Carol Symphony (complete) - Victor Hely-Hutchinson (1901-1947)

Victor Hely-Hutchinson was one of the most prodigiously talented British musicians of the early twentieth century. He is best known for this Carol Symphony, from which the third movement was used for the title music of the 1943 Children’s Hour and 1984 BBC children’s television adaptation of John Masefield’s The Box of Delights, in particular the variation on the theme of The First Nowell. Here is a link to that lovely Christmas drama: Hely-Hutchinson is also well known for his settings of various nursery rhymes and children’s poems. His setting of Old Mother Hubbard is composed in the manner of Handel. His song setting of Edward Lear’s The Owl and the Pussycat was notably recorded by Elton Hayes and featured on the BBC’s Children’s Favourites radio show (courtesy of Wikipedia). From John France at Musicweb: “Victor Hely-Hutchinson’s “A Carol Symphony“ is one of six works I always listen to at Christmastime. The others include RVW’s Hodie, Finzi’s In Terra Pax, JSB’s Christmas Oratorio and Benjamin Britten’s A Boy was Born. “A Carol Symphony“ is really more a sequence of ’preludes’ rather than movements in a classical or traditional sense. Some critics have worried about its internal cohesion, but typically most have been impressed by the unity of the work considering the small number of carols that the composer used. Each movement is based on a single carol, with allusions to others, although the scherzo and the finale do have additional material. The entire work was designed to be played without a break; although there are short pauses between the movements in the recordings“. Read more: #ixzz2nCX7vBnl I took these photographs in York, York Minster (cathedral); various places in the Peak District National Park, including a few pictures of this year’s C. S. Lewis “Narnia“ theme for Christmas at Chatsworth House, Derbyshire, England. The final slide is a photograph of “The Wilton Diptych“ (c. 1395--1399) a small portable diptych of two hinged panels painted on both sides (tempera on oak) now in the National Gallery, London. It is an extremely rare survival of a late Medieval religious panel painting from England. The diptych was painted for King Richard II of England who is depicted kneeling before the Virgin and Child in what is known as a donor portrait. He is presented to them by his patron saint, John the Baptist, and by the English royal saints Edward the Confessor and Edmund the Martyr. The painting is an outstanding example of the International Gothic style, and the nationality of the unknown artist is probably French or English. A comprehensive account of the Wilton Diptych can be seen here: City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Gavin Sutherland A Naxos Recording