Leading English soprano Sarah Fox chooses five favourite neglected English gems from her recording career <\/p>
As the leading English soprano <\/em>Sarah Fox stars in a new recording of Hubert Parry<\/a>\u2019s little-known <\/em>Scenes from Shelley\u2019s Prometheus Unbound, she chooses five favourite neglected English gems from her recording career<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018It has been one of the joys of my life to explore underrated or forgotten English music. There\u2019s so much, even from our best-known composers.<\/p>\n \u2018Take Purcell, for instance \u2013 of course there\u2019s a lot that lots of people know, like Purcell\u2019s aria \u2018Fairest Isle\u2019 from his opera King Arthur<\/em>. But then there are so many other incredible pieces, with unbelievable beauty and complexity, like his song \u2018The Blessed Virgin\u2019s Expostulation\u2019. I was lucky enough to learn some of these at university \u2013 and that made me realise how much we\u2019re missing!<\/p>\n \u2018Things go in and out of favour, often for no apparent reason. There\u2019s a revival of the music of Hubert Parry happening now, which is so belated and so justified. A big discovery for me was his Magnificat<\/em>, which I sang at the Endellion Festival \u2013 it\u2019s an absolute mystery why it isn\u2019t done all the time.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019ve recorded quite a lot of Parry\u2019s music by now, including this new recording of Scenes From Shelley\u2019s <\/em>Prometheus Unbound, conducted by William Vann, with the London Mozart Players and the Crouch End Festival Chorus \u2013 what an amazing ensemble they are! \u2013 for Chandos.<\/p>\n \u2018The sessions were unforgettable, because as it turned out we were recording it in London on the day the Queen died, and we all heard that night once the news was announced. It made it even more special to be doing that work then, because it\u2019s such a British piece, and knowing how King Charles<\/strong><\/a> is a great fan of Parry somehow made it all even more atmospheric. And I can\u2019t wait to see what Will finds for us to record next!<\/p>\n \u2018From all the English music discoveries I\u2019ve recorded, here are five favourite tracks, and I hope others can enjoy exploring them as much as I have.\u2019<\/p>\n This was my first collaboration with Will Vann for a Parry oratorio. This track is really beautiful, lyrical music \u2013 all three parts have gorgeous individual lines that, however, interweave fantastically well. It starts with the tenor, then somehow mellows and we all join in. It isn\u2019t very long, but it\u2019s one of my favourite moments in the whole piece, and one that is absolutely typical of Parry\u2019s gift for luscious harmony.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A few years ago I was asked to take part in a recording of Parry\u2019s songs with piano, and again, there were so many astonishing discoveries in this music that you never hear. \u2018The Child and the Twilight\u2019, a world away from Judith<\/em>, is almost like a fairy tale, you can really tell a story with it, and the music is so evocative \u2013 you can hear the character skipping through the woods.<\/p>\n As a singer there\u2019s a challenge there, because if you go over the top with that kind of song it can really sound twee, but because it\u2019s very childlike (it\u2019s told from a child\u2019s point of view) you have to really engage with it and commit.<\/p>\n Obviously I\u2019m not a child singing, but my approach was to embrace it as though I\u2019m telling a story to a child, with vivid brushstrokes, trying to capture that wide-eyed feeling of how a child notices things. It\u2019s a fabulous song!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I don\u2019t understand why the song cycle The First Nowell<\/em> doesn\u2019t get done much more! There haven\u2019t been that many recordings made of it.<\/p>\n This was around the time I first started working with Richard Hickox, who came to have such a big influence on me until he passed away terribly early. This was for a recording of Christmas-themed music<\/strong><\/a> by Vaughan Williams for Chandos, also with the baritone Roderick Williams<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n We grew up singing Christmas songs<\/strong><\/a> of course, but this is really a rich work. I also sang my first Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony<\/em><\/strong><\/a> with Richard, and you could always see how much he loved British music, what joy he got from it, and so it was a joy for you as the singer. And he trusted your instincts, and of course he trusted the composer as well \u2013 so it was always a wonderful collaboration. From the whole cycle, I\u2019ve chosen \u2018The Cherry Tree Carol Part Two\u2019, a gorgeous melody.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a famous work, but one that you don\u2019t hear that often these days. This began as another collaboration with Richard Hickox, and we performed it together at Covent Garden, but Richard died shortly afterwards and Christopher Curnyn took over the recording.<\/p>\n It was all very emotionally intense because of those circumstances, but what a piece! Some people find Britten\u2019s music difficult, but he was a genius at setting text to music, and he was one of the most atmospheric composers.<\/p>\n This aria was a version of a Purcell<\/strong><\/a> song. Britten would do these incredibly clever things, but never just for the sake of being clever. In an amazing way, through his version of this song, which sounds completely different from the original, he knits together different periods of English history, including his own.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Back to Vaughan Williams! It took an American orchestra, choir and conductor for me to record his Dona Nobis Pacem<\/em>, thanks to Andrew Litton\u2019s absolute love for the piece. Andrew was so passionate about it all being right, and we had three concerts of it, so we all really had the chance to live it together.<\/p>\n It\u2019s an incredible piece, really powerful, especially in performance. Some works do massively step up somehow from rehearsal to the performance; they need the audience to really take off, and this is one of those.<\/p>\n It\u2019s difficult to sing \u2013 Vaughan Williams often wrote music that sits right in the cracks of the voice! Especially the end of the \u2018Agnus Dei\u2019<\/strong><\/a>, where I\u2019m unaccompanied on a low E, the trickiest part of the voice possible! But what an experience. I loved singing this great piece.<\/p>\n The odd thing is that it doesn\u2019t even get done much in the UK. I sang it at the Barbican with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Sakari Oramo once, and it was again a great experience. As I said, sometimes there\u2019s just no real reason why things aren\u2019t heard more!<\/p>\n\n
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Five great English music tracks you\u2019ve probably never heard<\/h2>\n
1) Parry, \u2018Hear ye the word of your God\u2019 from Judith
2) Parry, \u2018The Child and the Twilight\u2019
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3) Vaughan Williams<\/a>, \u2018The Cherry Tree Carol Part Two\u2019 from The First Nowell
4) Britten<\/a>, \u2018Dear sir, mention not my education\u2019
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5) Vaughan Williams, \u2018Agnus Dei\u2019
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