Albion Records has assembled a distinguished line-up for this first of four volumes devoted to Vaughan Williams’s complete published arrangements of folk songs in English for voice with instrumental backing.

Of the 15 folk songs from Sussex collected by W Percy Merrick (1869-1955) that formed Book 5 in Novello’s series entitled ‘Folk Songs of England’ (under the editorship of Cecil Sharp), RVW supplied accompaniments for all but one. He also supervised the order in which they appear, thereby ensuring an appetising variety of mood, timbre and tonality if devoured in one sitting. The rewards are copious: baritone Roderick Williams is suitably rollicking in ‘Bold General Wolfe’ and ‘Captain Grant’; soprano Mary Bevan ravishes the ear and touches to the marrow in ‘Farewell, lads’; and tenor Nicky Spence displays a personable empathy with the cannily resourceful deeds of ‘Lovely Joan’ (a tune subsequently incorporated by the composer into his 1928 opera Sir John in Love and the central portion of Fantasia on ‘Greensleeves’). William Vann’s stylish and responsive support is a delight throughout. Listen out, too, for violinist Jack Liebeck’s exquisite contribution in ‘How cold the wind doth blow’ (alternatively known as ‘The Unquiet Grave’), Bevan’s haunting delivery of which was one of the most memorable components of an earlier Albion anthology entitled ‘Purer than Pearl’ (11/16); here it’s been (no less effectively) reimagined as a dialogue between her and Spence.

Similarly, the Six English Folk Songs of 1935 (already recorded on Albion ALBCD013 by bass-baritone Derek Welton partnered by Iain Burnside) are now shared between all three vocalists; Bevan and Spence in particular are sure to provoke a titter or two with their saucy rendition of ‘Rolling in the dew’. Intended by RVW to represent some of the finest specimens of English sea song, both ‘The Golden Vanity’ and ‘Just as the tide was flowing’ are taken from Vol 4 of The Motherland Song Book for unison and mixed voices published in 1919, the solo tenor part supplemented by a six-strong ‘harmonised chorus’ as per the composer’s instructions.

I’m happy to confirm that everything has been immaculately captured by producer Andrew Walton and sound engineer Deborah Spanton. Nor can John Francis’s copiously detailed annotation be faulted, making this an absolute must for all true Vaughan Williams aficionados. What are you waiting for?