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Sounds and Sweet Airs - A Shakespeare Songbook


A British dream team sings poetry by the Bard of Avon
The 37 songs in this recital, written by 27 composers – male, female, English, French, Swiss, German, Romantic, modern and contemporary – bear witness to the richness of Shakespeare’s works to which this recital is dedicated. &&&

Organised in the form of a play in five acts, including prologue and epilogue, the songs, which include several duets, are in turn cheerful and sad, light and profound, classical and jazzy – thus allowing, in Carolyn Sampson’s words, ‘a breadth of responses to these great texts’. Alongside well-known melodies, such as those by Schubert, there are musical adaptations by different composers of the same texts, as well as a contemporary reflection for the two voices by Hannah Kendall exploring the question of gender fluidity and identity through the elusive character of Rosalind from As You Like It.

After many acclaimed releases on BIS, including Album für die Frau (BIS-2473), a collection of songs by Clara and Robert Schumann, A Soprano’s Schubertiade (BIS-2343) and Elysium (BIS-2573), two Schubert recitals, as well as a number of themed recitals, some of which were named ‘Recording of the Month’ by MusicWeb International and ‘CD-Tipp’ by BR Klassik, Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton are joined here by renowned British baritone Roderick Williams.
 
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  John Ireland
01 Full fathom five 1'20
 
 
  Ralph Vaughan Williams
02 Dirge for Fidele 4'01
 
 
  Ernest John Moeran
03 The Lover and his Lass 1'47
 
 
  Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
04 Arise 1'29
 
 
  John Christopher Smith
05 You Spotted Snakes 1'58
 
 
  Sir Michael Tippett
  Three Songs for Ariel 5'10
06 1. Come unto these Yellow Sands 1'58
07 2. Full Fathom Five 1'57
08 3. Where the Bee Sucks 1'15
 
 
  Thomas Augustine Arne
09 Under the Greenwood Tree  2'20
 
 
  Ivor Gurney
10 Under the Greenwood Tree  1'46
 
 
  Hubert Parry
11 Sonnet LXXXVII 3'35
 
 
  John Ireland
12 When Daffodils Begin to Peer 2'09
 
 
  Joseph Haydn
13 She never told her love, Hob.XXVIa No. 34 4'03
 
 
  Franz Schubert
14 An Silvia, D 106 2'48
 
15 Ständchen (Horch, horch! die Lerch), D 889 1'52
 
16 Trinklied, D 888 1'19
 
 
  Robert Schumann
17 Schlusslied des Narren, Op.127 No. 5 1'01
 
 
  Hugo Wolf
18 Lied des transferierten Zettel 0'56
 
 
  Peter Cornelius
19 Komm herbei, Tod, Op.16 No. 3 3'06
 
 
  Cheryl Frances-Hoad
20 They Bore him Barefaced on a Bier 3'29
 
 
  Hannah Kendall
  Rosalind 14'26
21 1. Here is a space 3'32
22 2. all love is a lunacy 3'01
23 3. ...no explanation is needed 2'14
24 4. Take my fear take my feeling 4'03
25 5. You do not get to dress me anymore 1'36
 
 
  Francis Poulenc
26 Fancy 2'19
 
 
  Benjamin Britten
27 Fancie 0'58
 
 
  Arthur Honegger
  Deux chants d'Ariel 3'39
28 1. Modéré (Venez jusqu'à ces sables d'or) 2'53
29 2. Un peu animé (Où butine l'abeille je butine aussi) 0'46
 
 
  Frank Bridge
30 Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind 1'53
 
 
  Madeleine Dring
31 Take, O Take Those Lips Away 3'53
 
 
  John Dankworth
32 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 2'42
 
 
  Mervyn Horder
33 Under the Greenwood Tree  1'24
 
 
  Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
34 The Willow Song 2'33
 
 
  Amy Beach
35 Fairy Lullaby 2'11
 
 
  Roderick Williams
36 Sigh No More, Ladies 1'07
 
 
  Arthur Sullivan
37 Orpheus with his lute 3'41
 
  Album total 85'13
ComposerArne, Thomas Augustine
Beach, Amy
Bridge, Frank
Britten, Benjamin
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Mario
Coleridge-Taylor, Samuel
Cornelius, Peter
Dankworth, John
Dring, Madeleine
Frances-Hoad, Cheryl
Gurney, Ivor
Haydn, Joseph
Honegger, Arthur
Horder, Mervyn
Ireland, John
Kendall, Hannah
Moeran, Ernest John
Parry, Hubert
Poulenc, Francis
Schubert, Franz
Schumann, Robert
Smith, John Christopher
Sullivan, Arthur
Tippett, Sir Michael
Vaughan Williams, Ralph
Williams, Roderick
Wolf, Hugo
SopranoSampson, Carolyn
BaritoneWilliams, Roderick
PianoMiddleton, Joseph

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