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See Terms & Conditions for p&p rates. | |  | Britten: Choral Works
Britten: | Five Flower Songs, Op. 47 First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey Two Two-Partsongs First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey Chorale after an Old French Carol First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey A Shepherd's Carol First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey The Ballad of Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard (Text: The Oxford Book of Ballads) First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey Choral Dances from Gloriana, Op. 53 First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey Old Abram Brown First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey Oliver Cromwell First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey O can ye sew cushions? First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey Down by the Salley Gardens First release on CD Wilfrid Parry (piano) Elizabethan Singers, Louis Halsey A Hymn to the Virgin London Symphony Chorus, George Malcolm Missa Brevis in D major, Op. 63 First release on CD Westminster Cathedral Choir, George Malcolm |
Throughout Britten’s public career as the leading opera and song composer of his age there have appeared, from time to time, small-scale works composed for more intimate occasions – the wedding anniversary of friends, for instance, a BBC feature program, songs for children, a chorus for a prisoner-of-war choir and – for his own use – individual folk song arrangements as modest encores to a song recital. The specific occasions for which these pieces were written are of no more than documentary interest; their musical value, however, claims the attention of every admirer of Britten’s art, for the composer has always lavished his full powers on the smallest undertaking and brought distinction to the homeliest genre. Louis Halsey and the Elizabeth Singers recorded a number of these smaller-scale pieces in 1964. Two folk song settings O can ye sew cushions and The Salley Gardens were not included on the Argo LP, instead issued separately, the next year, on an EP, together with Old Abram Brown and Oliver Cromwell. All four settings are included on this disc. Completing this collection are the Hymn to the Virgin (an early work, composed in 1930 and revised four years later) and the Missa Brevis, written to mark the retirement of George Malcolm as organist and choirmaster of Westminster Cathedral. Although Britten himself recorded the work for Decca, this is a rare and much sought-after ‘live’ recording made during Mass at Westminster Cathedral in January 1960. It was issued on a 45rpm EP record. “First CD releases of classic accounts of Britten part songs from Louis Halsey's Elizabethan Singers, plus a searing live recording of the Missa Brevis from 1960” BBC Music Magazine, October 2012 **** “The pieces on this extremely enjoyable record roughly cover the first 20 years of Britten's maturity […]The Elizabethan Singers sing with lovely tone, splendid precision and unfailing comprehension. These are superb performances. Some of the quiet homophonic songs are splendidly done, for instance the haunting "Concord" in the Gloriana pieces, but the group is equally successful at conveying stress and excitement. The recording quality is outstandingly good. I do urge you to give this lovely record a trial.” Gramophone Magazine (Halsey) “The little work is full of Britten's brilliant technical invention and imaginative insight both in the vocal and the organ parts, and is a most valuable addition to the small repertoire of really worth-while contemporary liturgical settings of the Ordinary of the Mass. […]Performance and recording are very good” Gramophone Magazine (Missa Brevis) | | | (Sorry, download not available in your country) | In stock - usually despatched within 1 working day. |
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| |  | Britten: Complete Scottish Songs
Steeped in an atmosphere of ancient Scottish musical tradition, Benjamin Britten’s setting of texts by Robert Burns in A Birthday Hansel was his final song-cycle. Who are these children? is another late cycle to poems by William Soutar, combining darkly dramatic musical depictions of wartime life with protest songs which hark back to the composer’s youth. Acclaimed Scottish tenor Mark Wilde’s sensitivities embrace both the vibrantly dramatic and “gently mellifluous” (Manchester Evening News) qualities in this deeply expressive repertoire. “This is a fascinating recital of all Britten’s “north of the border” settings, including his final song cycle A Birthday Hansel and familiar folk-songs such as Ca’the Yowes. The mood is mostly bleak, haunted and haunting: this is Britten at his most austerely romantic and melancholy.” The Telegraph, 11th August 2011 ***** “Sensitive harp accompaniment brings to life this setting of poems from Robert Burns and William Soutar” Financial Times, 13th August 2011 *** “The Scottish tenor has matured into one of our finest artists with time's passing, musically astute, vocally impressive and a generous communicator...the intense beauty of Wilde's lyric voice and the musical wisdom of these interpretations pay handsome compensation for the recital's want of spectacular contrasts.” Classic FM Magazine, October 2011 **** “[In "A Birthday Hansel"] Wilde takes his time and uses his pliable voice to play with light and shade in atmospheric performances. The Soutar cycle, "Who are these children?", is also unhurried, adding several minutes to the timing of Peter Pears's recording, though Wilde generally uses the time productively. The headlong violence of "Slaughter" is more intelligible at this speed and "The Children" has a properly haunting air.” Gramophone Magazine, Awards Issue 2011 | | | (also available to download from $6.00) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | An English Fantasy for Viola & Harp
Jude Mollenhauer (harp), Doris Lederer (viola) | |
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| |  | Janet Baker
Berkeley, L: | Five Poems of W.H. Auden, Op. 53 (1958) | Britten: | Down by the Salley Gardens O can ye sew cushions? O Waly, Waly Come ye not from Newcastle? | Finzi: | Let Us Garlands Bring, Op. 18 | Gluck: | O del mio dolce ardor (from Paride ed Elena) | Lully: | Bois épais (from Amadis) | Marcello, B: | Il mio bel foco | Purcell: | Sleep, Adam, and take thy rest, Z195 Lord, what is man?, Z192 | Vaughan Williams: | Let Beauty Awake Tired Silent Noon Linden Lea | Warlock: | Sleep Pretty Ring Time Rest, sweet nymphs The Jolly Shepherd |
"There can be no more golden a legend than Janet Baker singing English song..." Gramophone | | | (also available to download from $10.50) | Usually despatched in 2 - 3 working days. (Available now to download.) |
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| |  | Janet Baker Boxed Set
Berkeley, L: | Five Poems of W.H. Auden, Op. 53 (1958) | Berlioz: | Les Nuits d'été, Op. 7 recorded 1975 | Britten: | Down by the Salley Gardens O can ye sew cushions? O Waly, Waly Come ye not from Newcastle? | Chausson: | Poème de l'amour et de la mer, Op. 19 recorded 1975 | Finzi: | Let Us Garlands Bring, Op. 18 | Gluck: | O del mio dolce ardor (from Paride ed Elena) | Lully: | Bois épais (from Amadis) | Marcello, B: | Il mio bel foco | Purcell: | Sleep, Adam, and take thy rest, Z195 Lord, what is man?, Z192 | Schoenberg: | Lied der Waldtaube (from Gurrelieder) recorded 1963 | Schubert: | Die junge Nonne, D828 Das Rosenband, D280 (Klopstock) Auf dem See, D543 (Goethe) Blumenlied, D431 (Holty) Gondelfahrer, D808 Die Gotter Griechenlands D677 (Schiller) Der Jungling und der Tod, D545 (Spaun) Schwestergruss, D762 (Bruchmann) Amalia, D195 (Schiller) Der Jüngling am Bache, D30 (Schiller) Die Entzückung an Laura, D390 Sehnsucht, D636 (Schiller) Der Sieg D805 (Mayrhofer) Abendstern, D806 Atys D585 Augenlied, D297 (Mayrhofer) Memnon, D541 (Mayrhofer) Auflösung, D807 Der Musensohn, D764 (Goethe) | Vaughan Williams: | Let Beauty awake Tired Silent Noon Linden Lea | Warlock: | Sleep Pretty Ring Time Rest, sweet nymphs The Jolly Shepherd |
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