Most Grand to Die

Featuring

James Rutherford
Eugene Asti
George Butterworth
Ivor Gurney
Ralph Vaughan Williams

Did you know?

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Composer Biography

Ivor Gurney, another composer on this album, survived the First World War but suffered from a severely aggravated bipolar disorder, leading to his institutionalization for the last 15 years of his life.

Cultural Impact

A. E. Housman's poetry collection 'A Shropshire Lad' became immensely popular by the First World War, resonating with its themes of ill-starred young men facing death, and was widely set to music by composers of the English Musical Renaissance.

Composer Biography

George Butterworth, a composer featured on this album, was killed on the Somme in 1916 at the age of thirty-one during the First World War.

Composition History

Vaughan Williams's 'Songs of Travel' was not fully published as intended during his lifetime; the ninth song, 'I have trod the Upward and the Downward Slope', was only discovered after his death in 1957, and the complete cycle was published in 1960.

Historical Context

The First World War had a profound impact on many musicians, either ending their lives or deeply affecting their creativity and mental health.

Performer Biography

Baritone James Rutherford won first prize in the inaugural Seattle Opera International Wagner competition, leading him to focus on dramatic German repertoire and perform at the Bayreuth Festival.

Composer Biography

Ralph Vaughan Williams, a composer on this album, served in the Royal Army Medical Corps as a stretcher bearer and later commanded an artillery battery, which damaged his hearing.