English Choral Music 8.570541 I, to the Alm Must Go

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I cannot linger here, Sure be each eye today, DDD I cannot wait below; Steady each hand must stay To seek my maiden dear, If in the trial we English Choral Music 8.570541 I, to the alm must go. Victors would be! The mountain’s call I hear And up the height I bound; Sharp is the crack! ’tis done! I know my maiden dear Lost is the chance, or won; Will mark my Juchhé sound. Right in the gold is it? ELGAR Huzza! the hit! Rejoicing come I here My flaxen-haired sweet-heart; The sun will sink and light the west Part-Songs I love thee, maiden dear, And touch the peaks with crimson glow; Nay! bid me not depart! Then shadows fill the vale with rest My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land • Evening Scene While stars look peace on all below. ) The Marksmen The Shower • The Fountain • Death on the Hills Come from the mountain side, In triumph then we take our way, Come from the valleys wide, And with our prizes homeward wend; Cambridge University Chamber Choir See, how we muster strong, Through meadows sweet with new-mown hay, Tramping along! A song exultant will we send. Christopher Robinson Rifle on shoulder sling, Powder and bullets bring, Manly in mind and heart, Play we our part.

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Edward Elgar (1857–1934) Down the path the lights are gleaming, Vainly play Part-Songs Friendly faces gladly beaming, Zithers gay! Welcome us with song. Here I stay One of the many and varied musical experiences the loved by singers, beginning simply in four parts. In the Dancing makes the heart grow lighter, All the day. young Elgar enjoyed in Worcester was the Glee Club third verse, however, Elgar divides the men’s parts, and Makes the world and life grow brighter Happily which met weekly at the Crown Hotel during the winter the melody is given to the sopranos and first tenors, As we dance along! Guarding thee, months. Its musical core was made up of the Cathedral while the rest of the choir sing the words to a repetitive, Peacefully lay clerks, and the total membership was around a rhythmic motif – an accompanimental device which ^ False Love Watching thee. hundred. Once a month there was an instrumental night, Elgar later used in Death on the Hills 0 and Serenade Now we hear the Spring’s sweet voice when a small band played arrangements of overtures and @. The point has often been made that Elgar’s musical Singing gladly through the world; Sleep, my son, oh! slumber softly, other short orchestral pieces. Elgar’s father played the thinking was always in orchestral terms, and in his Bidding all the earth rejoice. While thy mother watches o’er thee, violin and Edward himself joined in the late 1860s when greatest songs he loved to fill out the sound by writing Sleep, oh! sleep, my son. he was about twelve years old. He progressed to for more than the usual four parts. All is merry in the field, becoming leader of the band, and also its accompanist, During the 1890s the Elgars enjoyed several Flowers grow amidst the grass, * Aspiration later telling an interviewer: “It was an enjoyable and holidays in Bavaria: Edward loved the countryside, the Blossoms blue, red, white they yield. Over the heights the snow lies deep, artistic gathering, and the programmes were principally relaxed atmosphere, and the fact that Catholicism was Sunk is the land in peaceful sleep; drawn from the splendid English compositions for the predominant religion. They were particularly fond of As I seek my maiden true, Here by the house of God we pray, men’s voices. The younger generation seemed to prefer the local Schuhplattler dancing, and in 1895 Elgar wrote Sings the little lark on high Lead, Lord, our souls today. ordinary part-songs, . . . and the tone of the thing a suite of six ‘choral songs’ to his wife’s words, which Fain to send her praises due. changed”. Elgar’s name soon appeared on the tried to imitate the spirit of these dances. The work was As I climb and reach her door, Shielding, like the silent snow, programme as a composer: his first biographer R. J. entitled Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands %-). It Ah! I see a rival there, Fall His mercies here below. Buckley wrote: “His compositions showed a decided was later orchestrated, and Elgar also arranged three of So farewell for evermore! versatility. He wrote for the glee party, for the band, for the songs as the orchestral suite Three Bavarian Dances. Calmly then, like the snow-bound land, the solo singers, for anything and everything . . .” His love of Bavaria is evident in the joyful exuberance Ever true was I to thee, Rest we in His protecting hand; On 1st March 1881 the Club performed a part-song of the work, particularly the outer movements. Five of Never grieved or vexed thee, love, Bowing, we wait His mighty will: by Elgar: Why so pale and wan? It has not survived, and the movements are in triple time, and only one, False False, oh! false, art thou to me. Lead, Lord, and guide us still. it was almost twenty years before he wrote another, by Love ^, strikes a sad note. The harmonic interest is which time a ready market for such pieces was often in the accompaniment, especially in the famous Now amid the forest green, ( On the Alm established: the competition festival movement. The Lullaby &, and in the final movement, The Marksmen Far from cruel eyes that mock A mellow bell peals near, enormous growth in the number of choirs led to the ). Will I dwell unloved, unseen. It has so sweet a sound; popularity of these contests, particularly in the north of The following year, 1896, was a significant one for I know a maiden dear England. My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land 9, to Elgar with the successful premières of two choral works: & Lullaby With voice as full and round. words by Andrew Lang, was published by Novello in The Light of Life at the Worcester Festival, and King Sleep, my son, oh! slumber softly, 1890, thus beginning a relationship with the publishers Olaf at the North Staffordshire Festival. Included in the While thy mother watches o’er thee, A sunlit alm shines clear, which spanned Elgar’s most creative years. He later told Epilogue of the latter work was an unaccompanied part- Nothing can affright or harm thee With clover blossoms sweet; his friend Jaeger – the ‘Nimrod’ of the Enigma song, As Torrents in Summer 5, which has become the Sleep, oh! sleep, my son. There dwells my maiden dear, Variations – that when the song first appeared: “. . . it composer’s best known work in this genre, as Rosa And there my love I meet. was said to be crude, ill-written for the voices, laid out Burley, the Malvern schoolmistress realised when he Far-away without knowledge of the capabilities of the human first played it to her: “I knew that he had written an Zithers play, There flying with no fear voice!!” Michael Hurd was surely nearer the mark when ending to his cantata which . . . would send his audience Dancing gay The swallows pass all day; he described it as “. . . magnificently grand and away with a memorable tune ringing in their ears”. Calls to-day. And fast, my maiden dear, passionate – as if a Parry had suddenly been released In 1902, by which time Elgar was becoming a Sees chamois haste away. from gentlemanly reticence”. 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@ Serenade, Op. 73, No. 2 The bees boom past, the white moths rise Variations, The Dream of Gerontius and the first two nobilmente, the composer added the note “with the Rosa Newmarch adapted from a Russian text by Like spirits from the ground; Pomp and Circumstance marches, he was approached greatest animation but without hurry”. It is impassioned Apollon Nikolayevich Maikov The gray flies hum their weary tune, by the Morecambe Musical Festival to write a test piece music, as befits words in which the poet begs the wind A distant, dream-like sound; and attend the meeting as an adjudicator. He wrote to inspire his efforts in order to bring his message to the Dreams all too brief, And far, far off to the slumb’rous eve, Weary Wind of the West for the 1903 festival and two world: “Be through my lips to unawakened earth/ The Dreams without grief, Bayeth an old guard-hound. years later followed it with Evening Scene #. This had trumpet of a prophecy”. For Elgar, deep into writing his Once they are broken, come not again. its première in May 1906 and was dedicated to Robert long-awaited symphony, the words must have had a $ Go, Song of Mine, Op. 57 Howson, conductor of the Morecambe Choir, whom particular potency. The final song of the opus, Owls 4, Across the sky the dark clouds sweep, Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–82) Elgar described as “the musical soul of the Morecambe is probably the strangest that Elgar ever set. It is very And all is dark and drear above; adapted from an Italian text affair”. Samuel Langford in The Manchester Guardian chromatic and there are some weird harmonies. Jaeger The bare trees toss their arms and weep, by Guido Cavalcanti (c. 1250–1300) called it “. . . a highly original bit of writing, a said that it baffled analysis and he knew “. . . nothing Rest on, and do not wake, dear Love. singularly faithful translation into tone of the drowsy, like it. The words . . . are as strange and vague as the Since glad dreams haunt your slumbers deep, Dishevell’d and in tears, go, song of mine, dreamy atmosphere of evening in the fields and its music . . . It is frankly nihilistic . . . and the music Why should you scatter them in vain? To break the hardness of the heart of man: subdued sounds”. deepens the gloom”. However he found it “as full of Say how his life began In late 1907 the Elgars went to Rome for the genius as anything Elgar has done”. The composer had Happy is he, when Autumn falls, From dust, and in that dust doth sink supine: winter. Edward was trying to write a symphony, but told Jaeger: “It is only a fantasy and means nothing. It Who feels the dream-kiss of the Spring; Yet, say, the unerring spirit of grief shall guide over the Christmas period he wrote five of his finest is in [a] wood at night evidently and the recurring And happy he in prison walls His soul, being purified, part-songs – The Reveille for men’s voices, and the four ‘Nothing’ is only an owlish sound”. The sense of Who dreams of freedom’s rescuing; To seek its Maker at the heav’nly shrine. mixed-voice part-songs Opus 53. These were not despair heard by Jaeger is surely correct, however, and commissions and it is strange that he wrote them at this makes one imagine that Elgar’s “It . . . means nothing” But woe to him who vainly calls SCENES FROM THE time: maybe he wanted a change from writing for the is an attempt to cover up something deeply personal Through sleepless nights for ease from pain! BAVARIAN HIGHLANDS, OP. 27 orchestra. He selected the words to the first three, and which he was unwilling to explain. From Bavarian Volkslieder & Schnadahüpfler wrote the fourth himself. The first song, There is Sweet In April 1909 the Elgars were in Italy again, # Evening Scene (1905) adapted by Caroline Alice Elgar (1848–1920) Music 1, is dedicated to Canon Charles Gorton, Rector staying at Careggi near Florence in a villa rented by Coventry Patmore (1823–96), from The River of Morecambe and founder and President of the festival Julia Worthington. Here he composed what is felt by % The Dance there. Elgar called it “. . . a clinker and the best I have many to be his greatest part-song, Go, Song of Mine $, The sheep-bell tolleth curfew-time; Come and hasten to the dancing, done”. It broke new ground by being written in two written in six parts. The words, a translation by Rossetti The gnats, a busy rout, Merry eyes will soon be glancing, keys at once, the tenor and bass parts in G, the soprano of a medieval Italian poem, again have a distinctly Fleck the warm air; the dismal owl Ha! my heart upbounds! and alto in A flat. Its difficulty meant that when it was autobiographical ring: the author’s “song” is sent out Shouteth a sleepy shout; Come and dance a merry measure performed in the highest class at the 1909 Morecambe “to break the hardness of the heart of man”. To what The voiceless bat, more felt than seen, Quaff the bright brown ale, my treasure, Festival, only five choirs entered (instead of the usual extent Elgar applied them to himself we can only Is flitting round about. Hark! what joyous sounds! twenty or so). speculate, but he certainly gave it “a big setting”, as he The second song, Deep in my soul 2, is a heartfelt wrote to Gorton. It had its première at the 1909 Three The aspen leaflets scarcely stir: Sweet-heart come, on let us haste, setting of words by Byron; and as the song is dedicated Choirs Festival at Hereford, and was soon taken up by The river seems to think: On, on, no time let us waste, to an American lady, Julia Worthington, known as the major competition festivals as another excellent and Athwart the dusk, broad primroses With my heart I love thee! ‘Pippa’ to Elgar’s circle, some have sought for a deeper taxing test piece. Look coldly from the brink, Dance, dance, for rest we disdain, meaning in the words, especially as Mrs Worthington Diana McVeagh has written: “From now on Where, list’ning to the freshet’s noise, Turn, twirl and spin round again, has been suggested as the ‘soul’ “enshrined” in the [1907], Elgar’s choral songs are elaborate, expansive, The quiet cattle drink. With my arm I hold thee! Violin Concerto, written two years later. O Wild West and gorgeous as sheer sound . . . In the adventurous use Wind 3 is dedicated to Dr W. G. McNaught, doyen of of texture, colour and interplay of sonorities these competition adjudicators, who had served with Elgar at songs are markedly original”. Writing in the Morecambe. Though marked with the familiar Elgarian Contemporary Review in 1911 Gerald Cumberland

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said: “The creative energy of many European Death on the Hills 0, a translation of some grim words 9 My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land, The old bring up the cortège, composers is being directed into channels where it may by the Russian poet Maikov, concerning Death stalking Op. 18, No. 3 In front the young folk ride, most quickly reach large masses of the people – that is a village looking for victims. In the second half of the Andrew Lang (1844–1912) And on Death’s saddle in a row to say, it is exploring the possibilities of the human song, the three upper parts sing “with a thin and My love dwelt in a Northern land. The babes sit side by side. voice and creating music which is largely experimental somewhat veiled tone” some repetitive lines A dim tower in a forest green in its attempt to arrive at hitherto undreamt-of effects in representing the villagers, while beneath them the Was his, and far away the sand The young folk lift their voices, tone colour, dramatic description and lyrical basses intone Death’s grisly words. More translations And gray wash of the waves were seen The old folk plead with Death: expressiveness”. Cumberland mentions Elgar, Bantock, from the Russian make up Op. 73. Each verse of Love’s The woven forest-boughs between: “O let us take the village-road, and Brian among English composers, and Richard Tempest ! begins quietly and slowly before a great And through the Northern summer night Or by the brook draw breath. Strauss, Debussy, and Sibelius in Europe. He could outburst allegro con fuoco, representing first a storm at The sunset slowly died away, “There let the old drink water, have also added Mackenzie, whose Op. 71 part-songs sea, and then a “tumult” in the poet’s heart created by a And herds of strange deer, silver-white, There let the young folk play, of 1911 are sadly neglected, and Schoenberg, whose mental image of his loved one. The song’s companion, Came gleaming through the forest gray, And let the little children fiendishly difficult eight-part Friede auf Erden dates Serenade @, has a repeated refrain, “Dreams all too And fled like ghosts before the day. Run and pluck the blossoms gay”. from 1907, the same year as Elgar’s Opus 53 set. brief, dreams without grief, once they are broken, come By 1914 Elgar had formally split from Novello, not again”; ideal for a composer preoccupied with And oft, that month, we watch’d the moon “I must not pass the village who nevertheless were still anxious to make money dreams, and whose precarious emotional equilibrium Wax great and white o’er wood and lawn, Nor halt beside the rill, from his works where they could. They knew that part- was being constantly threatened. And wane, with waning of the June, For there the wives and mothers all songs were financially rewarding, and the firm’s The decade after Alice Elgar’s death in 1920 saw Till, like a brand for battle drawn, Their buckets take to fill. chairman, Alfred Littleton, wrote to the secretary: “I few new works from Elgar, although there were a She fell and flamed in a wild dawn. don’t want any more Elgar symphonies or concertos, number of part-songs, the best of them being The “The wife might see her husband, but am ready to take as many part-songs as he can Wanderer (1923) for men’s voices, and the mixed- I know not if the forest green The mother see her son; produce”. That year the composer “produced” five voice part-song The Prince of Sleep 6, from 1925, Still girdles round that castle gray, So close they’d cling – their claspings more. The two Op. 71 songs, to words by Henry which Diana McVeagh has rightly described as I know not if the boughs between Could never be undone”. Vaughan, are exquisitely written, deceptive in their “beautiful and mysterious”. The languid setting The white deer vanish ere the day: (relative) simplicity. In The Shower 7, the altos and captures masterfully the Lethean sentiments of the The grass above my love is green, TWO CHORAL SONGS, OP. 73 tenors have pattering semiquavers against the tune’s words; imagery of dreams and the natural world His heart is colder than the clay. quavers in a couple of places, suggesting the “train of (especially woodland) again seemed to inspire Elgar, ! Love’s Tempest, Op. 73, No. 1 drops” of the title. The second song, The Fountain 8, and this neglected song can stand comparison with his 0 Death on the Hills, Op. 72 Rosa Newmarch adapted from a Russian text by refers to a stillness in nature (“all the earth lay hush”); finest in the genre. The closing words of de la Mare’s Rosa Newmarch (1857–1940) Apollon Nikolayevich Maikov but then, “Only a little fountain lent some use for ears”. poem strike once more an autobiographical note: “And adapted from a Russian text by The music of nature was always a potent force for rosy, as with morning buds, Along his dales of broom Apollon Nikolayevich Maikov (1821–97) Silent lay the sapphire ocean, Elgar: as a boy he had been found lying by the River and birk [birch] Dreams haunt his solitary woods”. Till a tempest came to wake Severn, “trying to fix the sounds”, as he wrote many Why o’er the dark’ning hill-slopes All its roaring, seething billows years later. The largest of these 1914 songs is Op. 72, © 2008 Geoffrey Hodgkins Do dusky shadows creep? That upon earth’s ramparts break. Because the wind blows keenly there, Or rainstorms lash and leap? Quiet was my heart within me, Till your image, suddenly No wind blows chill upon them, Rising there, awoke a tumult, Nor are they lash’d by rain: Wilder than the storm at sea. ’Tis Death who rides across the hills With all his shadowy train.

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Is now at the foot of the tree; His house is in the mountain ways, Cambridge University Chamber Choir All that could be is said; A phantom house of misty walls, Cambridge University Chamber Choir was founded in its current form in 1986 by Timothy Brown, and is now Is it . . . what? . . . Nothing. Whose golden flocks at evening graze, directed by David Lowe and Daniel Hyde. Its members are drawn from the graduate and undergraduate communities And witch the moon with muffled calls. of the University. The chief purpose of the choir is to explore the secular and non-liturgical choral repertoire that is 5 As Torrents in Summer, from Scenes Upwelling from his shadowy springs often untouched by College Chapel Choirs. The Chamber Choir works frequently with professional soloists and from the Saga of King Olaf, Op. 30 Sweet waters shake a trembling sound, instrumental ensembles; performances have been undertaken with orchestras such as the Academy of Ancient Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–82) There flit the hoot-owl’s silent wings, Music, the King’s Consort, His Majesty’s Sagbutts and Cornetts, London Sinfonietta, and City of London Sinfonia. There hath his web the silkworm wound. The choir has broadcast on Radio 3 and has made a number of recordings. In November 2006 the Choir performed As torrents in summer, Mozart’s Requiem under Timothy Brown in a sell-out concert as part of the Cambridge Music Festival, and in Half dried in their channels, Dark in his pools clear visions lurk, January 2007 the choir performed Bach’s Mass in B minor in King’s College Chapel, under the direction of Daniel Suddenly rise, tho’ the And rosy, as with morning buds, Hyde. In May 2007 the Choir gave a concert which included many of the Part-Songs recorded on this CD, conducted Sky is still cloudless, Along his dales of broom and birk by Christopher Robinson CBE. For rain has been falling Dreams haunt his solitary woods. Far off at their fountains; TWO CHORAL SONGS, OP. 71 SOPRANO ALTO TENOR BASS So hearts that are fainting Amy Daldorph Rachel Beaumont Gerald Beatty Edward Ballard Grow full to o’erflowing, 7 The Shower, Op. 71, No. 1 Katherine Hambridge Cathy Bell Alastair Bennett Thomas Faulkner And they that behold it Henry Vaughan (1622–95) Elizabeth Heighway Frances Burn Rhys Bowden Matthew Flinn Marvel, and know not Cerian Holland Elisabeth Fleming Pierre Dechant Charley Henderson That God at their fountains Cloud, if as thou dost melt, and with thy train Megan Housley Lucy Goddard Jonathan Langridge Tom Keen Far off has been raining! Of drops make soft the earth, my eyes could weep Emilia Hughes Christopher Lowrey Peter Morton Chris Law O’er my hard heart, that’s bound up and asleep; Clare Lloyd Kate Symonds-Joy Benjamin Lewis 6 The Prince of Sleep (1925) Perhaps at last, Gina Owens Leo Tomita Jonathan Midgley Walter de la Mare (1873–1956) Some such showers past, Tessie Prakas Timothy Scott My God would give a sunshine after rain. Emma Walshe Greg Swinford I met at eve the Prince of Sleep, His was a still and lovely face; 8 The Fountain, Op. 71, No. 2 He wander’d through a valley steep, Henry Vaughan Lovely in a lonely place. The unthrift sun shot vital gold, A thousand, thousand pieces; His garb was grey of lavender, And heav’n its azure did unfold About his head a poppy wreath Chequer’d with snowy fleeces; Burned like dim coals, and everywhere The air was all in spice, The air was sweeter for his breath. And ev’ry bush A garland wore: His twilight feet no sandals wore, Thus fed my eyes, His eyes shone faint in their own flame, But all the earth lay hush. Fair moths that gloomed his steps before Only a little fountain lent Seemed letters of his lovely name. Some use for ears, And on the dumb shades language spent The music of her tears.

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Iain Farrington Edward Elgar (1857–1934) Iain Farrington has an exceptionally busy and diverse career as a pianist, organist, Part-Songs composer, and arranger. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and at Cambridge University. He has also participated in master-classes with Malcolm FOUR CHORAL SONGS, OP. 53 Sweet tho’ in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce, Martineau at the Britten-Pears School in Aldeburgh. As a solo pianist, accompanist, My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one! chamber musician and organist, he has performed at all the major United Kingdom 1 There is Sweet Music, Op. 53, No. 1 venues, including the Wigmore Hall, the Purcell Room, the Proms 2005 and 2004, the Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–92) Drive my dead thoughts over the universe, Royal Opera House, the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, St David’s Hall, Cardiff, and Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth, Birmingham Symphony Hall. Abroad, he has given concerts in Japan, South Africa, There is sweet music here that softer falls And, by the incantation of this verse, Jordan, Malaysia, Iceland, and all across Europe. He works with many of the country’s Than petals from blown roses on the grass, leading musicians, including John Mark Ainsley, Lesley Garrett, the Royal Ballet, Sir Or night-dews on still waters between walls Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth Simon Rattle, and Sir Colin Davis. He regularly gives broadcasts on BBC Radio Three Of shadowy granite, in a gleaming pass; Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind! with the BBC Singers. Iain Farrington was Organ Scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge Music that gentlier on the spirit lies, Be through my lips to unawakened earth University, and with the College Choir he toured extensively, and recorded four CDs on Than tir’d eyelids upon tir’d eyes; the Naxos and Nimbus labels. He was also Organ Scholar at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Music that brings sweet sleep down The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind, Castle, where he played for numerous Royal occasions. He is also a prolific composer and arranger; his solo piano from the blissful skies. If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? arrangement of Elgar/Payne Symphony No. 3 is published by Boosey and Hawkes, and his transcription of Elgar’s Here are cool mosses deep, Five Piano Improvisations is published by Novello. As a composer, his works have been performed in New Zealand, And thro’ the moss the ivies creep, 4 Owls (An Epitaph), Op. 53, No. 4 Canada, Sweden, France, Germany and recorded on the Hyperion label. And in the stream the long-leaved flowers weep, Edward Elgar And from the craggy ledge Christopher Robinson the poppy hangs in sleep. What is that? . . . Nothing; Christopher Robinson was educated at Rugby and Christ Church, Oxford, where The leaves must fall, and falling, rustle; he was Organ Scholar. After a period as Organist and Master of the Choristers at 2 Deep in my Soul, Op. 53, No. 2 That is all; Worcester Cathedral, where he was also conductor of several Three Choirs George Gordon Noel, Lord Byron (1788–1824) They are dead Festivals, Christopher Robinson moved to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, As they fall, – where he was Organist and Choirmaster until 1991. He was conductor of the Deep in my soul that tender secret dwells, Dead at the foot of the tree; Oxford Bach Choir from 1976 to 1997 and of the City of Birmingham Choir from Lonely and lost to light for evermore, All that can be is said. 1964 to 2002. He recently retired from the prestigious post of Organist and Save when to thine my heart responsive swells, What is it? . . . Nothing. Director of Music at St John’s College, Cambridge, a choir with an international Then trembles into silence as before. reputation for excellence. He holds honorary degrees from Birmingham What is that? . . . Nothing; University and the University of Central England and is an honorary member of There, in its centre, a sepulchral lamp A wild thing hurt but mourns in the night, the Royal Academy of Music. He has been Chairman of the Elgar Society and Burns the slow flame, eternal – but unseen; And it cries President of the Royal College of Organists. In 1992 the Queen bestowed on him Which not the darkness of Despair can damp, In its dread, the honour of Commander of the Victorian Order for his services at Windsor Though vain its ray as it had never been. Till it lies Castle, and in the summer of 2002, the Archbishop of Canterbury made him a Dead at the foot of the tree; Lambeth DMus. He became an Honorary Fellow of the Guild of Church 3 O Wild West Wind!, Op. 53, No. 3 All that can be is said. Musicians in Autumn 2003 and received a CBE in the 2004 New Year’s Honours Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) What is it? . . . Nothing. List. O wild West Wind! What is that? . . . Ah! Make me thy lyre, ev’n as the forest is: A marching slow of unseen feet, What if my leaves are falling like its own. That is all: The tumult of thy mighty harmonies But a bier, spread Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone, With a pall, 8.570541 6 7 8.570541 570541bk Elgar US 15/1/08 18:14 Page 6

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CMYK NAXOS NAXOS When Elgar’s popular part-song My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land was published in 1890, a ready market for such pieces had been established by the competition festival movement, itself fuelled by the enormous growth in the number of choirs. This wide-ranging selection features several of Elgar’s finest songs, including his best-known work in the genre As Torrents in Summer, which boasts a memorable tune, the highly original and chromatic 8.570541 ELGAR: ELGAR: Owls, probably the strangest that Elgar ever set, and the ambitious and bitonal There is Sweet Music which the composer himself described as ‘a clinker, and the best I have done’. DDD Edward Playing Time 75:42 Part-Songs Part-Songs ELGAR (1857–1934) Part-Songs 1 There is Sweet Music, Op. 53 4:45 ! Love’s Tempest 3:01 2 Deep in my Soul 4:07 @ Serenade 2:03 3 O Wild West Wind 3:30 # Evening Scene 3:33 4 Owls (An Epitaph) 3:17 $ Go, Song of Mine 4:56 5 As Torrents in Summer 2:18 Scenes from the Bavarian 24:23 6 The Prince of Sleep 4:55 Highlands 7 The Shower 2:39 % The Dance 4:03 Disc MadeinCanada•Printed& Assembled inUSA available at:www.naxos.com/libretti/570541.htm Sung texts areincludedinthebookletand Booklet notesinEnglish 8 The Fountain 3:36 ^ False Love 3:55 www.naxos.com 9 My Love Dwelt in a 4:31 & Lullaby 3:33 & Northern Land * Aspiration 3:02 0 Death on the Hills 4:07 ( On the Alm 3:44 2008 NaxosRightsInternationalLtd. ) The Marksmen 6:06 Cambridge University Chamber Choir Iain Farrington, Piano Christopher Robinson 8.570541 8.570541 Recorded in Jesus College Chapel, Cambridge, UK, from 29th to 30th July, 2007 Producer: John Rutter • Booklet Notes: Geoffrey Hodgkins A more detailed track list may be found with the sung texts on pages 7-12 Cover Picture: Backlit Tree (Dreamstime)