Haydn: She Never Told Her Love, Hob. XXVIa:34

Resonus is proud to welcome internationally celebrated artists Nicky Spence (tenor) and Malcolm Martineau (piano) with the release of a recital album consisting of a musical journey of Shakespeare Songs set by a diverse and eclectic range of composers from Purcell and Haydn, through to Britten, Quilter, Tippett and John Dankworth, via Chausson and Schubert.

Entitled As You Like It: Shakespeare Songs, the album shows the supreme versatility of Spence's voice and abilities from Romantic lieder to jazz-inspired works, all superbly accompanied by the universally acclaimed pianist Malcolm Martineau.

Also included on the album is the world premiere recording of Three Tempestuous Tunes by young composer Alex Woolf. Born in 1995, and already an award-winning composer, Woolf is a principal composer with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and a recipient of the BBC Young Composer Award for 2012.

It is well known that Haydn was a favoured visitor to London towards the end of his life and spent much time in the English capital. In addition to the famous ‘London’ symphonies he wrote a considerable amount of other music whilst he was here, including chamber works and, particularly, songs, many of them to English words by his friend Anne Hunter. All of the famous ones are here, along with other, German, settings and the extended scena ‘Arianna a Naxos’, to an anonymous Italian text.

Haydn’s songs are relatively subordinate in his oeuvre and were composed to be performed by amateurs. Nonetheless, they are carefully structured and served to help establish him in the open market. His English Canzonettas show a great variety of moods ranging from lively sea pieces to pastoral. Anne Cambrier has an extensive repertoire and regularly gives recitals with Jan Vermeulen.

A new recording featuring one of the most famous and best-loved of all early-music sopranos, Emma Kirkby.

Marcia Hadjimarkos performs on a superb modern copy of a Walther fortepiano,

Booklet note and full sung texts.

This CD contains the remarkable cantata Arianna a Naxos Haydn composed in 1789. Unlike the later cantata Berenice composed in London in 1795, Arianne is not scored for orchestra. Here the piano is given a virtuoso role especially in the recitatives. The drama of Arianna’s desertion by Theseus is superbly realised by Haydn.

In September 1800, Lord Nelson, fresh from his victory over the French in the Battle of the Nile in 1797, visited Eisenstadt, together with Lord and Lady Hamilton. Lady Hamilton asked to sing Arianne during her visit. A member of the British party at Eisenstadt, Cornelia White asked Haydn to set words she had written celebrating Nelson’s famous victory. He obliged with the cantata ‘Lines from the Battle of the Nile’, and work was performed by Emma Hamilton with Haydn at the piano.

The songs on this CD all resulted from a dinner in Vienna on December 1790. Haydn, Mozart and the violinist and impresario Salomon were discussing Haydn’s trip to London. It was on this trip that Haydn became friendly with Anne Hunter, a talented poet, and wife of the eminent surgeon John Hunter. She was a friend of Walpole, and soon Haydn was in the ‘polite society’ of London. Anne either supplied the text, or selected texts by other writers, especially Shakespeare. This was a happy time in Haydn’s life, and the songs are heartfelt, and emotional, foreshadowing the romanticism of Schubert, and reflecting possibly the romantic attachments the composer had made in London.

“This disc was originally the idea of the Ambronay team: our strong respective temperaments, our affinities for Baroque music were among the many arguments they put forward with infectious enthusiasm to encourage Aline Zylberajch and myself to embark on a duo recording project for Ambronay Éditions. We then met to read through some of the pieces. Little by little, a guiding thread evoking Schumann’s famous song cycle Frauenliebe und leben (A woman’s love and life) prompted us to choose from among Haydn’s finest works a programme of lieder and canzonettas illustrating the universal theme of the cycle of love: from the girl dreaming of love to her first experience of it, from the beloved woman to her abandoned sister… Haydn’s musical style, the psychological evolution of the protagonists of his songs, and the palette of colours, emotions, and expressions this stimulates, brought us rich emotions and joys during our work on the recording. For my part, I also had the good fortune to discover a delightful personality behind a remarkable musician in the person of Aline. In conclusion, ‘Das Leben ist ein Traum’ thanks to music!” Stéphanie d’Oustrac

Respected and in demand soprano Ruth Ziesak gives an outstanding performance. This new CD includes all Haydn’s songs with lyrics in English.

In the ‘Haydn Year’ PentaTone is pleased to release the complete Haydn songs first released on a Philips three LP set and now available on 2 CD’s at a special price.

Haydn’s lieder is sadly often relegated to the opening ‘warm-up’ sections of recitals, or, even worse, totally neglected. This is a pity, for as collectors of Brilliant Classics cycle of all his Scottish Songs will know, there is much wit, warm humour and not a little drama to found in these gems. The songs on this CD span 1781 –95, and the first two sets were written for the Viennese socialite Franz Sales von Greiner, who regularly advised Haydn on the choice of texts.

The third set is probably the best known works in this programme. The ‘English Canzonettas’ were written for Haydn’s friend Lady Anne Hunter, the widow of eminent surgeon Sir John Hunter. Anne provided the texts for the first group, and one for the second. Haydn turned to Metastasio for the remainder.

The ‘Pastoral Song’ became a firm favourite with the Victorians, and was a parlour song ‘hit’.

These Philips recording have long been unavailable: here they make a welcome return to the catalogue

‘Those who love them [Haydn’s songs], and love Elly Ameling, will not be disappointed in this generous recital…Ameling’s skill lies in her precise judgement of their scale…Jorg Demus’s accompanying is half the fun: he makes the keys speak as clearly and sweetly as any fortepiano…’ Gramophone

Full sung texts and booklet notes

A must for lovers of this popular and much-loved singer

Lecture-recitals illustrated by songs from Mozart, Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, R. Strauss