Catalogue
HAVPCD242 – By Special Arrangement
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| Disk Title | By Special Arrangement |
| Familiar tunes in fresh guises | |
| Choir | The Rodolfus Choir |
| Conductor | Ralph Allwood and Ben Parry |
| Location | Eton College Chapel and School Hall, Berkshire |
| Date Recorded | December 1995 December 1997 |
| Audio Tracks | 15 |
Why a CD of instrumental music sung by a choir? Well, why not? The easy traffic between instrumental and vocal music that exists in this recording is not as new as it might seem. It was only in the late 18th century that the practice of vocal-instrumental cross-fertilisation became ideologically suspect. Fortunately, the situation has relaxed in recent years. A broad range of musical styles is represented on this recording, though none of the arrangements attempts to recreate the exact nuances of the original conception – but who can say what those nuances were, anyway? The business of composers’ intentions and performers’ responsibilities is full of uncertainty, and, ultimately, we are left with the unanswerable question: why not?
| Trk. | Duration | Track Title | Composer |
| 1 | 03:34 | How do I love thee? after &Eagrave;tude in E major |
Fryderyk Chopin, arr. Leo Hussain |
| 2 | 02:06 | Pro peccatis suæ gentis Prelude in C minor |
Fryderyk Chopin, arr. Ralph Allwood |
| 3 | 04:06 | Solveigs Sang from ‘Peer Gynt’ |
Edvard Grieg, arr. Alex Milner/Lora Sansun |
| 4 | 03:04 | Ave verum corpus | W. A. Mozart, arr. Ben Parry |
| 5 | 02:44 | An die Musik | Franz Schubert, arr. Lydia Smallwood |
| 6 | 01:42 | Danse de la Fèe-dragèe from the ‘Nutcracker Suite’ |
P. I. Tchaikovsky, arr. Leo Hussain |
| 7 | 06:31 | On hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring | Frederick Delius, arr. Robert Quinney |
| 8 | 05:06 | Ave Maria String Quartet No.1 ‘Andante cantabile’ |
P.I.Tchaikovsky, arr. Ralph Allwood |
| 9 | 06:52 | Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen from ‘Rückert-Lieder |
Gustav Mahler, arr. Clytus Gottwald |
| 10 | 04:48 | Litanei (auf das Fest aller Seelen) | Franz Schubert, arr. Ralph Allwood |
| 11 | 02:53 | Die mit Tränen säen Prelude in B flat minor (’48′ Book I) |
J. S. Bach, arr. Ralph Allwood |
| 12 | 05:55 | Christo smarrito String Quartet ‘Crisantemi’ |
Giacomo Puccini, arr. Ralph Allwood/Lora Sansun |
| 13 | 06:49 | Agnus Dei transcribed from ‘Adagio for Strings’ |
Samuel Barber |
| 14 | 04:46 | Requiem æternam Air ‘on the G string’ from Suite No 3 |
J. S. Bach, arr. Jonathan Rathbone |
| 15 | 06:07 | Sing! Finale (Toccata) from Symphonie V for organ |
C.-M. Widor, arr. David Willcocks |
The Rodolfus Choir was founded in 1983 as a youth choir, whose members, aged up to 25, are chosen from past and present students of the Eton Choral Courses. Each year these four summer courses attract some 250 young singers, and of these a dozen or so of the very best are invited to join the Rodolfus Choir. Many of the singers are choral scholars, several are at music college, some are still at school, and many hope to make a career in music. They come from all over the country to sing for a few intensive days during the holidays. The choir is well-known for its imaginative programmes and for its presentation of new music, always receiving glowing comments after any performance. These are partly due to the immense vitality, precision, musicianship, and commitment of the singing, and partly to the choir’s inspirational director, Ralph Allwood, who must be regarded as one of the finest choral conductors in the country today.
