Roger Quilter was born in Brighton on 1 November 1877, third son of Sir Cuthbert Quilter. He was educated at Eton and then studied for four years in Frankfurt-am-Main under the Russian teacher of composition, Ivan Knorr. Fellow students were Cyril Scott, Norman O'Neill, Balfour Gardiner and Percy Grainger. All these were composers of some reputation in their lifetimes, but only Quilter and Grainger produced work which is still performed regularly today. Quilter was a writer of songs, and virtually nothing else. There was an opera, Julia, and a couple of ballets, and the once well-known A Children's Overture. On the other hand, he composed more than one hundred songs. At least half of these remain in the repertoire, loved by performers and audiences alike. The songs on this release span more than 50 years and show Quilter in all his moods - light, exuberant, ephemeral, narrative, pensive, but always melodic. Few composers - especially song composers - can claim to have written works that have remained in print since they were first published more than a hundred years ago. Roger Quilter is one such, though the number of his songs still in print is regrettably small.

The songs included on this album are all settings of words by either Elizabethan or Jacobean poets: a period of literature that has been a prime source for song composers since its creation. The Shakespeare texts – all ‘songs’ from the plays – contain the works that made Quilter’s name, and have largely been responsible for his enduring reputation. Nathan Vale studied with Ryland Davies at the Royal College of Music and Benjamin Britten International Opera School. He was awarded an Independent Opera Vocal Scholarship to the National Opera Studio, where he was further supported by the Elmley Foundation, ENO, the Nicholas John Trust and The Seary Trust. He is a former winner of the London Handel Singing Competition where he was also awarded the Audience Prize. He continues his studies with David Pollard.