Songs of the British Isles
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten, Hugh S Roberton, (Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Traditional, Frank Bridge, Roger Quilter, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Mary Plumstead, Charles Villiers Stanford, (Lady) John Douglas Scott
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 4/1990
Media Format: Cassette
Media Runtime: 0
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: ABTD1388
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (7) Elizabethan Lyrics, Movement: Weep you no more (wds. Anon) |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Roger Quilter, Composer |
| (7) Elizabethan Lyrics, Movement: Fair house of joy (wds. Anon) |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Roger Quilter, Composer |
| (3) Songs, Movement: No. 1, Love's philosophy (wds. Shelley: 1905) |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Roger Quilter, Composer |
| (3) Songs, Movement: No. 2, Now sleeps the crimson petal (wds. Tennyson |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Roger Quilter, Composer |
| (The) Fidgety bairn |
Hugh S Roberton, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Hugh S Roberton, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| O hush thee, my babie |
Hugh S Roberton, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Hugh S Roberton, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (The) Stuttering lovers |
Traditional, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Traditional, Composer |
| I will walk with my love |
Traditional, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Traditional, Composer |
| Kitty, my love, will you marry me? |
Traditional, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Traditional, Composer |
| Blow the wind southerly |
Traditional, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Traditional, Composer |
| Folk Song Arrangements, Movement: The Salley Gardens (also unison vv and piano) |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Benjamin Britten, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| Folk Song Arrangements, Movement: O waly waly |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Benjamin Britten, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| Hymns from the Rig Veda, Movement: Ushas |
Gustav Holst, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Gustav Holst, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| Hymns from the Rig Veda, Movement: Varuna II |
Gustav Holst, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Gustav Holst, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| English Lyrics, Set 6, Movement: Love is a bable (wds. anon) |
(Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Composer
(Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Composer Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| Close thine eyes |
Mary Plumstead, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Mary Plumstead, Composer |
| Go not, happy day |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Frank Bridge, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (A) Sheaf of Songs from Leinster, Movement: A soft day |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (An) Irish Idyll in six miniatures, Movement: The fairy lough |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (A) Sheaf of Songs from Leinster, Movement: The bold unbiddable child |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (4) Last Songs, Movement: No. 2, Tired (1956) |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| (4) Last Songs, Movement: No. 3, Hands, eyes and heart (1955) |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| (The) House of Life, Movement: No. 2, Silent Noon |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| Think on me |
(Lady) John Douglas Scott, Composer
(Lady) John Douglas Scott, Composer Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten, Hugh S Roberton, (Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Traditional, Frank Bridge, Roger Quilter, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Mary Plumstead, Charles Villiers Stanford, (Lady) John Douglas Scott
Label: Chandos
Magazine Review Date: 4/1990
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 69
Mastering:
DDD
Catalogue Number: CHAN8749
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (7) Elizabethan Lyrics, Movement: Weep you no more (wds. Anon) |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Roger Quilter, Composer |
| (7) Elizabethan Lyrics, Movement: Fair house of joy (wds. Anon) |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Roger Quilter, Composer |
| (3) Songs, Movement: No. 1, Love's philosophy (wds. Shelley: 1905) |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Roger Quilter, Composer |
| (3) Songs, Movement: No. 2, Now sleeps the crimson petal (wds. Tennyson |
Roger Quilter, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Roger Quilter, Composer |
| (The) Fidgety bairn |
Hugh S Roberton, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Hugh S Roberton, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| O hush thee, my babie |
Hugh S Roberton, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Hugh S Roberton, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (The) Stuttering lovers |
Traditional, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Traditional, Composer |
| I will walk with my love |
Traditional, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Traditional, Composer |
| Kitty, my love, will you marry me? |
Traditional, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Traditional, Composer |
| Blow the wind southerly |
Traditional, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Traditional, Composer |
| Folk Song Arrangements, Movement: The Salley Gardens (also unison vv and piano) |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Benjamin Britten, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| Folk Song Arrangements, Movement: O waly waly |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Benjamin Britten, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| Hymns from the Rig Veda, Movement: Ushas |
Gustav Holst, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Gustav Holst, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| Hymns from the Rig Veda, Movement: Varuna II |
Gustav Holst, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Gustav Holst, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| English Lyrics, Set 6, Movement: Love is a bable (wds. anon) |
(Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Composer
(Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Composer Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| Close thine eyes |
Mary Plumstead, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Mary Plumstead, Composer |
| Go not, happy day |
Frank Bridge, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Frank Bridge, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (A) Sheaf of Songs from Leinster, Movement: A soft day |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (An) Irish Idyll in six miniatures, Movement: The fairy lough |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (A) Sheaf of Songs from Leinster, Movement: The bold unbiddable child |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
| (4) Last Songs, Movement: No. 2, Tired (1956) |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| (4) Last Songs, Movement: No. 3, Hands, eyes and heart (1955) |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| (The) House of Life, Movement: No. 2, Silent Noon |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| Think on me |
(Lady) John Douglas Scott, Composer
(Lady) John Douglas Scott, Composer Anthony Legge, Piano Linda Finnie, Mezzo soprano |
Author:
Linda Finnie won the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Award in 1974 and the Ferrier Prize at s'Hertogenbosch in 1977, so this programme, delightful in itself, comes gracefully, and I presume gratefully, as an affectionate tribute. Drawn from a well-remembered part of Ferrier's repertoire, the songs often bear the impress of her voice and radiance even to this day, and it is probable that in several of them (Now sleeps the crimson petal is an example) the living singer will have had the recorded voice of her great original in mind. It is always a path that needs careful treading: too close an adherence will be seen as slavish, while an entirely independent approach may appear presumptuous. Linda Finnie avoids both of these pitfalls and sings as one who walks naturally in the Ferrier tradition, bringing her own considerable gifts and imposing no alien touch.
The recital has its limitations even so. Recorded in The Maltings, Snape it makesKitty, my love sound as though in church, and The bold unbiddable child as in a cathedral. Dissatisfaction with the piano part led me to compare the opening songs with a Quilter recital by Benjamin Luxon and David Willison (also on Chandos (CD) CHAN8702, 3/90), which was also recorded at The Maltings. In that, David Willison's playing of Weep you no more makes the descending motif depict with the lightest of touches the fall of water in the sad fountains, and his sensitive pianistic style is the perfect accompaniment to the peacefulness of one who ''softly now softly lies sleeping''. Then in Fair house of joy, singer and pianist together feel the impulse of the song so much more sensitively than do their counterparts in the present recital. Anthony Legge plays best, in my view, in The Salley gardens where the melodic line and detached notes of the left hand are well balanced against the gentle, subdued pulse of the right. But there are accompanists who manage to suggest the mood of a song in their very first notes, giving it as it were a face, and of that subtle art there is little evidence here.
A further comparison, and I suppose at some point it was an inevitable one, made a still stronger impression. Ferrier's own recording of Fair house of joy (now on Decca mono (CD) 417 192-2DH, 6/88) brought with it the surpassing glory of that voice and her way of singing such music as with a special love for a special old friend. Linda Finnie herself offers something of the kind, not in this song I think, but most often when she sings quietly and evenly as in Hugh Roberton's Highland Cradle Song, Stanford's Fairy lough and those two Last Songs of Vaughan Williams so touchingly set to poems by his wife. These give great pleasure, and will be items in the recital to come back to with the kind of affection inspired by the dedicatee herself.'
The recital has its limitations even so. Recorded in The Maltings, Snape it makes
A further comparison, and I suppose at some point it was an inevitable one, made a still stronger impression. Ferrier's own recording of Fair house of joy (now on Decca mono (CD) 417 192-2DH, 6/88) brought with it the surpassing glory of that voice and her way of singing such music as with a special love for a special old friend. Linda Finnie herself offers something of the kind, not in this song I think, but most often when she sings quietly and evenly as in Hugh Roberton's Highland Cradle Song, Stanford's Fairy lough and those two Last Songs of Vaughan Williams so touchingly set to poems by his wife. These give great pleasure, and will be items in the recital to come back to with the kind of affection inspired by the dedicatee herself.'
Songs of the British Isles
Songs of the British Isles
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