English Landscapes

ARNOLD BAX (1883-1953)
1. Tintagel

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
2. The Lark Ascending

GERALD FINZI (1901-1956)
3. The Fall of the Leaf – Elegy for Orchestra, Op.20

RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
4. Norfolk Rhapsody No.1

FREDERICK DELIUS (1862 – 1934)
Two pieces for small orchestra, RT VI/19
5. II – Summer Night on the River
6. I – On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring

EDWARD ELGAR (1857-1934)
7. As Torrents in Summer (from ‘King Olaf’)

JOHN IRELAND (1879-1962)
8. The Hills

‘The Hallé’s exceptional leader, Lyn Fletcher, delivered a fleetingly evanescent account of The Lark Ascending.’

The Guardian

The latest release on the Hallé label brings together a stunning collection of works inspired by the English landscape including the ever popular Tintagel and Norfolk Rhapsody No.1.

Vaughan Williams’s hauntingly beautiful The Lark Ascending is one of his most enduringly popular works, with its title taken from a poem by George Meredith. This serence romance may seem simple and yet it is of considerable originality, capturing the idyllic mood of a pre-1914 England.

This CD also features Finzi’s rarely-performed minature tone poem, The Fall of the Leaf. At Finzi’s death the piece, originally a piano duet, was only partly orchestrated and it was left to his life-long friend, Howard Ferguson, to complete the score.

The first performance of The Fall of the Leaf was given by the Hallé under the direction of Sir John Barbirolli on 11 December 1957.