Sancta Civitas (the Holy City)

Of all his choral works, this was VW's favourite and the only work to which he gave the title 'Oratorio'. Elgar congratulated VW when the work was performed at a Three Choirs performance and said that he had himself thought of setting the same words, to which VW characteristically replied, that he regretted that Elgar had not done so.

London Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Sir David Willcocks,
Ian Partridge and John Shirley-Quirk, Choir of King's College, Cambridge.
©EMI

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Dona Nobis Pacem

Cantata for soprano and baritone soloists, mixed chorus and orchestra. First performance 5 February, 1938 Queen's Hall. VW's plea for peace.

City of London Sinfonia, Conductor, Matthew Best,
Corydon Singers, Judith Howarth (soprano), Thomas Allen, (baritone)
©Hyperion

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The Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains

Founded upon 'The Pilgrim's Progress' by John Bunyan.

City of London Sinfonia, Conductor, Matthew Best, Corydon Singers.
©Hyperion

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Five Tudor Portraits
A Choral Suite in five movements.

Sarah Walker (mezzo-soprano), Henry Herford (baritone), Guildford Choral Society, Philharmonia Orchestra, Hilary Davan Wetton (conductor).
©Hyperion: CDH55004

	Ballad: The Tunning of Elinor Rumming
	Intermezzo: Pretty Bess
	Burlesca: Epitaph on John Jayberd of Diss
	Romanza: Jane Scroop, Her Lament for Philip Sparrow
	Scherzo: Jolly Rutterkin

Three Choral Hymns
London Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Richard Hickox
©CHANDOS

	Christmas
	Easter
	Whitsun

Five Mystical Songs
Choir of King's College, Cambridge, English Chamber Orchestra, John Shirley-Quirk (baritone),
Conductor Sir David Willcocks
©EMI

	Easter
	I got me flowers
	Love bade me welcome
	The Call
	Antiphon

Hodie
A Christmas Cantata.

London Symphony Orchestra, Bach Choir - Choristers of Westminster Abbey, Dame Janet Baker (mezzo-soprano), Richard Lewis (tenor), John Shirley-Quirk (baritone), Conductor Sir David Willcocks.
©EMI

	It was the winter wild
	No sad thought his soul affright
	In the beginning was the Word

Serenade to Music
Words from Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice'. For 16 solo voices and Orchestra. Written 1938. Vaughan Williams also wrote an orchestral version.

BBC Symphony Orchestra and 16 soloists, Conductor Sir Henry Wood
SOPRANOS: Isobel Baillie, Lilian Style-Allen, Elsie Suddaby, Eva Turner. CONTRALTOS: Muriel Brunskill, Astra Desmond, Mary Jarred, Margaret Balfour. TENORS: Heddle Nash, Frank Titterton, Walter Widdop, Parry Jones. BARITONES: Harold Williams, Roy Henderson. BASSES: Robert Easton, Norman Allin.
©DUTTON

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Epithalamion
Cantata founded on the masque, The Bridal Day. Words by Spenser.

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor Sir David Willcocks,
Stephen Robert (baritone), Howard Shelley (piano), Jonathan Snowden (flute).
©EMI

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A Cotswold Romance
Cantata for tenor and sporano adapted from, Hugh the Drover.

London Symphony Orchestra, Conductor Richard Hickox,
Rosa Mannion (soprano), Thomas Randle (tenor), Matthew Brook (baritone solo).
©CHANDOS

	Love at first sight
	Hugh's Song of the Road
	Hugh in The Stocks

Fantasia on Christmas Carols
For baritone and mixed chorus.

Choir of Guildford Cathedral, String Orchestra, Conductor Barry Rose, John Barrow (baritone).

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Toward the Unknown Region
Words by Walt Whitman. For Baritone and Orchestra. First performed in Worcester Cathedral, 12 September 1912.

City of London Sinfonia, Corydon Singers, Conductor Matthew Best,
Judith Howarth (soprano), Thomas Allen (baritone).
©Hyperion

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Willow Wood

A cantata for baritone, wordless female chorus and orchestra. Words by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. It first appeared in 1903 as as scena for baritone and piano. In 1909 it was performed with the addition of orchestra and mainly wordless female chorus. Despite positive press notices it remained unheard until recently. VW clearly felt it was a work worthy of him. So much so, that only three years before his death in 1958, he was still trying to get it re-published.

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra, Conductor David Lloyd-Jones. Roderick Williams (baritone).
©NAXOS

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An Oxford Elegy

Poetry by Matthew Arnold from Scholar's Gipsy (which VW had hoped to make an opera from) and Thyrius). For speaker, small mixed chorus (SATB) and small orchestra. Composed between 1947-9 although VW had made sketches as early as 1901. The mixed chorus is mainly wordless. Contemplative, mystical and atmospheric, the work evokes images of the Oxford countryside.

John Westbrook (speaker), Choir of King's College, Cambridge, Sir David Willcocks (Conductor), Jacques Orchestra
©EMI Classics

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Mass in G minor

Composed between 1920 and 1921 and dedicated to Gustav Holst and his Whitsuntide Singers. Scored for four soloists and double choir.

The Elora Festival Singers, Conductor Noel Edison
©NAXOS

	Sanctus - Osanna I
	Benedictus - Osanna II

Silence and Music

Words by Ursula Wood (Ursula Vaughan Williams). For mixed chorus.

The Joyful Company of Singers, Conductor Peter Broadbent
©EMI

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Prayer to the Father of Heaven

Written in 1948, commemorating the the centenary of the birth of RVW's teacher, Hubert Parry and dedicated to his memory.

The Elora Festival Singers, Conductor Noel Edison
©NAXOS

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Down Ampney

English Hymn No 152. 'Come down, O Love divine'.

The Elora Festival Singers, Conductor Noel Edison
©NAXOS

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White Gates

Songs of Praise No 489. 'Fierce Raged the Tempest O'er The Deep'.

Cardiff Festival Choir conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes
©CARLTON CLASSICS

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Sine Nomine

English Hymn No 64. 'For All the Saints Who from Their Labours Rest'.

Cardiff Festival Choir conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes
©CARLTON CLASSICS

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Marathon

Songs of Praise No 302. 'Servants of the Great Adventurer'. (RVW - Dearmer)

Cardiff Festival Choir conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes
©CARLTON CLASSICS

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Abinger

Songs of Praise No 319. 'I Vow to Thee My Country'. (RVW - Spring Rice)
Cardiff Festival Choir conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes.
©CARLTON CLASSICS

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