Songs of England
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Michael (Dewar) Head, Peter Warlock, William Charles Denis Browne, Frank Bridge, Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Roger Quilter, Patrick (Arthur Sheldon) Hadley, Frederick Delius, (Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Arthur Somervell, Charles Villiers Stanford
Label: Hyperion
Magazine Review Date: 10/1984
Media Format: Vinyl
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
Stereo
Catalogue Number: A66085
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (4) Songs from 'Crossings' |
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Composer
Cecil Armstrong Gibbs, Composer Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| (4) Old English Songs (Four Elizabethan Songs), Movement: Spring, the sweet Spring (wds. T. Nashe) |
Frederick Delius, Composer
Frederick Delius, Composer Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| (4) Old English Songs (Four Elizabethan Songs), Movement: To Daffodils (wds. R. Herrick) |
Frederick Delius, Composer
Frederick Delius, Composer Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Diaphenia |
William Charles Denis Browne, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano William Charles Denis Browne, Composer |
| To Gratiana dancing and singing |
William Charles Denis Browne, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano William Charles Denis Browne, Composer |
| English Lyrics, Set 3, Movement: Lucasta (wds. Lovelace) |
(Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Composer
(Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Composer Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| (A) Sheaf of Songs from Leinster, Movement: A soft day |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Young love lies sleeping |
Arthur Somervell, Composer
Arthur Somervell, Composer Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Blow, blow, thou winter wind |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Frank Bridge, Composer Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Journey's End |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Frank Bridge, Composer Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Love went a-riding |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Frank Bridge, Composer Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Estuary |
Michael (Dewar) Head, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Michael (Dewar) Head, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Sweet chance, that led my steps abroad |
Michael (Dewar) Head, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Michael (Dewar) Head, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Money O! |
Michael (Dewar) Head, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Michael (Dewar) Head, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Bury her at Even |
Patrick (Arthur Sheldon) Hadley, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Patrick (Arthur Sheldon) Hadley, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| So we'll go no more a-roving |
Patrick (Arthur Sheldon) Hadley, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Patrick (Arthur Sheldon) Hadley, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| (4) Songs of sorrow, Movement: Passing dreams |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Quilter, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| (7) Elizabethan Lyrics, Movement: Weep you no more (wds. Anon) |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Quilter, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| (7) Elizabethan Lyrics, Movement: Fair house of joy (wds. Anon) |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Quilter, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| (The) Arnold Book of Old Songs, Movement: No. 2, Over the mountains (wds from Percy's 'Reliq |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Roger Quilter, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| Piggesnie |
Peter Warlock, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Peter Warlock, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| My Own Country |
Peter Warlock, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Peter Warlock, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
| (The) droll lover |
Peter Warlock, Composer
Graham Trew, Baritone Peter Warlock, Composer Roger Vignoles, Piano |
Author:
Graham Trew is by now very experienced in this repertoire, roughly English song of the earlier part of the century. This is his fourth such recording, though he is little known to the larger public. The BBC has often broadcast from his records; but I have yet to notice them making any wider use of his obvious talent. He has stuck to the repertoire he clearly loves and feels he can do best: he takes a great deal of trouble over his programmes, recorded or otherwise, and must spend a lot of time routing out lesser-known songs he considers worth singing and in meticulous preparation of them. (For those who have forgotten I might mention that he won a Gramophone Record Award in 1981 for his two discs of Housman settings on the Meridian label in the solo vocal category; since then he has recorded for Hyperion and besides raising my enthusiasm, has been much praised by MEO.) This new collection continues the high standard of the earlier ones, both in the variety of its programme and by his fine singing; and I fully agree with MEO's view that his voice ''is a fine instrument and he can effortlessly sustain the long phrases'' and who finally called him a ''sensitive and persuasive new interpreter''.
Not all the songs here are equally good—that would be expecting too much of a group of lesser composers—and a feeling of slight monotony after I had listened was certainly not in any way due to the singer. It is, I think, that composers of this time were on the whole given to writing songs of varying degrees of slowness—certainly, of the 23 songs on this record only six are really fast and lively; and two of those are by one of the best composers, Frank Bridge, whose two vivacious songs surround a remarkable setting of a Humbert Wolfe poem,Journey's end, sparse yet eloquent and ending with the voice alone (as if the pianist had just given up after hearing the desolate words). W. Denis Browne, on the other hand, has a remarkable song in which the voice is almost a mere obbligato to the piano, which plays a sort of sarabande throughout, only stopping for a moment after ''The floor lay pav'd with broken hearts''. And this is the moment to pay a tribute to Trew's regular accompanist, Roger Vignoles, and To Hyperion for their recording of his sensitive playing, always forward enough (and in this song Gratiana dancing is more important than her singing) yet never too much so for the voice.
The other songs that particularly took my fancy were those by Delius. The note, in general well-informed, by Michael Hurd tells us that Delius's songs formed a relatively small part of his work; but this part is much under-rated, as Michael Kennedy more correctly points out in his note on Elizabeth Harwood's record reviewed above. In fact Delius wrote over 60 songs, yet they are not even discussed in Grove. So it is surprising to find him writing so lively a piece as Spring, the sweet spring, yet still showing much of his own characteristic, chromatic, style before coming right into his own for Herrick's To daffodils. For the rest, whatever my view about some of them, this is another excellent and highly enjoyable record by, Graham Trew and Roger Vignoles and a first-rate recording by Hyperion.'
Not all the songs here are equally good—that would be expecting too much of a group of lesser composers—and a feeling of slight monotony after I had listened was certainly not in any way due to the singer. It is, I think, that composers of this time were on the whole given to writing songs of varying degrees of slowness—certainly, of the 23 songs on this record only six are really fast and lively; and two of those are by one of the best composers, Frank Bridge, whose two vivacious songs surround a remarkable setting of a Humbert Wolfe poem,
The other songs that particularly took my fancy were those by Delius. The note, in general well-informed, by Michael Hurd tells us that Delius's songs formed a relatively small part of his work; but this part is much under-rated, as Michael Kennedy more correctly points out in his note on Elizabeth Harwood's record reviewed above. In fact Delius wrote over 60 songs, yet they are not even discussed in Grove. So it is surprising to find him writing so lively a piece as Spring, the sweet spring, yet still showing much of his own characteristic, chromatic, style before coming right into his own for Herrick's To daffodils. For the rest, whatever my view about some of them, this is another excellent and highly enjoyable record by, Graham Trew and Roger Vignoles and a first-rate recording by Hyperion.'
Songs of England
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