Roderick Williams

[Nick Armstrong]

What a pleasurable and interesting interview this morning with Roderick Williams on CD Review. Quite clearly a delightful bloke and one of the very few singers anywhere I could listen to for hours on end.

[LeMartinPecheur]

What a pleasurable and interesting interview this morning with Roderick Williams on CD Review. Quite clearly a delightful bloke and one of the very few singers anywhere I could listen to for hours on end.

Just as amiable and interesting when talking to hoi polloi like me at the St Endellion Festival down here in the SW. He's been a stalwart of the festival for a good few years now - hope he'll be the Nick Shadow in this year's Rake's Progress Love his Naxos Finzi recordings too, and fear I'll have to check out the Britten Blake disc as I've never really been at all keen on the DF-D version. The Williams sounded much more appetising to these no doubt cloth ears this morning

[aeolium]

I agree about the CD Review interview.

He also gave two concerts and a masterclass at the Carducci Quartet's festival in Highnam in May - I heard him sing Barber's Dover Beach with the Carduccis, as well as some Finzi songs. The introductions he provided were excellent, too - informed and witty.

[gurnemanz]

We saw him in May doing five Schubert Lieder arranged by Webern and Mahler Four Rückert Lieder. He was standing in for an indisposed Mark Padmore with the Britten Sinfonia and we greatly enjoyed his appealing, smiling and unforced performances and engaging manner.

[BBMmk2]

I went to a performance at Worth /Abbey of JSBs St Matthew Passion, just before he hit it big time! Very good he was to.

I have quite a few of his recordings(one of which i am playing at the time of writing).

He is a fine exponent of the English Song, eg in Finzi's songs on Naxos.

[Northender]

There's also a fine Naxos CD of songs by Butterworth and settings of Sussex folk songs.

[amateur51]

There's also a fine Naxos CD of songs by Butterworth and settings of Sussex folk songs.

A fine CD I agree, Norths

[BBMmk2]

There's also a fine Naxos CD of songs by Butterworth and settings of Sussex folk songs.

Ah thank you for that Northerner.

[Stephen Smith]

At the time, I felt and a critic said he had given the performance of his life as Pilgrim, (RVW Pilgrims Progress) under the late Richard Hickox at Sadlers Wells. It was very moving, he gave everything to the part - Oh to be able to see that again (and for the ENO autumn performances to be as successful). A true artist, and good to see he is widely appreciated

[Nick Armstrong]

At the time, I felt and a critic said he had given the performance of his life as Pilgrim, (RVW Pilgrims Progress) under the late Richard Hickox at Sadlers Wells. It was very moving, he gave everything to the part - Oh to be able to see that again (and for the ENO autumn performances to be as successful). A true artist, and good to see he is widely appreciated

Was no recording made of that Sadlers Wells show?

[Stephen Smith]

Recording - I don't think so. It was semi-staged, effective for the live audience, but given that for 2 performances it cannot have been viable to stage it, I imagine a visual recording was not attractive (and I didn't see any mikes for audio).
Hickox of course made the Chandos recording. As a work, its possible to take it apart and denigrate it, but I don't care, for me it contains the essence of RVW, with its composition spanning much of his life before finishing it.
I spoke (briefly) to Tony Palmer after a talk prior to a "Riders to the Sea" performance at ENO shortly after Hickox died, and he told me that the prime mover behind the P Progress performances at Sadlers Wells was the producer Tony Edwards. So with Hickox gone, there is at least one other principal advocate of this work than the RVW society/estate.