Robin Milford: Piano Music & Songs

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The piano works so deftly essayed by Raphael Terroni on this useful issue date from the 1920s and '30s – a happy period in Milford's life, which was soon to be blighted by the death (in a road... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Release Date: 28th Apr 2008
Catalogue No: TOCC0009
Label: Toccata Classics
Length: 78 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

October 2008

Editor's Choice

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Milford: My Lady’s Pleasure

Work length6:16

$3.00

$3.90

Raphael Terroni

I. Pastorale

Track length2:35

$1.00

$1.30

II. Gavotte

Track length1:50

$1.00

$1.30

III. Jig

Track length1:51

$1.00

$1.30

Milford: Four Hardy Songs

Work length4:34

$2.00

$2.60

Phillida Bannister, Raphael Terroni

No. 2, The Colour

Track length2:09

$1.00

$1.30

No. 4, Tolerance

Track length2:25

$1.00

$1.30

Milford: Cradle Song

Work length3:11

$1.00

$1.30

Phillida Bannister, Raphael Terroni

Milford: Daybreak

Work length1:52

$1.00

$1.30

Phillida Bannister, Raphael Terroni

Milford: Reputation Square

Work length13:32

$6.00

$7.80

Phillida Bannister, Raphael Terroni

I. Matthew's and Welch's

Track length2:11

$1.00

$1.30

II. Reputation Square

Track length2:16

$1.00

$1.30

III. George's and the New Wells Hornpipe

Track length1:35

$1.00

$1.30

III. Trim the French

Track length2:37

$1.00

$1.30

IV. Jack in his Trousers

Track length1:38

$1.00

$1.30

V. Jupiter in the Clouds

Track length3:15

$1.00

$1.30

Milford: 4 Songs

Work length8:54

$3.00

$3.90

Phillida Bannister, Raphael Terroni

No. 1, So Sweet Love Seemed

Track length2:35

$1.00

$1.30

No. 2, Elegy

Track length3:56

$1.00

$1.30

No. 4, Love on my Heart

Track length2:23

$1.00

$1.30

Milford: 4 Seasonable Songs

Work length2:52

$2.00

$2.60

Phillida Bannister, Raphael Terroni

No. 2, Summer. Pleasure It Is

Track length0:49

$1.00

$1.30

No. 4, Winter. This Endris Night

Track length2:03

$1.00

$1.30

Milford: Prelude, Air and Finale, "on a well-known mordent"

Work length10:41

$3.00

$3.90

Raphael Terroni

I. Prelude

Track length3:13

$1.00

$1.30

II. Air

Track length3:28

$1.00

$1.30

III. Finale

Track length4:00

$1.00

$1.30

Milford: Swan Songs

Work length21:24

$9.00

$11.70

Phillida Bannister, Raphael Terroni

No. 1, Song of St Mary the Virgin

Track length4:08

$1.00

$1.30

No. 2, The Song of Simeon

Track length1:28

$1.00

$1.30

No. 3, Idlness

Track length1:39

$1.00

$1.30

No. 4, Christmas Day

Track length2:22

$1.00

$1.30

No. 5, In Cornwall

Track length2:31

$1.00

$1.30

No. 6, Expectans expectavi

Track length1:42

$1.00

$1.30

No. 7, The Holy Tide

Track length2:39

$1.00

$1.30

No. 8, The Glance

Track length2:24

$1.00

$1.30

No. 9, Sleep

Track length2:31

$1.00

$1.30

Milford: Jenifer’s Jingle

Work length3:04

$1.00

$1.30

Phillida Bannister, Raphael Terroni

Milford: Days and Moments

Work length1:43

$1.00

$1.30

Phillida Bannister, Raphael Terroni

II. Autumn: No. 4, An Epitaph

Track length1:43

$1.00

$1.30

About
Reviews
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About

Milford’s compositions fall into three main periods – apprenticeship, maturity, and what one might call ‘deeper maturity with experimentation’ – which can be identified with stages in his life.

This CD showcases piano music and songs from across four decades of Milford’s prolific and varied career, providing examples of all three periods of his musical development.

The youthful expectation and promise of the 1920s is captured here in My Lady’s Pleasure – exquisite folk dances for piano.

The happy maturity Milford found in the 1930s, shown in the more complex stylistic development of Prelude, Air and Finale The darkness that descended upon Milford in the 1940s and ’50s, brought on by war and personal tragedy, culminated in his eventual suicide in 1959 – a period represented on this CD by the moving Swan Songs.

Reviews

2010

The piano works so deftly essayed by Raphael Terroni on this useful issue date from the 1920s and '30s – a happy period in Milford's life, which was soon to be blighted by the death (in a road accident) of his beloved five-year-old son Barnaby, followed by poor health, crippling selfdoubt and three suicide attempts.
Reputation Square is a deliciously poised arrangement of a set of six hornpipes. Finer still are the bright-eyed Jenifer's Jingle (sic), ruminative and pastoral My Lady's Pleasure and the Prelude,Air and Finale, the latter a highly inventive, rewardingly serene and (above all) subtly integrated triptych which suggests that exploration of some of Milford's as yet unrecorded largescale compositions might prove beneficial.
Although the influence of Finzi and Warlock is inescapable, the strongest of Milford's song-settings – notably 'The Colour' (the second of the Four Hardy Songs from 1939) and the unpublished set of nine Swan Songs (1948-51) – possess a frequently captivating melodic charm and directness of expression to which many will rightly respond, especially when contralto Phillida Bannister sings with such infectious commitment and tangible projection. Terroni, too, accompanies with watchful sensitivity, and there can be no complaints about either Michael Ponder's truthful production or Peter Hunter's assiduously detailed notes. This generously filled anthology deserves every success.

16th May 2008

Listening to this collection, in which simplistic piano music is mingled with settings of Hardy, Blake and Robert Bridges, it's hard to pin down Milford's style, which often seems as if it has been deliberately simplified to make the music accessible to amateur performers.

Robin Milford: Piano Music & Songs

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