The BBC Midland Orchestra
Leader,Alfred Cave
Conducted by Leslie Heward
One of the most charming of Holst's orchestral works is the ' Somerset
Rhapsody', the score of which is prefaced by a note which tells us that it 'was written in 1906 at the request of Cecil Sharp, to whom it is dedicated, and was rewritten in the following year. The work is founded on folk songs collected by Cecil Sharp in Somerset. The first is " The Sheep Shearing Song", a long pastoral melody played first by the oboe and then by violins. This is followed by a marching song, " High Germany " ; "0 Polly, love, 0 Polly, the rout has now begun, And we must march away at the beating of the drum." The third melody is " The Lovers' Farewell ", played first by the 'cellos. The climax of the piece is reached when " High Germany " is played by all the wind instruments, the strings entering afterwards with another tune to the same words. The " Farewell " is repeated, and as the music becomes quieter the opening " Sheep Shearing Song" reappears. At one