As regular readers will know, I’ve long enjoyed the music of English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Many of you will be familiar with his Variations on a Theme by Thomas Tallis, which was used as background music in the film adaptation of Patrick O’Brian’s novel Master and Commander.
Vaughan Williams wrote (among many other works) two marching suites for brass band which he adapted from well-known English tunes. The first is his English Folk Song Suite. The second, sometimes paired with the first in concert performances, is Sea Songs. Both premiered in 1923, and were later orchestrated for concert performances.
I found this performance of both suites while browsing through YouTube looking for something else. I thought you’d enjoy it this morning. The sequence is:
- March (Seventeen Come Sunday)
- March (Sea Songs)
- Intermezzo (My Bonny Boy)
- March (Folk songs from Somerset).
That’s a nice, sprightly way to start your Sunday morning.
Peter
Williams is always a good listen,
Thanks, I enjoy your Sunday Music selections.
Loved the movie, Master and Commander was one of the movies that I would watch one on one with each of my my sons as they grew up. I later asked them which they liked best and my one son picked Master and Commander. Go figure, he was a dead ringer for the the young blond midshipman in age and appearance.
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