Uploaded October 2016 | Updated September 2026, 8 hours ago
well, here's a find, a large scale work by a beloved composer, virtually unknown. Very little information online apart from the date of composition (1947), and so far, one recording at hand. The style is reminiscent of his early works, such as the Tallis Fantasy. No seventh chords or augmented this and that, no sir; this is good stout English stuff, major and minor and that's it. Actually, I suspect that this was an earlier work which he shelved, and then revised and published later in life. The writing is very thick, and the piece exudes grandiosity. Note that he creates harmonic motion through frequent key changes.
A. E. I. Dickinson writes in his study “Vaughan Williams” Faber and Faber 1963:
“The suspicion is aroused that this fugue was begun as the simplest way of constructing a schedule for two pianos. One is scarcely convinced that the fugue subject was inevitable, except that it knows its place. The upshot is a somewhat capricious work, twisted from the agility of its apparent fugal intentions into a mood of blunt sententiousness from which it appeared to have escaped.”
There will always be an England.
Created, edited and mastered (by myself) in Digital Performer 5.13, using Ivory sound banks, Steinway piano 1, Fazioli piano 2. No pedal used, pianos panned right (1) and left (2).
you can find the score at imslp.org, so it's in the public domain.
well, here's a find, a large scale work by a beloved composer, virtually unknown. Very little information online apart from the date of composition (1947), and so far, one recording at hand. The style is reminiscent of his early works, such as the Tallis Fantasy. No seventh chords or augmented this and that, no sir; this is good stout English stuff, major and minor and that's it. Actually, I suspect that this was an earlier work which he shelved, and then revised and published later in life. The writing is very thick, and the piece exudes grandiosity. Note that he creates harmonic motion through frequent key changes.
A. E. I. Dickinson writes in his study “Vaughan Williams” Faber and Faber 1963:
“The suspicion is aroused that this fugue was begun as the simplest way of constructing a schedule for two pianos. One is scarcely convinced that the fugue subject was inevitable, except that it knows its place. The upshot is a somewhat capricious work, twisted from the agility of its apparent fugal intentions into a mood of blunt sententiousness from which it appeared to have escaped.”
There will always be an England.
Created, edited and mastered (by myself) in Digital Performer 5.13, using Ivory sound banks, Steinway piano 1, Fazioli piano 2. No pedal used, pianos panned right (1) and left (2).
you can find the score at imslp.org, so it's in the public domain.
