The LPO played for various festivals before the war and I particularly enjoyed the one in Norwich in the summer of 1936. The town in delightful, the weather was good and with various concerts at different times and places throughout the day the atmosphere was sociable and pleasant. ... Astra Desmond, one of the most musically intelligent of the oratorio singers of her day. She was the soloist in the first performance of Vaughan Williams' "Five Tudor Portraits", conducted by Heathcote Statham. The words are by the Elizabethan poet, Thomas Skelton, and it is strange to think that some of them were considered too racy both by the choir and the audience. << less