Flos Campi features a wordless chorus and a solo viola, drawing inspiration from French composers like Ravel, with whom Vaughan Williams briefly studied.
Recording & Production
The recordings on this album were sourced from single LP copies and underwent careful digital restoration to remove noise while preserving the original musical signal.
Composition History
Vaughan Williams's Concerto for Two Pianofortes was originally a solo piano concerto dedicated to Harriet Cohen, but was later arranged for two pianos with Joseph Cooper's help due to the original's demanding nature.
Recording & Production
The composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams, specifically endorsed the Cornell University recording of his work Flos Campi, despite having reasons to favor other musicians.
Performer Biography
Arthur Whittemore and Jack Lowe, known as Whittemore & Lowe, were a famous piano duo who toured for nearly 40 years and sold over a million albums by the early 1950s.
Composer Biography
Ralph Vaughan Williams was a dedicated collector of folk songs, gathering 810 songs between 1903 and 1926, primarily in rural English counties.
Composer's Artistic Vision
The composer intended Flos Campi to evoke an 'Eastern eroticism' and not a pastoral or ecclesiastical atmosphere, despite its biblical title and quotations.
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