Here’s a glimpse at some of my birthday booty from the other day.

The CD of works by Alice Mary Smith was released on Chandos Records in 2005, but somehow I only learned about it this year. Very happy to have it! Smith, who lived from 1839 to 1884, is believed to be the first English woman to compose a symphony. A student of William Sterndale Bennett and George Alexander Macfarran, she wrote two symphonies, six concert overtures, four piano quartets, three string quartets, a clarinet sonata, a respectable collection of sacred choral works and cantatas, and a couple of works for the stage, including an operetta. There is something about her Andante for Clarinet and Orchestra that caught my ear, when I encountered it on the radio. (It’s actually an orchestral version of the slow movement from her sonata.) The first movement of her Symphony in A minor is also impressive; the last movement is memorable and keeps up a good head of steam. If you like Mendelssohn or Arthur Sullivan, with maybe a little Schubert in the orchestration, that’s the kind of musical language you can pretty much expect.

Andante for Clarinet and Orchestra

Symphony in A minor

The other disc contains the world premiere recording of a work by Ralph Vaughan Williams, incidental music for the masque “Pan’s Anniversary” by Ben Jonson. Vaughan Williams and Pan? Come on! I am SO there!! Apparently, RVW was under time constraints when writing the work, so some of the dance arrangements had to be delegated to his good friend, Gustav Holst. The program also includes some other unexpected gems, including an arrangement of one of RVW’s most popular works, the “Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis,” for voices and string octet.

The CD is issued on Albion Records, the recording branch of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, which has done so much to ferret out and document rare, neglected, and forgotten works by the composer. A nice surprise in RVW’s sesquicentennial year, being celebrated with enthusiasm in the U.K. and seemingly ignored everywhere else.

A preview of the contents of “Pan’s Anniversary” here:

Looking forward to giving this a good listen today!