大象传媒

大象传媒 Symphony Orchestra, 大象传媒 Singers and soloists, conducted by Gergely Madaras, in music that honours those who care for the war-injured. Works by Ravel, John Adams and Ross Harris.

Presented by Martin Handley.

Recorded at the Barbican Hall on Saturday 28 April.

Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin

John Adams: The Wound-Dresser#

Vaughan Williams: Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

INTERVAL MUSIC

Ross Harris: Face - Symphonic Songs and Choruses UK Premiere*

Marie Arnet (soprano)*
James Way (tenor)*
Marcus Farnsworth (baritone)*#
大象传媒 Singers*
大象传媒 Symphony Orchestra
Gergely Madaras (conductor)

Ralph Vaughan Williams, like Maurice Ravel, was too old to serve in the First World War but he volunteered as a stretcher bearer while the Frenchman drove munitions lorries behind the lines, putting himself in extreme danger. Ravel's Le tombeau de Couperin remembers friends killed in the First World War.

John Adams's 'The Wound Dresser', for baritone and orchestra, sets words by Walt Whitman, who tended the battle-wounded in the American Civil War, while Ross Harris's 'Face' celebrates the work of fellow New Zealander, the plastic surgeon Harold Gillies, who pioneered facial reconstruction during the First World War in London, and contributed to the rehabilitation of thousands of servicemen. Face, with a libretto by Vincent O'Sullivan, is scored for solo and choral voices with orchestra.