Composers: William Dennis Browne, Eugene Goossens, Ivor Gurney
Poets: Edmund Blunden, Vera Brittain, Rupert Brooke, William Denis Browne, Ivor Gurney, Thomas Hardy, AE Housman, James Joyce, Charlotte Mew.
Performers:
Andrew Kennedy (tenor)
Julius Drake (piano)
Simon Russell Beale (speaker)
Label: Altara
Tracks
01. To Gratiana Dancing And Singing (1913) ((Lovelace))
02. Had I The Heaven’s Embroidered Clouds (Song)
03. To Rupert Brooke (Poem)
04. Dream Tryst (Song)
05. Diaphenia (1912) ((Constable))
06. Safety (Poem)
07. The Isle Of Lost Dreams (Song)
08. Thomas – Lights Out
09. By a Bierside (This is a sacred city (J. Masefield) (orchestr.: Howells))
10. Mew – May 1915, June 1915
11. Severn Meadows (Only the wanderer (I. Gurney) (song))
12. In Flanders (I’m homesick for my hills again (F. W. Harvey) (orchestr.: Howells))
13. To His Love (Poem)
14. Even such is time ((W. Raleigh) (song))
15. Housman – Bredon Hill
16. On Wenlock Edge (Song)
17. Blunden – The Midnight Skaters 18. The Ghost (Song)
19. Tarentella (Song)
20. Watching Music (Poem)
21. Threshold (Song)
22. A Winter-Night Idyll (Song)
23. A Woodland Dell (Song)
24. Seascape (Song)
25. Love Came To Us (Poem)
26. Gentle Lady (Song)
27. Kindliness (Poem)
28. Dear Heart (Song)
29. O Cool Is The Valley (Song)
30. The Darkling Thrush (Poem)
31. All Day I Hear The Noise Of Waters (Song)
32. I Hear An Army (Song)
33. Brittain – Perhaps
34. When Thou Art Dead (Song)
This evocative issue, generously supported by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust includes previously unheard and unrecorded songs by Ivor Gurney, William Dennis Browne and Eugene Goossens. These are sung with great feeling and artistry by rising young English tenor Andrew Kennedy, accompanied by Julius Drake.
To compliment the chosen songs there is a selection of poetry of the period superlatively read by Simon Russell Beale
Full and comprehensive background notes and texts of songs and poems are included.
Reviews:
“A great deal of thought has gone into this recital reflecting on the First World War and its legacy in British song and poetry. Fine musicianship too, with Julius Drake’s accompaniments matching Kennedy’s tenor in subtlety.”
Geoff Brown – The Times June 2008
“Andrew Kennedy sings devotedly and with skill, Julius Drake’s playing is always responsive, and together they often perform memorably: Goossens’s Hardy settings are fine, and contrasted, examples.” Gramophone Magazine, October 2008
“…a fine if distinctly gloom-laden recital, cleverly put together and sensitively performed.” BBC Music Magazine, November 2008 ****
