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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Most Grand to Die
James Rutherford, with Eugene Asti at the piano, here records his first disc for BIS, presenting a programme of works from composers all influenced greatly by the First World War. George Butterworth’s A Shropshire Lad takes texts from A.E. Housman’s poems of young men facing death. Vaughan Williams turned to poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, for his Songs of Travel, a set of nine songs in which the wanderer-narrator philosophically accepts the mixture of joys and sorrows offered to him along the road. Gurney – the youngest of the three composers – was also a poet, and in Severn Meadows expressed his longing for home in both text and music. Severn Meadows was composed during Gurney’s time in the trenches. “The quality of the Gurney songs may be a bit uneven, but Rutherford handles them all with great tact, his tone fined down, his diction immaculate, and without a hint of extraneous pathos. In the authentically great Butterworth sets Rutherford's approach is exemplary.” The Guardian, 15th August 2012 **** “Rutherford's full tone, dark, possibly bass-baritone rather than BIS's designation of baritone, is released with the vigour to resemble somebody, here the vagabond, striding purposefully along the lane...Asti's playing gels with Rutherford's singing in these Gurney songs, as it does in the other pieces...Rutherford's enunciation is all one could wish for.” International Record Review, September 2012 “A hefty bass-baritone in every sense, he's inevitably compared with Bryn Terfel, but his voice seems darker and somewhat smoother, less given to pianissimi but still expressive...Songs of Travel has a notably virile energy, reinforced by veteran accompanist Eugene Asti's unusually driven reading...A very worthwhile recital.” BBC Music Magazine, December 2012 ***** “Rutherford brings his Wagnerian bass-baritone to bear on the song repertoire with uncommon skill and sensitivity...The only serious drawback comes at the top of the voice, where Wagnerian bluster and a slow vibrato sometimes detract from the beauty of his singing...but Rutherford has given notice of a very appreciable talent for song. With accompaniments of exemplary precision, this disc is highly recommended.” Gramophone Magazine, November 2012 | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | The English Song Series Volume 20 - George Butterworth
One of England’s most distinctive composers, George Butterworth belonged to the generation of young men decimated in the Great War of 1914-1918. His sensitive and melancholic settings of poems from A. E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad, with their subject matter of the futility and arbitrariness of war, are small-scale masterpieces. Of particular note are the ‘Loveliest of Trees’, describing the passing of the seasons, and the ghostly and elegiac ‘Is my team ploughing?’ The Folk Songs from Sussex and settings of poems by R. L. Stevenson, Shelley and Wilde, whose subject matter revolves around flirtation, love, courtship, marriage and desertion, are no less notable for their attention to detail, linguistic nuance and delicate, economical piano writing. “The wonderful refinement and care with every morsel of text that Williams has shown in his earlier contributions to this series pay dividends here again – his musical poise and sheer beauty of tone in the very first phrase of Loveliest of Trees sets the standard for the 11 songs that follow, and Burnside is a model partner.” The Guardian, 1st July 2010 ***** “In a vivid musical partnership with pianist Iain Burnside, Roderick Williams captures the mix of jauntiness and melancholy, adding tender flashes of wit.” The Observer, 4th July 2010 “Williams, accompanied by Iain Burnside, proves a winning advocate, thanks partly to his crisp, fresh baritone, but mainly because of the way he distinguishes between the character of each song, so that this recital never loses momentum.” Financial Times, 3rd July 2010 *** “Roderick Williams [is] rapidly becoming the voice of this repertoire - and not without reason.” BBC Music Magazine, August 2010 ***** “Their qualities of melancholic reverie and suppressed yearning are quite beautifully rendered” The Telegraph, 16th July 2010 ***** “Williams's engagingly fresh delivery, secure technique, eloquent turn of phrase and variety of tone are a joy throughout, as is his crystal-clear diction. Burnside, too, is at his customarily unmannered, attentive best, the crispness and poise of his pianism a pleasure to encounter.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2010 | | | (also available to download from $5.75) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | The Complete Butterworth Songbook
and a bonus film of Butterworth dancing
This is the first complete recording of all thirty songs by George Butterworth, which are performed by devoted English song advocates Mark Stone and Stephen Barlow. The CD includes all 11 of the settings from A Shropshire Lad and the 1st complete edition of his Eleven folk songs from Sussex, 8 of which are world premiere recordings as are Haste on my Joys and Love blows as the wind blows. “Stone and his pianist, Stephen Barlow, treat the songs with intelligence and sensitivity” The Guardian, 25th February 2010 *** “The label is Mark Stone's, his the informative notes, and he is of course also the very good singer: we are much indebted to him...Stephen Barlow is his excellent pianist and together they give a particularly fine performance of "On the idle hill of summer"...A truly enterprising tribute to Butterworth's subtle art.” Gramophone Magazine, June 2010 “[Stone is] a fine performer, well supported by Barlow - and a thoughtful one, as his sleeve notes confirm” BBC Music Magazine, July 2010 **** | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | When I was one-and-twentyButterworth and Gurney Songs
| | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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Gramophone Awards 2011
Gramophone Magazine