earliest solo work on the program is Desmond's performance of "Linden Lea," dating from 1941 and accompanied by the ubiquitous and always welcome Gerald Moore. As with all these singers, Desmond (1893-1973) was identified with the composer's music. Vaughan Williams had dedicated his Magnificat to the contralto in 1932.

Next are two 1944 recordings from one of the leading baritones of the era, Roy Henderson (1899-2000), who has appeared on my other site in George Butterworth's "Shropshire Lad" settings. Henderson performs "Silent Noon" and "Orpheus with His Lute," a setting of a passage from Shakespeare's Henry VIII. As with the "Serenade to Music," we have one of the author's remarkable odes to the power of music. Henderson's accompanist is Eric Gritton.

Finally we come to perhaps the leading English tenor of the time, Heddle Nash (1894-1961). His 1952 recordings include "Silent Noon" and "The Vagabond." The latter is best-known piece in Vaughan Williams's settings of Robert Lewis Stevenson, Songs of Travel. Here, as with many of the composer's works, he has chosen poems with a solitary protagonist who is seeking to become one with the natural world: "Wealth I seek not, hope nor love, / Nor a friend to know me; / All I seek, the heaven above, / And the road below me." Again, Gerald Moore is the accompanist.

The "Serenade to Music," with a text adapted from a passage in The Merchant of Venice, is one of Vaughan Williams' most beautiful and best loved compositions. He wrote the work for Henry Wood on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of his first conducting engagement. In the score, Vaughan Williams indicated solo passages for 16 leading vocalists of the day: sopranos Isobel Baillie, Lilian Stiles-Allen, Elsie Suddaby and Eva Turner, contraltos Muriel Brunskill, Astra Desmond, Mary Jarred and Margaret Balfour, tenors Heddle Nash, Frank Titterton, Walter Widdop and Parry Jones, baritones Roy Henderson and Harold Williams, and basses Robert Easton and Norman Allin.

Sir Henry led the first performance on October 5, 1938, and recorded the work with the 16 soloists and the BBC Symphony 10 days later.

In addition to song texts, the download includes a table detailing the solo passages in the "Serenade to Music." The songs were remastered from files on the site of the AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music. The source of the "Serenade to Music" was a circa 1980s reissue as reworked by me. The resulting sound is very good.

Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sir Henry Wood

Gogi Grant and Songs from 'The Big Beat'

The year 1958 was a busy one for vocalist Gogi Grant. With a new contract from RCA Victor, the talented singer was soon at work on three solo LPs, three musicals in studio versions, various singles, and one film, which resulted in this EP.

The Big Beat was a teen exploitation flick that somehow shoehorned 16 musical acts into its 82-minute running time. I haven't seen the film - copies are apparently scarce - but the plot had something to do with a young fellow trying to convince his record-mogul father to sign new acts that would appeal to the teen market. Despite this premise, the musical acts in view are almost entirely old-school standbys, many of whom would not have been considered hip 20 years before. Hey, kids, want to hear some Russ Morgan and Freddy Martin?

The only quasi-rock acts on hand were Fats Domino, the Del-Vikings and the Diamonds (who were actually a cover group, but let's not quibble). Grant turned up as a well-known vocalist and apparently sang the four tunes on this EP, which may be the only vinyl souvenir of the film.

Gogi Grant in The Big Beat with that old rock-n-roller, Harry James

Grant does well by the songs. While not memorable, all are presentable. The anonymous big-band backing on "Lazy Love" has faux-R&B touches for a more up-to-date sound. "I Waited So Long" is a pretty ballad that elicits an impassioned vocal from Grant. It has a good arrangement, too, which is more than can be said for "Call Me," which employs a chorus to coo "ding-a-ling" as Gogi emotes her plea for telephonic contact. "You've Never Been in Love" is another pleasant pre-fab ballad; Grant's vocal skill makes the most of this material.

As a bonus, I've added Grant's two hit records to the download, made for the small Era label in 1955. Ironically both songs, "The Wayward Wind" and "Suddenly There's a Valley," are superior to the RCA material.

"The Wayward Wind" is a second cousin lyrically to Lerner and Loewe's "Wand'rin' Star" from the Paint Your Wagon score. It was a major hit for Grant. "Suddenly There's a Valley" is one of a number of inspirational songs popular during the period. Here, too, Gogi is effectively impassioned, and Buddy Bregman's backing is good.

Grant sued Era to get out of her contract, went with RCA in 1958, then was on to Liberty a year later, where she completed just one LP. Afterward, there were only a few albums for small labels.

Throughout this period, she had some terrible luck with art departments. The photo above isn't especially flattering, but check out her first Era LP and this monstrosity from Liberty.

By the way, The Big Beat was reportedly released as a double-feature with another teensploitation film. Summer Love. You can find the soundtrack to that epic on my other blog. Also there: a new post with Grant's studio recording of the Kiss Me, Kate songs with Howard Keel and Anne Jeffreys.

Billboard ad from April 1958