Roy Henderson (baritone) ,
The BBC Chorus
(Section A)
Chorus Master, Leslie Woodgate
The BBC Orchestra
(Section D)
Leader, Paul Beard
Conducted by Malcolm Sargent
Patrick Hadley 's symphonic ballad in A minor, The Trees so High', ', was completed in 1931 and was first performed by the Cambridge University Musical Society with the composer as conductor. It was first heard in -London at the last of six concerts of British music organised by the BBC in 1934. The work is divided into four linked movements, of which the first three are purely orchestral, the fourth being a setting for baritone, chorus, and orchestra, of the ballad which ends:
All the trees ,they do grow high, The leaves they are so green,
The day is past and gone, my love, That you and I have seen.
It is cold winter's night, my love, When you and I must bide alone, So fare you well, my own true love,
For ever.
Many of the themes of this work are derived from fragments of the music of the old ballad ' The Trees so High ', and the moods underlying the music were directly inspired by the poetic ideas of the ballad.