The Folk Song Connection
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Ralph Vaughan Williams & the Lake Country
"Do you realize," a friend asked composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, "that none of your best-sellers are your own?"
He was referring to the Fantasia on Greensleeves, the English Folk Songs Suite, and the Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. And while it's a clever remark that the composer found very funny, the truth is, all three works are very much his own.
In fact, I would argue that Vaughan Williams' particular form of greatness is not in saying things that have never been said before--but in presenting familiar or forgotten things in a way that makes them seem fresh and relevant.
In the next hour, an exploration of Fantasia on Greensleeves and the English Folk Songs Suite, and the folk songs that inspired them.
FEATURED RECORDINGS
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Title
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Label
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UPC
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Ralph Vaughan Williams [for the Fantasia on Greensleeves]
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EMI Eminence CD-EMX 2179
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0077776411422
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Under the Greenwood Tree [for vocal of "Greensleeves"]
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Naxos 8.553442
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0730099444224
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Vaughan Williams: The Collector's Edition, disc 10 [for the English Folk Songs Suite]
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EMI 2066362
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5099920663629
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Heather Wood: Fast Folk (Vol. 3, No. 9), Songs of Tradition [for "Lovely Joan," whose tune is used as a secondary theme in the Fantasia on Greensleeves]
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iTunes download]
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US Navy Sea Chanters: Homeward Bound [for "Seventeen Come Sunday"]
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Coker & McCree (iTunes download)
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Anne Briggs: A Collection [for "My Bonny Boy"]
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Topic Records TSCD504
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714822050425
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Alan Lomax: Classic Ballads of Britain and Ireland, Vol. 2 [for "Blow Away the Morning Dew," sung by Emily Bishop]
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Rounder Records 1776
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011661177628
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The Gordons: Time Will Tell Our Story [for "John Barleycorn"]
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Blueberry Hill BBH 122
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683884021226
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Luke Kelly: Working Class Hero [for "High Germany"]
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Celtic Airs Records CACD0203
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5391513560354
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HeartSounds: Behind the Green Bushes [for "Green Bushes"]
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HeartSounds 610 388 7523
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0634479013638
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Martin Simpson: The Bramble Briar [for song, "Dives and Lazarus"]
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Topic Records TSCD513
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714822051323
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Bournemouth Symphony: English String Music [for Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus]
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Naxos 8.550823
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0730099582322
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