English Song US 26/01/2005 11:00Am Page 28
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
557559-60 bk English Song US 26/01/2005 11:00am Page 28 O tell me the truth about love. The one whose sense suits Has it views of its own about money, ‘Mount Ephraim’ - Does it think Patriotism enough, And perhaps we should seem, Are its stories vulgar but funny? To him, in Death’s dream, ENGLISH SONG O tell me the truth about love. Like the seraphim. Your feelings when you meet it, I As soon as I knew 2 CDs featuring Vaughan Williams, Walton, Holst, Am told you can’t forget, That his spirit was gone I’ve sought it since 1 was a child I thought this his due, Stanford, Warlock, Bax, Quilter, Britten and others But haven’t found it yet; And spoke thereupon. I’m getting on for thirty-five, ‘I think,’ said the vicar, And still I do not know ‘A read service quicker What kind of creature it can be Than viols out-of-doors That bothers people so, In these frosts and hoars. Philip Langridge • Dame Felicity Lott • Simon Keenleyside That old-fashioned way When it comes, will it come without warning, Requires a fine day, Della Jones • Christopher Maltman • Anthony Rolfe Johnson just as I’m picking my nose, And it seems to me O tell me the truth about love. It had better not be.’ Will it knock on my door in the mornin Or tread in the bus on my toes, Hence, that afternoon, O tell me the truth about love. Though never knew he Will it come like a change in the weathe That his wish could not be, Will its greeting lie courteous or bluff, To get through it faster Will it alter my life altogether? They buried the master O tell me the truth about love. Without any tune. But ‘twas said that, when § The Choirmaster’s Burial At the dead of next night Poem by Thomas Hardy The vicar looked out, (from Winter Words) There struck on his ken Music: Benjamin Britten Thronged roundabout, Where the frost was graying He often would ask us The headstoned grass, That, when he died, A band all in white After playing so many Like the saints in church-glass, To their last rest, Singing and playing If out of us any The ancient stave Should here abide, By the choirmaster’s grave. And it would not task us, We would with our lutes Such the tenor man told Play over him When he had grown old. By his grave-brim The psalm he liked best - 8.557559-60 28 557559-60 bk English Song US 26/01/2005 11:00am Page 2 CD 1 One night she came to my bedside when I lay fast Whose white waterfall could bless asleep. Travellers in their last distress, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924) % Silent Noon 4:38 She laid her head upon my bed and she began to weep. (from Marco Polo 8.225098) Simon Keenleyside, baritone • Graham Johnson, piano She sighed, she cried, she damn’ near died, she said: ∞ Tell me the truth about love 1 A Soft Day 2:48 ‘What shall I do?’ Poem by W.H. Auden Bernadette Greevy, mezzo-soprano • Hugh Tinney, piano Gustav Holst (1874-1934) So I hauled her into bed and I covered up Music: Benjamin Britten 2 Irish Skies 5:13 (from Naxos 8.557117) her head, just to keep her from the foggy, foggy dew. Bernadette Greevy, mezzo-soprano • Hugh Tinney, piano ^ Now in these fairylands 1:26 Oh I am a bachelor and I live with my son, and we (Spoken) Liebe Pamour amor amoris Philip Langridge, tenor • Steuart Bedford, piano work at the weaver’s trade. Some say that Love’s a little boy Liza Lehmann (1862-1918) & The dream-city 3:17 And ev’ry single time that I look into his eyes, he And some say it’s a bird, (from Naxos 8.557118) Philip Langridge, tenor • Steuart Bedford, piano reminds me of the fair young maid. Some say it makes the world go round 3 Cherry Ripe 2:42 * Margrete’s Cradle Song 2:45 He reminds me of the wintertime, and of the summer too, And some say that’s absurd: Janice Watson, soprano • Steuart Bedford, piano Susan Gritton, soprano • Steuart Bedford, piano And of the many, many times that I held But when I asked the man next door 4 Mustard and Cress 1:52 ( The Heart worships 3:14 her in my arms, just to keep her from the foggy, Who looked as if he knew, Neal Davies, baritone • Steuart Bedford, piano Christopher Maltman, baritone • Steuart Bedford, piano foggy dew. His wife was very cross indeed 5 The Lily of a Day 2:37 And said it wouldn’t do. Janice Watson, soprano • Steuart Bedford, piano Roger Quilter (1877-1953) ¢ Now the leaves are falling fast 6 Henry King 3:21 (from Naxos 8.557116) Poem by W.H. Auden Does it look like a pair of pyjamas Neal Davies, baritone • Steuart Bedford, piano ) Take, O take those lips away 1:26 Music: Benjamin Britten or the ham in a temp’rance hotel, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor • Graham Johnson, piano O tell me the truth about love. Arthur Somervell (1863-1937) ¡ Now sleeps the crimson petal 2:26 Now the leaves are falling fast, Does its odour remind one of llamas (from Naxos 8.557113) Lisa Milne, mezzo-soprano • Graham Johnson, piano Nurse’s flowers will not last; Or has it a comforting smell? 7 Fain would I change that note 3:07 ™ Love calls through the summer night 5:30 Nurses to the graves are gone, O tell me the truth about love. Patricia Rozario, soprano • Graham Johnson, piano Lisa Milne, mezzo-soprano • Anthony Rolfe Johnson, And the prams go rolling on. Is it prickly to touch as a hedge is or soft as eiderdown 8 In summer-time on Bredon 3:56 tenor • Graham Johnson, piano fluff, Christopher Maltman, baritone • Graham Johnson, piano £ I will go with my father a-ploughing 2:26 Whisp’ring neighbours, left and right, is it sharp or quite smooth at the edges 9 The lads in their hundreds 2:54 Lisa Milne, mezzo-soprano • Ivan McReady, cello • Pluck us from the real delight; O tell me the truth about love. Christopher Maltman, baritone • Graham Johnson, piano Graham Johnson, piano And the active hands must freeze 0 Among the rocks 3:30 Lonely on the sep’rate knees. I looked inside the summerhouse, Catherine Wyn-Rogers, mezzo-soprano • Duke Quartet Lord Berners (1883-1950) It wasn’t ever there, Graham Johnson, piano (from Marco Polo 8.225159) Dead in hundreds at the back I’ve tried the Thames at Maidenhead Three Songs Follow wooden in our track, And Brighton’s bracing air; Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958) ¢ The Rio Grande (Capstan Shanty) 2:34 Arms raised stiffly to reprove I don’t know what the blackbird sang or what the roses (from Naxos 8.557114) ∞ Theodore, or the Pirate King 0:55 In false attitudes of love. said, ! It was a lover and his lass 1:53 § A Long Time Ago (Hilliard’s Shanty) 1:28 But it wasn’t in the chicken run Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor • Simon Keenleyside, Ian Partridge, tenor • Len Vorster, piano Starving trough the leafless wood Or underneath the bed. baritone • Graham Johnson, piano Trolls run scolding for their food; @ The Water Mill 4:02 Arnold Bax (1883-1953) And the nightingale is dumb, Can it pull extraordin’ry faces, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor • Graham Johnson, piano (from Marco Polo 8.225098) And the angel will not come. Is it usually sick on a swing, # On Wenlock Edge 3:51 ¶ Oh dear, what can the matter be? 1:36 O tell me the truth about love. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor • Graham Johnson, piano Bernadette Greevy, mezzo-soprano • Hugh Tinney, piano Cold, impossible, ahead Does it spend all its time at the races $ The Call 2:17 Lifts the mountain’s lovely head Or fiddling with pieces of string, Simon Keenleyside, baritone • Graham Johnson, piano TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 77:42 8.557559-60 2 27 8.557559-60 557559-60 bk English Song US 26/01/2005 11:00am Page 26 ¡ Lay your sleeping head, my love Find the mortal world enough CD 2 Poem by W.H. Auden Noons of dryness see you fed Music: Lennox Berkeley By the involuntary powers, Eric Coates (1886-1957) $ Rutterkin 1:08 Nights of insult let you pass (from Marco Polo 8.223806) Adrian Thompson, tenor • John Constable, piano Lay your sleeping head, my love, Watched by ev’ry human love. 1 The Grenadier 3:21 % Bethlehem Down 4:36 Human on my faithless arm; Richard Edgar-Wilson, tenor • Eugene Asti, piano Christopher Maltman, baritone • John Constable, piano Time and fevers burn away ™ Early One Morning 2 The Young Lover 2:59 Individual beauty from Trad. Richard Edgar-Wilson, tenor • Eugene Asti, piano William Walton (1902-1983) Thoughtful children, and the grave Arranged by Benjamin Britten 3 Betty and Johnny 2:12 (from Naxos 8.557112) Proves the child ephemeral: Richard Edgar-Wilson, tenor • Eugene Asti, piano ^ Wapping Old Stairs 2:23 But in my arms till break of day Early one morning, just as the sun was rising, 4 Rise up and reach the stars 1:39 Felicity Lott, soprano • Graham Johnson, piano Let the living creature lie, I heard a maid sing in the valley below; Richard Edgar-Wilson, tenor • Eugene Asti, piano Three Façade Settings Mortal, guilty, but to me ‘O don’t deceive me, O never leave me! & Long Steel Grass 2:31 The entirely beautiful.