Following the internationally successful releases on the Hallé Label of recordings of works by Elgar and other British composers, Mark Elder and the Hallé announce the world premiere recording of Vaughan Williams’s The Wasps in a new performing edition prepared by David Pountney.

The recording is supported by the Vaughan Williams Estate and is produced in association with BBC Radio 3.

Written in 1909 for a Cambridge University performance in Greek of the comic satire ‘The Wasps’ by Aristophanes.

The full score is astonishingly theatrical and blends melodrama with satire and light-hearted music, including patter songs and dances, with great skill.

This world premiere recording features the play presented in a new performing version with text translated for the first time into English and prepared by the writer and opera director, David Poutney.

The recording features Henry Goodman as the narrator; a virtuoso part requiring the portrayal of many roles including the protagonist Procleon and the antagonist, his son.

This two-CD set features the full score of eighty minutes and Poutney’s incorporated dialogue of some twenty-five minutes, plus the well-known Wasps Suite.

Conductor
Sir Mark Elder

Soloists/Artists
Henry Goodman, Narrator
Richard Suart, Chorus leader
James Burton, Choral Director
Chorus

Catalogue number CD HLD 7510

Preview: https://orcd.co/evmd50m