Ireland: I Have Twelve Oxen

These recordings, made over the space of a decade from March 1954 to December 1964, capture Peter Pears in the high summer of his career and at the peak of his powers, a period roughly framed by some of the highlights of his partnership with Benjamin Britten: the creation of the character of Peter Quint in the composer’s The Turn of the Screw in Venice in September 1954 and the euphoric response to the first performance in 1962 of the War Requiem, one of the great events of post-war English musical life. The title ‘An Anthology of English Song’ was chosen by Decca for a projected three volumes featuring Pears. The first, with Julian Bream, included Renaissance lute songs by Dowland, Morley and others. The second was presumably intended to included 18th and 19th-century titles but was never made. The third, made in 1955, consisted of 20th-century English song, and much of this material appears on CD for the first time [CD2: 10-21].

A year earlier, Pears and Britten recorded nine of Britten’s folk song arrangements; these particular recordings (made in the same sessions as those for Winter Words) too receive their first release on CD [CD2: 1-9].

More British song was recorded with Britten in 1963 and with pianist Viola Tunnard (who worked closely with Britten in the 1960s, particularly on the Church Parables) in 1964. Of special interest too, will be works Pears commissioned from contemporary composers including the Cycle for Declamation by the South-African-born Priaulx Rainier, a testing tour de force for unaccompanied voice and Richard Rodney Bennett’s dramatic 1961 setting for voice and cello of the anonymous 17th-century ballad Tom O’Bedlam’s Song.

Felicity Lott brings her delicacy and rich understanding to a collection of English song inspired by the idyllic Sussex countryside.

“A lovingly planned programme by Graham Johnson, beautifully sung by Dame Felicity” Gramophone

The Englishness typified here is not derived from one unique musical style; rather from each composerʼs response to the texts. Graham Johnson groups together songs under headings Country Courtship. . . To Music. . . . Loveʼs Philosophy. . . . Country Scenes. . . . Night & Dawn. . . .Childrenʼs Cornerʼ. . . and Envoys on this charming - and occasionally surprising - disc.

It includes songs by Quilter, Elgar, Parry, Ireland, Bax and Holst. The Elgar songs Speak Music and In Moonlight (included under the heading ʻTo Musicʼ) remind us that the paradigm of Englishness Elgar cultivated was more to do with his association with ʻPomp and Circumstanceʼ than necessarily musical matters. As part of ʻCountry Scenesʼ, Bridgeʼs jolly Go Not, Happy Day gives nothing away about its year of publication, 1916, and the scars which led to later music of a more sombre tone.

Also included are a selection of Harold Fraser-Simpsonʼs songs based on verses from A.A. Milneʼs The Hums of Pooh, and settings by Liza Lehmann - the Edwardian English operatic soprano - including Matilda from ʻFour Cautionary Talesʼ by Hillaire Belloc, a duet with both parts taken by Felicity Lott. The CD takes its title from Peter Warlockʼs setting of another Belloc text - My Own Country.

Dame Felicity Lott lives in Sussex and was the very first artist to perform in the Music Room at Champs Hill. In 2005 she and Graham Johnson returned there to mark the 30th anniversary of her Wigmore debut with this programme (previously release on the ASV label). Champs Hill Records will also be releasing new recordings of further Elgar songs with Dame Felicity in October 2011.

Peter Pears’ voice was undoubtedly one of the finest and most distinctive of the twentieth century and here he collaborates with Julian Bream and Benjamin Britten in performances of English song. Repertoire includes works by Ford, Morley, Rosseter, Dowland, Pilkington, Campion, Bridge, Butterworth, Ireland, Moeran, Warlock, Holst, Berkeley, Oldham and Britten.

Susan Gritton’s solo recital with the BBC Concert Orchestra and Martyn Brabbins is focussed on orchestral songs by Elgar and John Ireland, varied with delightful solo items by Susan’s grandfather Eric Gritton, by John Sanders, and an aria from Parry’s opera ‘Guenever’, here orchestrated by Jeremy Dibble. This is an enchanting and pioneering survey, with ten Elgar orchestral songs ringingly presented and crowned by Susan Gritton’s affecting reading of The Sun Goeth Down from ‘The Kingdom’. This is the first time so substantial a survey of Elgar’s orchestral songs has been presented in one programme. The song by Eric Gritton, O Stay, Madonna, is a ripe example of lyrical Edwardiana and contrasts nicely with John Sanders’ atmospherically floated Evening on Severn, and Parry’s affecting but stoutly written aria for Queen Guenever facing death at the stake. In contrast there are two groups of John Ireland songs, nine in all, each especially eloquent when heard with orchestral accompaniment. They include the title song Her Song of 1925, which makes a touching lyrical foil to Elgar’s exuberance.