Editor Reviews:

Amazon.com:
Even without his highly regarded symphonies, various instrumental works, and monumental and influential work on the revision of the English Hymnal, Vaughan Williams would have made a major impact on 20th-century music with his many original choral works and his folksong arrangements. In fact, Vaughan Williams's folksong-collecting work was one of the more important contributions ever made to English music. This disc offers a wonderful collection of a cappella choral pieces, including some of Vaughan Williams's finest folksong arrangements. Besides "Ca' the yowes," "Full fathom five," "Greensleeves," and "The Turtle Dove," the program includes rarely heard masterpieces such as "Alister McAlpine's Lament," which brilliantly captures the mood of the song with serene, sensual harmonies and gently flowing vocal lines. The Holst Singers seem born to this music, giving us the music's full flavor without ever overplaying it. --David Vernier

Rating : - a voice teacher and early music fan
THIS MUSIC DEPICTS A SAMPLING OF RALPH V.W. CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE BEGINNING TO THE END, AND WHAT BEAUTY HE GAVE US!

Ralph Vaughan-Williams loved "the lilt of the chorus at the music hall...children dancing to a barrel organ, the rousing fervor of a Salvation Army Hymn, St.Paul's and a great choir singing at one of its festivals...the Welshmen striking up one of their own hymns...the cries of street pedlars, the factory girls singing their sentimental songs." This disc somehow reflects all of these influences. I think it makes him a true folksong specialist!

The music included herein covers the whole of the composer's long career-from "The Willow Song" written when he was eighteen, to "Heart's Music",composed three years before his death at the age of eighty-six.

The Holst Singers along with the two soloists:Ian Bostridge (tenor) and Michael George (bass)are very excellent in their renditions. The choir is perfection in balance, diction, ensemble and emotional content. Bostridge with his sweet and pure tenor almost moves one to tears especially in "Greensleeves" and "Ca'the yowes". And Michael George was also very moving in his solo:"Loch Lomond". It is as if the entire performing group were aware of a statement made by Vaughan-Williams before his death: "if the roots of your art are firmly planted in your own soil, and that soil has anything to give you, you may still gain the whole world and not lose your own souls."