Simon Keenlyside: Songs of War

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A sense of the mannered or precious can debase these songs; Keenlyside's sweeping, robust lyricism is deceptively effortless and exactly right...Dr Johnson once said that every man thinks worse... — BBC Music Magazine, January 2012, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 14th Nov 2011
Catalogue No: 88697944242
Label: Sony
Length: 73 minutes

Gramophone Awards

2012

Winner - Solo Vocal

Ireland: Sea Fever

Work length2:19

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Somervell: Into My Heart An Air That Kills (No. 9 from A Shropshire Lad)

Work length1:31

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Vaughan Williams: Youth and Love

Work length3:16

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Vaughan Williams: The infinite shining heavens

Work length2:14

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: Loveliest of Trees (A Shropshire Lad)

Work length2:28

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: When I was One-and-Twenty (A Shropshire Lad)

Work length1:22

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: Look not in my Eyes (A Shropshire Lad)

Work length1:59

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: Think no more, Lad (A Shropshire Lad)

Work length1:27

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: The Lads in their hundreds (A Shropshire Lad)

Work length2:15

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: Is my Team Ploughing? (A Shropshire Lad)

Work length3:17

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Somervell: There Pass The Careless People (No. 3 from A Shropshire Lad)

Work length1:11

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Warlock: The Night

Work length1:57

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Somervell: White in the moon the long road lies (No. 7 from A Shropshire Lad)

Work length2:46

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: Bredon Hill 'In summertime on Bredon'

Work length4:20

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: O Fair Enough are Sky and Plain

Work length2:28

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: When the lad for longing sighs

Work length1:40

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: On the idle hill of summer

Work length2:58

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Butterworth, G: With rue my heart is laden

Work length1:36

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Ireland: The Vagabond

Work length1:48

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

trad.: The Three Ravens

Work length3:23

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Finzi: Fear No More The Heat O’ The Sun (No. 3 from Let us garlands bring, Op. 18)

Work length5:01

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Bridge: Thy hand in mine

Work length2:54

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Vaughan Williams: The Vagabond (from Songs of Travel)

Work length3:12

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Rorem: An Incident (War Scenes)

Work length1:56

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Gurney: When death to either shall come

Work length1:20

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Gurney: In Flanders

Work length2:50

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Somervell: The Street Sounds To The Soldiers’ Tread (No. 5 from A Shropshire Lad)

Work length2:05

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Weill, K: Beat! Beat! Drums!

Work length3:18

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Weill, K: Dirge For Two Veterans

Work length4:11

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Simon Keenlyside, Malcolm Martineau (piano)

About
Reviews
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About

Songs of War is a very personal selection of songs about war, carefully chosen by Simon Keenlyside. The songs contemplate the innermost thoughts of soldiers on the front lines, concentrating on themes of homesickness, longing, fear and love.

Simon Keenlyside has provided the sleeve notes himself for this album, displaying his own personal thoughts on the compositions, poetry and subject matter. The album’s cover image, provided by the Imperial War Museum, is a photograph of a soldier from WW1 writing a letter home, reflecting the album’s themes of longing and homesickness. Full song texts are included in the booklet.

Reviews

January 2012

A sense of the mannered or precious can debase these songs; Keenlyside's sweeping, robust lyricism is deceptively effortless and exactly right...Dr Johnson once said that every man thinks worse of himself for never having been a soldier; Keenlyside has evidently thought deeply about this, making for a robust and involving recital.

5th November 2011

The title is deceptive, for these songs exude anything but a warlike mood. Almost all are English: the idiom is winsome, romantic and often quite innocent, as in Vaughan Williams’s “Youth and Love” and Bridge’s “Thy hand in mine”. At the heart of the recital – beautifully vocalised and artlessly characterised by Keenlyside – is Butterworth’s cycle of songs under the title “A Shropshire Lad”.

February 2012

One can imagine a more poignant account of the ghostly voices in 'Is my team ploughing?' but 'The lads in their hundreds' is all the more moving for Keenlyside's robustness...The rest of the programme is equally rewarding and Keenlyside's diction is perfect.

January 2012

Keenlyside's mark is everywhere apparent and full marks to him for persuading Sony to indulge his choices...He is indeed a remarkable singer. He can encompass tragedy and irony, heroic and tender, he has magical half-tones, introduces a thrilling touch of head voice in Warlock's The Night, he can tell a story...Keenlyside's impassioned, almost overwhelming rendering of Frank Bridge's Thy Hand in Mine is, I think, the core and key to this compelling collection

13th November 2011

At 52, the British baritone is in peak vocal health, and certainly young-sounding enough to portray the men in their late teens and twenties who leave their homes and loves...I can’t think of another baritone who can match him for beautiful tone, nuance of expression and immaculate diction...Keenlyside is incomparable here, in one of the song records of the year.

13th November 2011

Despite the title, most of the songs in this admirable collection are anything but warlike. There is no place for patriotic bombast here; instead, these polished miniatures yearn for a vanished pastoral England...a beautifully judged recording, exquisitely sung; poignant but never sentimental.

26th November 2011

it’s not damning with faint praise to say that you don’t really notice the music at all – it’s Simon Keenlyside’s impeccable delivery that registers. Housman’s bittersweet musings are heartbreaking, notably in the penultimate poem; just listen to Keenlyside's mention of "the lads that will die in their glory and never be old"...A sober, intelligent CD, beautifully sung, immaculately accompanied. Keenlyside's sleeve notes are intelligent, insightful and touching.

Simon Keenlyside: Songs of War

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