Albion Records releases I have lived and loved - songs by Vaughan Williams, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, John Raynor and Percy Grainger, with mezzo-soprano Kathryn Rudge, tenor Alessandro Fisher and pianist Penelope Thwaites, on 12 September 2025.
John Francis from Albion Records writes: 'Plans for this album, devised by Penelope Thwaites, celebrates the depth and richness of folk music's influence on the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams and his contemporary and friend, Percy Grainger. Vaughan Williams's great cycle, Songs of Travel, here sung for the first time by a woman, is a masterful evocation of this spirit. There is ample historical evidence for women singing and recording these songs, from Ada Crossley under Sir Henry Wood in 1910 to later singers such as Dame Janet Baker, but on record the Cycle has been a male preserve until now.
'Folk influence' is more than musical. Its roots are in the lives of individuals: an unconscious need to express happenings and the feelings thus provoked. Love and its never-ending complexities is the main impulse, expressed beautifully in the album's Vaughan Williams's operatic songs: love of people, of the natural world and endless connections between the two.
We are proud to present Penelope Thwaite's concept for this pioneering recording with Kathryn Rudge. Alessandro Fisher sings three songs from Vaughan Williams’s operas. We then hear two songs from Vaughan Williams’s former pupil, Peggy Glanville-Hicks (another Australian) and two from John Raynor – a composer for whom Vaughan Williams once sponsored a concert, but whose music has not been recorded until now. Percy Grainger contributes six songs and three duets to conclude the album. The contrasts within this group are remarkable: you will find pathos, humour, and in the final wordless duet, his love for his native Australia.'
Kathryn Rudge, Penelope Thwaites and Alessandro Fisher
Penelope Thwaites AM is known internationally as a concert pianist, composer, broadcaster, editor and festival curator. She has performed in 35 countries, including as soloist with leading orchestras including the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic and many more throughout Europe, America and Australia. She is acknowledged as a leading exponenet of the music of Percy Grainger, and is editor of The New Percy Grainger Companion.
Kathryn Rudge studied at RNCM, has won numerous awards and was an ENO Harewood Artist, a YCAT artist and a BBC New Generation Artist. She has featured on many recordings including Parry’s Judith with the London Mozart Players (Chandos, 2020).
Alessandro Fisher won First Prize at the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and was a member of the BBC New Generation Artist Scheme between 2018 and 2021. This is his second recording for Albion Records; the first was ALBCD057 Portraits of a Mind, with William Vann, piano, and the Navarra String Quartet, comprising song cycles by Ian Venables and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The recording was made at Potton Hall, Suffolk, in July 2024. The Producer was Tim Burton and Engineer Deborah Spanton, both of K&A Productions.
Kathryn Rudge studied at RNCM, has won numerous awards and was an ENO Harewood Artist, a YCAT artist and a BBC New Generation Artist. She has featured on many recordings including Parry’s Judith with the London Mozart Players (Chandos, 2020).
Alessandro Fisher won First Prize at the 2016 Kathleen Ferrier Awards and was a member of the BBC New Generation Artist Scheme between 2018 and 2021. This is his second recording for Albion Records; the first was ALBCD057 Portraits of a Mind, with William Vann, piano, and the Navarra String Quartet, comprising song cycles by Ian Venables and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The recording was made at Potton Hall, Suffolk, in July 2024. The Producer was Tim Burton and Engineer Deborah Spanton, both of K&A Productions.
|
|
|
Pre-release Singles
|
|
|