Starter Packs

Complete your collection with these curated titles, grouped at a special discount.

Shop Now
Chandos

The World Feels Dusty

$21.99

Details

Composer
Various
Artist
Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
Format
CD
Label
Chandos
Released
Sep 12, 2025
Catalog #
CHAN 20285
UPC
0095115228524

About

Dame Sarah Connolly and Joseph Middleton present a richly rewarding programme of art songs from a variety of composers. The recital opens with Chausson's Poème de l'amour et de la mer, which took almost a decade to compose and shows Wagner's influence on the younger composer. Composed in 1935 on a study trip to Rome, Barber's Three Songs set poems by James Joyce and portray three love affairs. Debussy's Trois Chansons de Bilitis set the erotic poems of Pierre Louÿs, which were all the rage in Paris at the turn of the century. Aaron Copland completed his Twelve Poems of Emily Dickinson in 1950, but declared that they should not be seen as a set but as twelve individual works. Connolly here includes 'I've heard an organ talk sometimes' and 'The world feels dusty', the latter giving the album it's title. The programme concludes with the première recording of Errollyn Wallen's Night Thoughts: a cycle of four songs commissioned by Leeds Lieder, and first performed by Dame Sarah and Joseph, the cycle's dedicatees. Setting two of her own poems alongside one by Emily Dickinson and lines from Shakespeare's MacBeth, the cycle took it's inspiration from Howard Hodgkin's painting Night Thoughts.

Tracklist 20 tracks

  1. 1 No. 1. La fleur des eaux: L'air est plein d'une odeur exquise de lilas 04:22
    Track
    1
    Title
    No. 1. La fleur des eaux: L'air est plein d'une odeur exquise de lilas
    Duration
    04:22
    Composer
    Ernest Chausson
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  2. 2 No. 1. La fleur des eaux: Et mon coeur s'est levé par ce matin d'été 02:21
    Track
    2
    Title
    No. 1. La fleur des eaux: Et mon coeur s'est levé par ce matin d'été
    Duration
    02:21
    Composer
    Ernest Chausson
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  3. 3 No. 1. La fleur des eaux: Quel son lamentable et sauvage 03:24
    Track
    3
    Title
    No. 1. La fleur des eaux: Quel son lamentable et sauvage
    Duration
    03:24
    Composer
    Ernest Chausson
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  4. 4 Interlude 02:10
    Track
    4
    Title
    Interlude
    Duration
    02:10
    Composer
    Ernest Chausson
    Performer
    Joseph Middleton
  5. 5 No. 2. La mort de l'amour: Bientôt l'île bleue et joyeuse 02:07
    Track
    5
    Title
    No. 2. La mort de l'amour: Bientôt l'île bleue et joyeuse
    Duration
    02:07
    Composer
    Ernest Chausson
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  6. 6 No. 2. La mort de l'amour: Le vent roulait les feuilles mortes 02:51
    Track
    6
    Title
    No. 2. La mort de l'amour: Le vent roulait les feuilles mortes
    Duration
    02:51
    Composer
    Ernest Chausson
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  7. 7 No. 2. La mort de l'amour: Comme des fronts de morts nos fronts avaient pâli 02:29
    Track
    7
    Title
    No. 2. La mort de l'amour: Comme des fronts de morts nos fronts avaient pâli
    Duration
    02:29
    Composer
    Ernest Chausson
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  8. 8 No. 2. La mort de l'amour: Le temps des lilas et le temps des roses 04:14
    Track
    8
    Title
    No. 2. La mort de l'amour: Le temps des lilas et le temps des roses
    Duration
    04:14
    Composer
    Ernest Chausson
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  9. 9 No. 1. Rain has fallen 02:45
    Track
    9
    Title
    No. 1. Rain has fallen
    Duration
    02:45
    Composer
    Samuel Barber
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  10. 10 No. 2. Sleep now 02:46
    Track
    10
    Title
    No. 2. Sleep now
    Duration
    02:46
    Composer
    Samuel Barber
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  11. 11 No. 3. I hear an army 02:30
    Track
    11
    Title
    No. 3. I hear an army
    Duration
    02:30
    Composer
    Samuel Barber
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  12. 12 No. 1. La flûte de Pan 02:49
    Track
    12
    Title
    No. 1. La flûte de Pan
    Duration
    02:49
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  13. 13 No. 2. La chevelure 03:22
    Track
    13
    Title
    No. 2. La chevelure
    Duration
    03:22
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  14. 14 No. 3. Le tombeau des naïades 02:55
    Track
    14
    Title
    No. 3. Le tombeau des naïades
    Duration
    02:55
    Composer
    Claude Debussy
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  15. 15 No. 4. The World feels dusty 01:58
    Track
    15
    Title
    No. 4. The World feels dusty
    Duration
    01:58
    Composer
    Aaron Copland
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  16. 16 No. 10. I've heard an organ talk sometimes 02:02
    Track
    16
    Title
    No. 10. I've heard an organ talk sometimes
    Duration
    02:02
    Composer
    Aaron Copland
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  17. 17 No. 1. Sleep 03:26
    Track
    17
    Title
    No. 1. Sleep
    Duration
    03:26
    Composer
    Errollyn Wallen
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  18. 18 No. 2. Bright Lights 03:23
    Track
    18
    Title
    No. 2. Bright Lights
    Duration
    03:23
    Composer
    Errollyn Wallen
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  19. 19 No. 3. There's a certain Slant of light 04:17
    Track
    19
    Title
    No. 3. There's a certain Slant of light
    Duration
    04:17
    Composer
    Errollyn Wallen
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton
  20. 20 No. 4. Night Thoughts 01:37
    Track
    20
    Title
    No. 4. Night Thoughts
    Duration
    01:37
    Composer
    Errollyn Wallen
    Performer
    Sarah Connolly, Joseph Middleton