Matthew Best: Corydon Singers - Vaughan Williams: Choral works

Issued to mark the fiftieth anniversary of Vaughan Williams�s death, this collection is tantalizing: it starts with one of the best-selling discs in the the catalogue, the Serenade to Music, and includes such favourites as the Five Mystical Songs and The Hundreth Psalm. There are also two intriguing pairings: in Dona nobis pacem, RVW warns of the impending doom of WWII, in A song of thanksgiving we hear his moving response to its successful conclusion; in The shepherds of the delectable mountains we hear an early working of Bunyan�s literary masterpiece, later extensively reworked in the landmark 1942 BBC radio production of The Pilgrim�s Progress featuring Sir John Gielgud and reprised here, this time in condensed form. Throughout the collection, RVW�s mastery in setting great texts to music is evident, and has prompted the sort of glowing reviews that make this box-set a must have.