ALAN TONGUE AND RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
As a schoolboy in Bath I was taught by John Sykes, who had been a composition pupil of VAUGHAN WILLIAMS. I listened to the VAUGHAN WILLIAMS LATER SYMPHONIES ON LP as Sykes acquired them on their release. I once saw VAUGHAN WILLIAMS conducting his music in Bath Abbey. Little did I know then that my own career would become linked with HIS music.
A CAMBRIDGE MASS
In 2007, Alan Tongue unearthed an unpublished and never performed work by Vaughan Williams from his mid-twenties: his exercise for the Cambridge Doctor of Music degree. After many months 'transcribing’ the Mass, Alan conducted its World at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon on 3 March 2011.
Listen to this interview with Radio 4’s PM programme about Alan, his discovery and love for English music:
Read about the discovery, history and world premiére of A Cambridge Mass here.
BEYOND MY DREAM: MUSIC FOR GREEK PLAYS Ralph Vaughan Williams
‘The performances here are perfection itself. Conductor Alan Tongue is a past master of this idiom in every way.’ (James A. Altena)
‘As he has has done twice before for Albion, Tongue offers a compelling first impression of a previously unknown score. He shapes theses scores brilliantly, with conviction and obvious affection.’
(Ronald E. Grames)
FAIR CHILD OF BEAUTY
Ralph Vaughan Williams
“Alan Tongue masterminds outstandingly sympathetic accounts of both these rarities, drawing an enviably secure and consistently stylish response from the Joyful Company of Singers and members of the Britten Sinfonia.”
(Andrew Achenbach, The Gramophone, March 2016)
A CAMBRIDGE MASS
Ralph Vaughan Williams
““It was a bright day for English music when Mr. Tongue lifted the score from the drawer...
To regard this mass as an apprentice exercise would be a misjudgement. It is the real Vaughan Wiliams on his way to greatness.”
(Michael Kennedy)
Read about the discovery, history and world premiére of A Cambridge Mass here.
As well as the value of the programme we listened to, besides the well-deserved applause for the soloists and the National Radio Orchestra, we must appreciate especially the conducting performance of the English Maestro Alan Tongue. Wisdom, calmness and discipline, the power of communication through an economical but effective gesture, are only a few of the qualities of this musician, due to whom the new works, both for him and for the orchestra, were successfully presented in such a discouragingly short time.
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