Par BAIGENT BERTIE. The composer was drawn to the beautiful stillness and sadness of the poem by Christina Rossetti, which transcends its rigid sonnet structure, and allude via the epigraph to the mysterious Willow-Wood cycle by Christina's brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The music suggests a division of the poem into three stanzas, alternating with tranquil interludes (using the opening melody) r…

Par VAUGHAN WILLIAMS RALPH. Vocal Score Cantata for Baritone Solo, SSAA chorus and orchestra Following the revelatory release of A London Symphony in its original version, the publication of Willow-wood is another landmark in our deepening understanding of the music of Ralph Vaughan Williams. Last performed in 1909, the year of The Wasps and On Wenlock Edge, this setting of four sonnets by the Vic…