The decade between Edward Elgar’s marriage in 1889 and the publication of his famous Nimrod Variations in 1899 was possibly the happiest period of his life: he was comfortably settled into family life but the burdens of national fame had not yet begun to take their toll. His beautiful and haunting composition The Snow dates from this time: as a relatively unknown composer he was free to work on what he liked and the growing popularity of competitive choral festivals led him to write a series of part-songs of which this is undoubtedly the best-loved and most performed today. The words come from a poem by his wife Alice and the workhas been arranged here by the composer for two Sopranos two Violins and the Piano.