Sir Michael Tippett - Songs - Hyperion: CDA66749 - download

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The two longest works – the cantata Boyhood'sEnd and song cycle The Heart's Assurance – challenge the musicianship and sensitivity of both singer and pianist alike. Boyhood's End (1943), a setting... — Gramophone Classical Music Guide, 2010 More…

Catalogue No: CDA66749
Label: Hyperion
Length: 72 minutes

Tippett: Music

Work length3:34

$1.00

$1.25

Martyn Hill (tenor), Andrew Ball (piano)

Purcell: If music be the food of love Z379A

Work length2:06

$1.00

$1.25

Martyn Hill (tenor), Andrew Ball (piano)

Tippett: Songs for Ariel

Work length4:39

$3.00

$3.75

Martyn Hill (tenor), Andrew Ball (piano)

I. Come unto these yellow sands

Track length1:57

$1.00

$1.25

II. Full fathom five

Track length1:31

$1.00

$1.25

III. Where the bee sucks

Track length1:11

$1.00

$1.25

Excerpt, Purcell: The Fairy Queen, Z629

Work length2:42

$1.00

$1.25

Martyn Hill (tenor), Andrew Ball (piano)

Act 5. An Epithalamium (Wedding Song)

Track length2:42

$1.00

$1.25

Purcell: The fatal hour comes on apace, Z421

Work length4:00

$1.00

$1.25

Martyn Hill (tenor), Craig Ogden (guitar)

Tippett: Songs for Achilles

Work length15:40

$3.00

$3.75

Martyn Hill (tenor), Craig Ogden (guitar)

I. In the tent

Track length5:18

$1.00

$1.25

II. Across the plain

Track length3:37

$1.00

$1.25

III. By the sea

Track length6:45

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Purcell: From silent shades ('Bess of Bedlam') Z370

Work length4:35

$1.00

$1.25

Martyn Hill (tenor), Andrew Ball (piano)

Tippett: Boyhood's End

Work length12:57

$2.05

$2.50

Martyn Hill (tenor), Andrew Ball (piano)

Excerpt, Purcell: Pausanius, the Betrayer of his Country: incidental music, Z585

Work length3:39

$1.00

$1.25

Martyn Hill (tenor), Andrew Ball (piano)

Act II. Sweeter than roses

Track length3:39

$1.00

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Tippett: The Heart's Assurance

Work length18:09

$5.00

$6.25

Martyn Hill (tenor), Andrew Ball (piano)

I. Song

Track length2:56

$1.00

$1.25

II. The heart's assurance

Track length2:11

$1.00

$1.25

III. Compassion

Track length4:33

$1.00

$1.25

IV. The Dancer

Track length2:14

$1.00

$1.25

V. Remember your lovers

Track length6:15

$1.00

$1.25

Reviews
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Reviews

2010

The two longest works – the cantata Boyhood'sEnd and song cycle The Heart's Assurance – challenge the musicianship and sensitivity of both singer and pianist alike. Boyhood's End (1943), a setting of prose that's never prosaic, shows the ecstasy of Midsummer Marriage to be already within the system, and the profusion of notes has to be mastered so that the dance shall seem as delicate and natural as graceful improvisation.
In The Heart's Assurance (1951) the spirit's similar, although the technical accomplishment of all concerned, composer and performers, is heightened. For the singer, in addition to the quite fearsome difficulties of pitch and rhythm, there's also likely to be some problem of tessitura, particularly in the third of the songs, 'Compassion'.
For the pianist, concentration has to be divided between the virtuoso writing of his own part and responsiveness to the singer, his notes, words and expression. Martyn Hill and Andrew Ball are wonderfully at one in all this, and the balancing of voice and piano has been finely achieved. The Songs for Achilles, with guitar, also convey a real sense of ardent improvisation, and the voice rings out freely. The Songs for Ariel here work their natural magic. Tippett's affinities with Purcell are felt at one time or another in most of these compositions, starting with the opening of the programme, the setting of Shelley's Sleep. The disc was issued to mark the composer's 90th birthday, and serves as a touching and eloquent tribute.

Sir Michael Tippett - Songs

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