Songs and Elegies by Quink Vocal Ensemble

Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gerald Finzi

Quink Vocal Ensemble

Songs and Elegies

Price: € 12.95
Format: CD
Label: Challenge Classics
UPC: 0608917250121
Catnr: CC 72501
Release date: 04 March 2011
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Label
Challenge Classics

UPC
0608917250121

Catalogue number
CC 72501

Release date
04 March 2011

"They make a light, clean sound and, technically, their singing is flawless."

Music Web International, 01-10-2012

Album

Artist(s)

Composer(s)

Press

About the album

Undoubtedly, one of the most important English composers since Henry Purcell (1659-1695) is Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). While the revival of English music was heralded by the compositions of Sir Edward Elgar (1857-1934), it soon became apparent that Vaughan Williams was to be the leading figure. Partly through his love – and study – of English folk music he was able to find and reproduce the very essence of English music. His work, unlike that of some of his European contemporaries such as Brahms, Debussy, Schönberg and Strawinsky, is not characterized by startling innovations. Ralph Vaughan Williams remained true to the roots of English musical culture. As no other he was capable of giving expression to that what inspired him. His greatness does not lie so much in the creation of new and/or different musical idiom, but rather in his new use of well-known and familiar elements. Vaughan Williams, with his enormous curiosity, clear mind, great dedication and vitality, carved himself a permanent niche in English musical history.

In view of this and the composition of the Quink Ensemble, a combination of folk song and different a cappella works seems the most appropriate way of giving as complete a picture as possible of Vaughan Williams as a composer of songs.

A friend and great admirer of Vaughan Williams was Gerald Finzi (1901-1956).Melodically and harmonically, Gerald Finzi was influenced by Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Parry, while being unquestionably superior to them in the treatment and setting of texts. Just as Vaughan Williams felt at home with larger symphonic works, Finzi was pre-eminently a composer of songs. Finzi’s character is clearly seen in his compositions: sometimes energetic and forceful, with a great sense of humour; sometimes slow and reflective.

Songs and Elegies is a re-release of Quink Vocal Ensemble.

Het Quink Vocal Ensemble maakt deel uit van de top van a-capella ensembles van de afgelopen drie decennia, ze geven concerten over de hele wereld?Een geweldige CD met werken van Vaughan-Williams die een compleet beeld geeft van Vaughan-Williams als liedcomponist?Het repertoire is gevarieerd, van a capella muziek uit de Renaissance en Barok, tot romantische, impressionistische werken en werken van hedendaagse componisten?De vijf zangers zijn goed bekend met folk song en close harmony?Deze cd is een re-release van deze prachtige Quink productie!

Artist(s)

Quink Vocal Ensemble

Quink has, since their debut in 1978, rapidly captured a place of its own on the international concert scene. The group, consisting of five young, professional singers, has developed a special style which features many different aspects of a cappella music.
Quink’s repertoire is varied, presenting a cappella music of the Renaissance and Baroque as well as works by Romantic, Impressionistic and Contemporary composers. The five singers are well-acquainted with folk song and close harmony; they mostly conclude their performances with some lighter arrangements. Quink has introduced many new works of both established and modern masters; a number of contemporary Dutch, German and American compositions have been dedicated especially to Quink.
Since 1985 Quink has made several successful tours through the United States, and in the spring of 1987, the quintet made a tour through Italy where they received a warm and enthusiastic welcome.
Nowadays the group visited the United States more than 40 times, performing over 300 concerts. Other tours included Canada, the Middle East and Far East. QUINK passes on its skills of a cappella singing by often performing in workshops and masterclasses and teaching choirs, groups and individuals.The five versatile musicians strive to authenticity the way they perform the different styles of music. If necessary QUINK joins forces with instrumental specialists of the relevant era, always in one-voice-per-part performances.
Since the recording of the Vaughan Williams/Finzi CD, QUINK has made many more CD’s, of which Challenge International Records has released the last few.

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Kees-Jan de Koning

Machteld van Woerden

Paula de Wit

Harry van Berne

Composer(s)

Ralph Vaughan Williams

Ralph Vaughan Williams was an English composer and folk song collector. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over nearly fifty years. Strongly influenced by Tudor music and English folk-song, his output marked a decisive break in British music from its German-dominated style of the 19th century.
He wrote many works for amateur and student performance. He was musically a late developer, not finding his true voice until his late thirties; his studies in 1907–08 with the French composer Maurice Ravel helped him clarify the textures of his music.
Vaughan Williams is among the best-known British symphonists, noted for his very wide range of moods, from stormy and impassioned to tranquil, from mysterious to exuberant. Among the most familiar of his other concert works are Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis (1910) and The Lark Ascending (1914). His vocal works include hymns, folk-song arrangements and large-scale choral pieces. He wrote eight works for stage performance between 1919 and 1951. Although none of his operas became popular repertoire pieces, his ballet Job: A Masque for Dancing (1930) was successful and has been frequently staged.

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Gerald Finzi

Finzi took private lessons with Farrar from 1914-1916 and then with Bairstow from 1917-1922. He mainly underwent influences by Elgar and Vaughan Williams, loved the life in the country and developed his own, intimate style. He concentrated on songs and song cycles such as Oh fair to see, Till earth outwears, and A young man’s exhortation, preferably on texts by Hardy. Amongst his other works are a clarinet concerto from 1949 and Dies natalis for high voice and string orchestra (1939). (Source: Musicalifeiten.nl)

Finzi took private lessons with Farrar from 1914-1916 and then with Bairstow from 1917-1922. He mainly underwent influences by Elgar and Vaughan Williams, loved the life in the country and developed his own, intimate style. He concentrated on songs and song cycles such as Oh fair to see, Till earth outwears, and A young man’s exhortation, preferably on texts by Hardy. Amongst his other works are a clarinet concerto from 1949 and Dies natalis for high voice and string orchestra (1939).
(Source: Musicalifeiten.nl)

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Press

They make a light, clean sound and, technically, their singing is flawless.
Music Web International, 01-10-2012

Well known and less familiar Vaughan Williams and Finzi songs, sung with technical elegance and fine spirit by the Dutch a capella vocal group Quink.
BBC Music Magazine, 01-12-2011

We like the courousness Quink Ensemble is giving off - no musical hokeyness, but wonderful harmonizing musicians, who always strike the right note, sometimes poetic, other times balladesque.
pizzicato, 01-6-2011