The Three Choirs Festival at 300 Episode 4 of 5: Gloucester
Gloucester Cathedral is renowned for having a uniquely beautiful acoustic, and famously was the venue for the premiere of one of the most quintessentially English pieces of music - Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis. And Gloucester is the final stop on Donald Macleod's tour of the three cities that constitute the geographical, historical, and musical triangle of the Three Choirs Festival. The festival takes place annually, as it has for three centuries, and lies at the heart of British musical life.
Today Donald Macleod visits the office of Chief Executive Dominic Jewel and discusses the practicalities of managing a festival that extends over three counties. He also pays a final visit to Festival historian Anthony Boden and discusses the particular influence of Herbert Howells and Ivor Gurney, two of Gloucestershire's finest composers.
00:02 Ivor Gurney Since I Believe In God The Father Almighty For Double Chorus Choir: Gloucester Cathedral Choir Director: Adrian Partington
00:09 Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Ballade In A Minor Op.33 For Orchestra Orchestra: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Grant Llewellyn
00:23 Ralph Vaughan Williams Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis For Double String Orchestra Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields Conductor: Sir Neville Marriner
00:42 Herbert Howells Hymnus Paradisi Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Performer: Three Choirs Festival Chorus Conductor: Donald Hunt Singer: April Cantelo Singer: David Johnson
00:54 Rosalind Ellicott A Reverie For Cello And Piano Performer: Joseph Spooner
First broadcast: 30 Jul 2015 (b063djzj) http://vk.com/wall-71199334_94