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BIS

The Contrast - English Poetry In Song

$21.99

Details

Composer
VARIOUS
Artist
Sampson, Middleton
Format
SACD
Label
BIS
Released
Feb 07, 2020
Catalog #
BIS-2413
UPC
7318599924137

About

Song composition has been a constant in British music since the lute and consort works of the early seventeenth century. By 1900, it had developed into a sophisticated genre embraced by almost all serious composers. The music on this amply-filled disc illustrates the diversity of British song-writing and it's transformation over a century: from Vaughan Williams's Orpheus and his Lute (ca 1901) to Huw Watkins's Five Larkin Songs, composed in 2010 for Carolyn Sampson, who performs them here. Together with Joseph Middleton, her partner on several acclaimed recital discs, she has devised a highly contrasting programme bookended by two groups of songs by William Walton - A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table from 1962, celebrating the diversity of London, and three songs from Façade, the 'entertainment' with which the young composer gained both fame and notoriety in 1923. These frame settings by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Roger Quilter and Frank Bridge of poetry by writers from Shakespeare and Shelley to Keats and Yeats. In comparison, the anti-romantic poems by Philip Larkin have been described as marked by 'a very English, glum accuracy'. Huw Watkins (b. 1976) has selected texts from across Larkin's output, catching the various moods - ranging from a certain unsentimental nostalgia to the poet's seemingly habitual pessimism - in settings that often carry a bittersweet sting in the tail.

Tracklist 30 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. The Lord Mayor's Table 03:14
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. The Lord Mayor's Table
    Duration
    03:14
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  2. 2 No. 2. Glide Gently 02:43
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 2. Glide Gently
    Duration
    02:43
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  3. 3 No. 3. Wapping Old Stairs 02:20
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 3. Wapping Old Stairs
    Duration
    02:20
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  4. 4 No. 4. Holy Thursday 03:07
    Track
    4
    Title
    No. 4. Holy Thursday
    Duration
    03:07
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  5. 5 No. 5. The Contrast 02:45
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 5. The Contrast
    Duration
    02:45
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  6. 6 No. 6. Rhyme 01:52
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 6. Rhyme
    Duration
    01:52
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  7. 7 Orpheus with his Lute 02:59
    Track
    7
    Title
    Orpheus with his Lute
    Duration
    02:59
    Composer
    Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  8. 8 The sky above the roof 02:39
    Track
    8
    Title
    The sky above the roof
    Duration
    02:39
    Composer
    Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  9. 9 The House of Life: No. 2. Silent Noon 04:03
    Track
    9
    Title
    The House of Life: No. 2. Silent Noon
    Duration
    04:03
    Composer
    Ralph Vaughan Williams
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  10. 10 Go not, happy day 01:18
    Track
    10
    Title
    Go not, happy day
    Duration
    01:18
    Composer
    Frank Bridge
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  11. 11 When most I wink 02:41
    Track
    11
    Title
    When most I wink
    Duration
    02:41
    Composer
    Frank Bridge
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  12. 12 Adoration 02:50
    Track
    12
    Title
    Adoration
    Duration
    02:50
    Composer
    Frank Bridge
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  13. 13 Come to me in my dreams 03:38
    Track
    13
    Title
    Come to me in my dreams
    Duration
    03:38
    Composer
    Frank Bridge
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  14. 14 When you are old 03:54
    Track
    14
    Title
    When you are old
    Duration
    03:54
    Composer
    Frank Bridge
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  15. 15 Mantle of blue 02:12
    Track
    15
    Title
    Mantle of blue
    Duration
    02:12
    Composer
    Frank Bridge
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  16. 16 Love went a-riding 01:41
    Track
    16
    Title
    Love went a-riding
    Duration
    01:41
    Composer
    Frank Bridge
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  17. 17 No. 1. Who called love conquering 02:45
    Track
    17
    Title
    No. 1. Who called love conquering
    Duration
    02:45
    Composer
    Huw Watkins
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  18. 18 No. 2. Wants 01:37
    Track
    18
    Title
    No. 2. Wants
    Duration
    01:37
    Composer
    Huw Watkins
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  19. 19 No. 3. Love Songs in Age 03:26
    Track
    19
    Title
    No. 3. Love Songs in Age
    Duration
    03:26
    Composer
    Huw Watkins
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  20. 20 No. 4. Money 01:47
    Track
    20
    Title
    No. 4. Money
    Duration
    01:47
    Composer
    Huw Watkins
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  21. 21 No. 5. Dawn 02:33
    Track
    21
    Title
    No. 5. Dawn
    Duration
    02:33
    Composer
    Huw Watkins
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  22. 22 3 Songs of William Blake, Op. 20: No. 1. Dream Valley 02:14
    Track
    22
    Title
    3 Songs of William Blake, Op. 20: No. 1. Dream Valley
    Duration
    02:14
    Composer
    Roger Quilter
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  23. 23 No. 7. Fair House of Joy 01:46
    Track
    23
    Title
    No. 7. Fair House of Joy
    Duration
    01:46
    Composer
    Roger Quilter
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  24. 24 No. 6. By a Fountainside 02:56
    Track
    24
    Title
    No. 6. By a Fountainside
    Duration
    02:56
    Composer
    Roger Quilter
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  25. 25 6 Songs, Op. 25: No. 4. Arab Love Song 01:17
    Track
    25
    Title
    6 Songs, Op. 25: No. 4. Arab Love Song
    Duration
    01:17
    Composer
    Roger Quilter
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  26. 26 4 Songs, Op. 14: No. 1. Autumn Evening 01:34
    Track
    26
    Title
    4 Songs, Op. 14: No. 1. Autumn Evening
    Duration
    01:34
    Composer
    Roger Quilter
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  27. 27 No. 2. My Life's Delight 02:55
    Track
    27
    Title
    No. 2. My Life's Delight
    Duration
    02:55
    Composer
    Roger Quilter
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  28. 28 No. 1. Daphne 03:58
    Track
    28
    Title
    No. 1. Daphne
    Duration
    03:58
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  29. 29 No. 2. Through Gilded Trellises 03:58
    Track
    29
    Title
    No. 2. Through Gilded Trellises
    Duration
    03:58
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton
  30. 30 No. 3. Old Sir Faulk 01:57
    Track
    30
    Title
    No. 3. Old Sir Faulk
    Duration
    01:57
    Composer
    William Walton
    Performer
    Carolyn Sampson, Joseph Middleton