Elizabeth Ralph

Ralph Vaughan Williams' A London Symphony, otherwise known as the Symphony No. 2 in G major, was composed between 1911 and 1913, and premiered in 1914. After the score was lost in the mail, reconstructed from the short score and orchestral parts, and revised twice, the symphony was published at last in 1920, though it was ultimately replaced by the definitive version in 1936, with cuts to the about 20 minutes of the original material. This recording by Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra presents the 1920 version, along with three short works, Sound sleep for female voices and small orchestra, Orpheus with his lute for voice and orchestra, and the Variations for brass band. The filler pieces are delightful rarities that Vaughan Williams specialists will find of some interest, though most listeners will prize this recording for the energetic and colorful performance of the symphony, which is one of the composer's most vivid and satisfying works.

This program from the BBC Symphony Orchestra features compelling performances of two very different symphonies. The complex, visionary pantheism of Vaughan Williams's 'Pastoral' is an ideal foil for the unbridled ferocity of his Symphony No.4. The album includes an special bonus - Martyn Brabbins's idiomatic realization of Saraband 'Helen' - heard here in it's first recording.

Two late, great Vaughan Williams symphonies: with the ‘Antartica’ and No 9, Martyn Brabbins and his BBC forces complete a cycle enthusiastically acclaimed by Radio 3 Record Review as ‘unmissable’.

It's obvious from the greasy opening blues vibe in "Exodus of Venus," the title track of Elizabeth Cook's first album in six years, that something is very different. Produced by guitarist Dexter Green, this set is heavier, darker, and harder than anything she's released before. Its 11 songs are performed by a crack band that includes bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Matt Chamberlain, keyboardist Ralph Lofton, and lap steel guitarist Jesse Aycock…

Glorious Majesty Music for English Kings and Queens is a 3CD collection of classical music written for English Kings and Queens through the ages. From Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II (via Queen Mary II, Queen Anne, George II, Edward VI, and George V) the collection includes the much-loved classics Handel s Zadok the Priest and Music for the Royal Fireworks, Parry s I was glad, Elgar s Coronation March, Walton s Crown Imperial and Orb and Sceptre, and not forgetting Elgar s arrangement of the National Anthem

Martyn Brabbins and the BBC Symphony Orchestra perform one of the mightiest of first symphonies ever written. Vaughan Williams's setting of Walt Whitman creates a very special sense of occasion. The coupling is Vaughan Williams's later, virtually unknown, setting of Whitman's ''Darest thou now, O soul'' for chorus and strings.