The Pilgrim's Progress on internet radio

My two photos were taken at the sessions in November 1970 and January 1971 for Sir Adrian Boult's classic EMI recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams morality The Pilgrims Progress, which is based on John Bunyan's allegory of the same name. The recording was made in the Kingsway Hall, and Sir Adrian can be seen conducting the soloists, and London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir above.

The lower photo was taken in the control room during a playback, and shows from left to right, Ursula Vaughan Williams, Christopher Bishop (producer), Sir Adrian Boult, John Noble (The Pilgrim), Ian Partridge, Gloria Jennings, Christopher Parker (balance engineer), in front John Alldis (chorus master) and Sheila Armstrong. Photo credits Godfrey McDominic/EMI.


The theme of my Overgrown Path radio programme at 5.00pm UK time this Sunday (Oct 7) will be Pilgrims of the Soul, and I will be playing the Prologue and Act 1 of this recording of The Pilgrim's Progress in the second part of the programme. (Which means two Pliable will be taking part, with the singing role taken by the tenor Wynford Evans). Act 1 contains several of the themes that Vaughan Williams used in his Fifth Symphony, including the Romanza that begins the symphony's lyrical slow movement.

Preceeding The Pilgrim's Progress will be a sequence from the concert of medieval and traditional pilgrim songs by Sarband and the Osnabrück Youth Choir that I featured here recently. This should be a fascinating programme. The music I'll be playing is below. More details at the foot of the post, or listen in real-time only by clicking on this image:



From Pilgrims of the Soul - Jaro 4248-2

Dum pater familias Codex Calixtinus
Laudemus virginem Llibre Vermell de Montserrat
Salve virgo regia (instrumental) Codex Ripoll (Paris, BN lat. 5312)
Splendens ceptigera Llibre Vernell

Ya rai'i z-ziba Traditional: Al-Andalus
Salve Regina Codex Las Huelgas

Nani nani Traditional Sephardic
O successores fortissimi leonis Hildegard von Bingen - 21' 55"

From The Pilgrim's Progress by Ralph Vaughan Williams - EMI CMS 7642122

Prologue
Act 1 - Scene 1: The Pilgrim Meets Evangelist
Scene 2 - The House Beautiful - 26' 44"

More on The Pilgrim's Progress here.
Listen to the Future Radio audio stream here. Convert Overgrown Path radio on-air times to your local time zone using this link. Windows Media Player doesn't like the audio stream very much and takes ages to buffer. WinAmp or iTunes handle it best. Unfortunately the royalty license doesn't permit on-demand replay, so you have to listen in real time. If you are in the Norwich, UK area tune to 96.9FM. Any copyrighted material on these pages is included as "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk

Classical recording under different stewardship

“Far from being ‘on the verge of disappearing’, the classical recording industry is alive and well, but just under different stewardship" wrote Anthony Anderson, managing director Naxos UK, recently. Very true, but while Naxos, Hyperion and the larger independents are often in the spotlight the lesser known labels frequently don’t get the attention they deserve. One example is the Jaro label from Germany which is part of a small media group active in music publishing, artists bookings and live concert promotion, as well as recording. Among the eclectic list of artists on Jaro is the pioneering early music ensemble Sarband seen in my header photo, and their CD Pilgrim of the Soul is a great example of innovative programming and packaging from a small independent label.

Pilgrim of the Soul was recorded live at the Baalbek International Festival in the Lebanon. It features music from the three great religions which originated in the Middle East, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and focuses on the pilgrimage centres of Santiago de Compostela, Las Huelgas de Burgos, and Santa Maria de Montserrat. Sarband has featured on these pages before with their Bulgarian born director Vladimir Ivanoff, and they are joined on this CD by the Osnabrück Youth Choir and Lebanese contralto Fadia El-Hage. The single disc comes in a lovingly produced book format with excellent articles and beautiful colour photos. The packaging is a miniature work of art, but the downside is it won’t fit into your CD storage system.


This is an inspirational album which ranges from the sacred music of Hildegard von Bingen to the Arabic art-song genre called Muwashshah that originated in Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). This repertoire is virtually owned by Jordi Savall, but the atmosphere and electricity of the open-air concert is very different to the church ambiance that create the signature sound of Alia Vox. The recording venue for Pilgrim of the Soul was the great Roman Temple of Bacchus in Baalbek in Lebanon which is seen in my photos here, and the summer thunder rumbling in the background is a great test of loudspeaker bass response. Listen to music samples by clicking here.

Baalbek is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and is a wonderful venue for music celebrating the co-existence of Jews, Christians and Muslims in Al-Andalus. But since the recording was made in 1998 Baalbek has been at the centre of religious conflict, not co-existence. The town has a Shi'ite majority, and is a strategic, medical and educational centre for Hezbollah. The commandos who kidnapped two Israeli soldiers in July 2006, and triggered war between Israel and Lebanon, are reported to have been trained in the Baalbek area. While later, in August 2006, Israeli forces used helicopters to raid the Hezbollah hospital in Baalbek.

Pilgrim of the Soul is a very moving document, but sadly events have proved that religious co-existence in Baalbek remains a musical rather than practical concept. But this is music to share, and I will be featuring a selection from Pilgrim of the Soul on my Overgrown Path radio programme at 5.00pm UK time on Sunday October 7 coupled with a neglected 20th century masterpiece that also takes its cue from pilgrims - more details tomorrow.


Buy Pilgrims of the Soul online here, And now read about an Islamic setting of the Psalms that also features Sarband.
Any copyrighted material on these pages is included for "fair use", for the purpose of study, review or critical analysis only, and will be removed at the request of copyright owner(s). Report broken links, missing images and other errors to - overgrownpath at hotmail dot co dot uk