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Home , Countertenor, Raymond Yiu, Schott Music, Tansy Davies

Andrew Watts countertenor

A Countertenor Songbook Andrew Watts countertenor · Iain Burnside piano

2 Andrew Watts countertenor Iain Burnside piano A Countertenor Songbook Songs for Ariel 1 Come unto these yellow sands 1’54 2 Full fathom fi ve 1’44 3 Where the bee sucks 1’09 Michael Finnissy Dann nicht zu fragen 4 I 6’25 5 II 4’41

6 Joe Cutler Song for Arthur 7’18

7 Raymond Yiu Forget-Me-Not 4’36

8 Tansy Davies Song of Pure Nothingness 13’45

Neville Bower Songs of Innocence Op. 46 9 Infant Joy 1’36 bl Piping Down the Valleys Wild 3’37 bm The Lamb 3’41

bn Raymond Yiu (Intermezzo and Movement V) 5’59 Colin Matthews Un Colloque Sentimental bo I Colloque Sentimental, 1ère Partie 1’25 bp II Le Jet d’Eau 4’26

photo © Sarah Hickson © Sarah photo bq III Que diras-tu ce soir 3’53 br IV Intermezzo: Une Allée du Luxembourg 2’24 bs V Colloque Sentimental, 2ème Partie 4’52 Total timing 73’58 3 A Countertenor Songbook

Typography in the sixteenth century Gershwin or Ella Fitzgerald. These too in this album there are aesthetic respectful of Shakespeare’s speech revolutionized the production and were snapshots of contemporary culture, overlaps; Andrew is omnivorous in his rhythms; in ‘Full fathom fi ve’ he seems consumption of songbooks, which though the image became slightly blurry tastes, yet the composers he invited to easily as grief stricken as poor Ariel at in Medieval Europe were beautifully as performers and publishers mined Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, Suffolk for the reported death of Ferdinand’s father illustrated singular items. Wide previous centuries for their volumes workshops and performances of their in a shipwreck, the simple funeral march dissemination throughout Europe and recordings of Elizabethan music pieces share a similar spirit, at least in underpinned by thudding drums and highlighted different regional and or English folksong. Yet the songbook the works they have written for him. chiming bells. national styles, techniques, and principle remained: an anthology of narrative preoccupations, though certain works that speak to each other and to a Michael Tippett (1905–1998) was of Where Tippett shows contrasting slices of similarities across borders did emerge. point in history – the thinking behind the course not one of them, though these Ariel’s life without a cumulative narrative, Publishing turned oral traditions into astonishing NMC Songbook of 2009. excerpts from his Songs for Ariel slip Michael Finnissy (b. 1946) creates literary ones; what had been a shifting handily into the Songbook, not least from Georg Büchner’s Lenz a scene of A Countertenor Songbook is very much body of work was made permanent, because the ageing composer coached devastating impact. Written in 1836 yet in this tradition, though the unchanging, a snapshot of a point and the emerging singer on the cycle, left uncompleted on Büchner’s death a it celebrates offers an immediate point place in history. scribbling marks into the score Andrew year later, the novella fragment relays of departure. All the works included still uses. Written in 1962 for an Old Vic the story of Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz Publishers and recording companies in are intimately connected with Andrew production of , the songs whose mental deterioration following the twentieth century behaved much like Watts, who has been championing inhabit a world of Purcellian declamation, the abrupt ending of his friendship with the visionary Ottaviano Petrucci, who in contemporary music for the thirty years of Elizabethan fanfares that turn and Goethe shapes the narrative. Knowing Venice in the early 1500s began printing he has been professionally. In twist around themselves, of funeral Andrew’s voice well from other works he and selling vernacular songs. Twentieth- turn he has been championed by some dirges that allow no sense of hope. has written for him – not least the role century songbooks were a commercial of today’s most distinguished composers, proposition in an age of consumerism, all of them beguiled by his admirable These are some of Shakespeare’s most of Camille in Thérèse Raquin, produced and audiences were quick to buy their fearlessness in the face of the dense and well known and loved texts – thanks in by the Royal ’s Garden Venture piece of English folksong, George complex scores they produce. Naturally part to the many song settings made in 1993 – and a fi ne pianist himself, of them over the centuries. Tippett is Finnissy in Dann nicht zu fragen (Then

64 75 do not ask) conjures a dark, chocolaty Joe Cutler (b. 1968), Tansy Davies (b. is gallant, serious, old enough to be poem The Anniversary, fi rst published sonority in the middle of the piano, which 1973) and Raymond Yiu (b. 1973) all married, wise about love and war. Except in 1601, provides the material, in which winds around the voice and only gradually explore different aspects of the medieval that he isn’t quite, for in the poem a lover of one year looks forward to a moves up the compass to produce a wandering knight. Cutler’s Song for Forget-Me-Not by William McGonagall happy life together with his beloved, with ghostly descant over the title words. Arthur, to a text by his friend Martin Riley, (1830–1902) the knight’s beloved, Ellen, none of the tests and suspicions Ellen As the narrator contemplates the true is an exuberant recounting of the birth is young and foolish, which the knight introduces into her young relationship. essence of life, something beyond beauty of the future king. Using the birth of his has yet to discover. Yiu contrasts the two Yiu conjures up a beautiful pointillistic or ugliness, he identifi es Shakespeare, own son Arthur as a model, and having characters carefully: the sonorous knight texture, through which the meditation folksong and Goethe as wellsprings collaborated previously with Andrew (though with snatches of blue chords, unfolds. Not for a moment does he of humanity. Finnissy responds with during a residency at Dartington, Cutler which set up what follows) and the silly undermine the assertion or hope that the a simple, touching folksong – like packs in so much: cluster fanfares that betrothed, who demands that the knight love will be everlasting. something Schubert’s miller lad might herald the arrival of the boy and place fetch her a beautiful fl ower from the other Davies, who wrote for Andrew the part sing – before the sky clouds over once his birth in an ominous time; a thrilling side of the river, proof of his love and of the Shaman in her opera Between more. piano interlude (marked ‘Wild and fi delity. She does all this to an unabashed Worlds (2014), throws herself into the Flamboyantly’), which displays the sort of foxtrot, which is intended to underlie her Finnissy pares the texture right down in domain of the troubadour-knight, whose recklessness that Tippett managed in his superfi ciality. Of course the knight drowns his second Büchner setting, this one from role as musical storyteller would be taken fi rst piano sonata and which here sets up while swimming back with the fl ower, Woyzeck (also 1836, also uncompleted), over so handsomely by songbooks in Arthur’s fi rst hours; and a gentle lullaby at and Yiu cannot read Ellen’s desolation as in which the Grandmother tells a fairy tale the sixteenth century. Her work, Song of the end, a rapturous depiction of nature genuine: the dance continues to the end, of an orphaned child who leaves earth in Pure Nothingness, is a setting of a text and innocence and of the goodness of where it disappears in a wisp of smoke. search of love or affection, there fi nding by Guilhelm IX d’Aquitane (1071–1127) the child. ‘May this young Arthur make his the sun to be but a withered The excerpt from his Symphony – who sets up the poem as a dream life his own’, the narrator and composer sunfl ower, the moon a piece of rotten Intermezzo and Movement V – which was sequence, which is his way of revealing conclude. wood. Even the stars, which Finnissy commissioned by the BBC for the narrator’s subconscious desires. colours brilliantly, betray the child, for Yiu, whom Andrew fi rst worked with in 2015 and is dedicated to Andrew and Both poet and narrator are thus able they are nothing but diseased mosquitos, on a Genesis Writing Course at Snape his husband Arjun Devanesan, is of a to hide in a murky subconscious world, their golden patina a deceit. Maltings, has chosen a knight who wholly different character. John Donne’s creating in their imaginations a beautiful

86 7 woman, punning about what they’d like The narrator in ‘Piping Down’ is a little Debussy, Ravel and Fauré. Nor does it the project, which fi nds its apotheosis, to do to her. In Davies’s reading the like that in Davies’s setting, carefully seem that Matthews necessarily wants perhaps, in this fi ne album. And we have poem is a dark, ominous contemplation writing down his songs ‘In a book that all to. In ‘Le Jet d’Eau’, the earliest of these all done our bit with great willingness and on imagined love, at once gloomy and may read’. These are simple yet telling songs, composed in 1971, his fountain affection for the musician at the centre threatening. She too incorporates a songs, composed for Andrew by his bubbles away with intense chromatic of this songbook, combining to create diffi cult piano interlude, long and ecstatic, school days’ music master, a gentle yet virtuosity, closer in spirit to Debussy’s something that reveals our different yet each fl ourish spelled differently. When demanding mentor to his young student, ‘Refl ets dans l’eau’ fromImages than to complementary creative preoccupations, at the end the narrator says ‘I have fully inside the expressive possibilities of Debussy’s own setting of Baudelaire’s a snapshot of our time. never met her, but I love her dearly’, it is the countertenor voice. poem. In ‘Une Allée du Luxembourg’ the impossible not to feel sorry for him. But (French) pastoral serenity soon gives © 2018 Paul Kildea Most contemporary musicians have he resolves to let others hear his song – way to a knotty texture, as the young a debt to Colin Matthews (b. 1946) he is a troubadour, after all – in the hope man acknowledges that the beautiful whose friendship with Andrew goes that perhaps one day he will fi nd her. lady he has just encountered in Paris’s back many years. Matthews has long Luxembourg Gardens would never be In the source material, the world been fascinated with nineteenth-century interested in him. And in ‘Colloque Neville Bower (1934–2007) explores in French poets and the fi n-de-siècle sound Sentimental’, Verlaine’s telling of two Songs of Innocence is equally dark – world that encased them so perfectly. His former lovers meeting by chance in a Blake’s juxtaposition of the innocence musical ventriloquism served him well in park, almost not recognizing each other, of childhood with the corruption of his orchestration of Debussy’s Preludes, regretting it and their past together when adulthood – though he is careful to select and here his imagination is fi red by the they do, the sparse and grim tonal world only poems that feature the former. Thus poetry of Paul Verlaine (1844–1896), is Matthews’s alone. ‘Infant Joy’ is a simple carol; ‘Piping Down Charles Baudelaire (1821–1867) and the Valleys Wild’ is a chromatic wash Gérard de Nerval (1808–1855). There And so a singular musician has drawn that is injected with piping melodies is no mere ventriloquism in Un Colloque together the works of seven very different (dextrously changing key more times than Sentimental, though with these composers in a single songbook. He a pipe or whistle can); while ‘The Lamb’ poets – with the rhythms and sounds has asked his old friend Iain Burnside is a gorgeous lullaby in which a rocking of the language too – it is impossible to collaborate with him, and another motif is coloured by mild dissonances. to escape entirely the long shadow of old friend, me, to write something about

108 119 Michael Tippett Songs for Ariel der menschlichen Natur. human nature. Man versuche es einmal und senke sich Idealists should try harder to immerse themselves Come unto these yellow sand Where the bee sucks in das Leben in the lives of des Geringsten und gebe es wieder, humble people, and evoke this Where the bee sucks, there suck I: Come unto these yellow sands, in den Zuckungen, in all its variety, In a cowslip’s bell I lie; And then take hands: den Andeutungen, dem ganzen feinen, its subtlety and vitality, and its wide, There I couch when owls do cry. Curtsied when you have, and kiss’d The wild waves whist, kaum but largely unrecognised, On the bat’s back I do fl y bemerkten Mienenspiel. unacknowledged, range of expression. After summer merrily. Foot it featly here and there; And, sweet sprites, the burthen bear. Merrily, merrily shall I live now II. II. Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. Hark, hark! Bow-wow. Es war einmal ein arm Kind Once there was a poor child und hatt’ kein Vater und keine Mutter, who had no father and no mother. Full fathom fi ve The watch-dogs bark. Bow-wow. war alles tot, und war niemand mehr Everyone had died, and there was nothing else left Full fathom fi ve thy father lies; Hark, hark! I hear auf der Welt. in the world, Of his bones are coral made; The strain of strutting Alles tot, und es is hingangen und hat gesucht the child had roamed about searching Those are pearls that were his eyes: Cry, Cock-a-diddle-dow. Tag und Nacht. day and night. Nothing of him that doth fade, Und weil auf der Erde niemand mehr war, As no-one was left on earth any more, But doth suffer a sea-change William Shakespeare (1564-1616) wollt’s in Himmel gehn, und der Mond the child looked up to Heaven. The moon Into something rich and strange. The Tempest guckt es so freundlich an; und wie es endlich looking down seemed so friendly. But when it Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: zum Mond kam, war’s reached the moon the child found it was Ding-dong. ein Stück faul Holz. just a piece of rotting wood. Hark! now I hear them—Ding-dong, bell. Und da is es zur Sonn gangen, und wie es So it journeyed on to the sun, zur Sonn kam, wars ein verwelkt Sonneblum. which turned out to be a fading sunfl ower. Michael Finnissy Dann nicht zu fragen Und wie’s zu den Sternen kam, waren’s And when it came to the stars above they were kleine goldne tiny golden I. I. Mücken, die waren angesteckt, fl ies, caught wie die Neuntöter sie auf die Schlehen steckt. and stuck in a big cobweb. Ich verlange in allem - Leben, I demand of everything - LIFE, Und wie’s wieder auf die Erde wollt, And when the child decided to return to the earth, Möglichkeit des Daseins, und dann ist’s gut: the possibility of existence, then all is fi ne; war die Erde ein umgestürzter Hafen. it was just an old pot turned upside-down. wir haben dann nicht zu fragen, ob es schön, we don’t then have to ask whether things are Und es war ganz allein. And the child was quite alone. ob es häßlich ist. beautiful or ugly. Und da hat sich’s hingesetzt und geweint, It sat down and wept, Das Gefühl, daß, was geschaffen sei, There is then a sense that what is created und da sitzt es noch und is ganz allein. and sits there still. All alone. Leben habe, stehe über diesen beiden und has life, stands above the former two precepts, and sei das einzige Kriterium in is the sole criterion for Georg Büchner (1813-1837); Kunstsachen. Art. English translation by the composer – used by Übrigens begegne es uns nur selten: But we seldom actually fi nd it: permission in den Volksliedern tönt es einem ganz entgegen. although it is defi nitely there in folksongs. Da wollte man idealistische Gestalten, aber alles, People try to create IDEAL forms, but was ich davon gesehen, what I have seen of their work, sind Holzpuppen. more closely resembles nursery dolls. Dieser Idealismus ist die schmählichste Verachtung This idealism is the most humiliating insult to

1210 1311 Joe Cutler Song for Arthur May this our child be witch and warlock free, Go! fetch me a fl ower from across the river, Tansy Davies Song of Pure Nothingness No wyrd, no once and future king, no destiny. Which will prove you love me more than ever. Amongst the dead they strut, dark birds of prey. The stone-cut runes: let them remain unread, Dear Ellen! I will try and fetch you a fl ower I will write a song of pure nothingness: Three hooded queens, a body bear away. No wizard staff to point the path ahead. If it lies within my power It will not be about me, or anyone else, A naked arm arises from a lake. Forsaking golden crown and mighty throne, To prove that I am true to you, It will not be about love, or youth, Two knights, upon their knees, repentance make. May this young Arthur make his life his own. And what more can your Edwin do? Nor about anything else. A crystal cave: a sorcerer within Because it came to me while sleeping on a horse. Looks back in time and cries “Begin! Begin!” (For Rose) So he leap’d into the river wide, Words by Martin Riley And swam across to the other side, I do not know when I was born, He awakes with a shriek, To fetch a fl ower for his young bride, I am neither happy nor sad, All alone, all alone, Who watched him eagerly on the other side. I am neither a stranger, nor am I rooted here, Like the ring of a sword Raymond Yiu Forget-Me-Not Nor can I be otherwise, That is pulled from a stone So he pluck’d a fl ower right merrily Because my fate was sealed one night But I whisper soft words A gallant knight and his betroth’d bride, Which seemed to fi ll his heart with glee, On a high hill. And I hold him close tight, Were walking one day by a river side, That it would please his lovely bride; And I wrap him up warm They talk’d of love, and they talk’d of war, But, alas! he never got to the other side. I do not know when I sleep And walk into the night. And how very foolish lovers are. Nor when I awake, unless I’m told. For when he tried to swim across, My heart was almost broken By the seashore we sway, At length the bride to the knight did say, All power of his body he did loss, By a deep pain, Rock a-bye, rock a-bye, There have been many young ladies led astray But before he sank in the river wide, And, by St Martial, I do not care at all. While the waves and the wind By believing in all their lovers said, He fl ung the fl owers to his lovely bride. Sing a sweet lullaby And you are false to me I am afraid. I am sick and I fear death And I feel our two hearts And he cried, Oh, Heaven! hard is my lot, And know nothing of it save what I hear. Make a double drumbeat Ellen, I was never false to thee, My dearest Ellen! Forget me not: I will seek a doctor, best suited to me, As the weight of the world I never gave thee cause to doubt me; For I was ever true to you, But I do not know who he will be, Rolls back under our feet. I have always lov’d thee and do still, My dearest Ellen! I bid thee adieu! If he is a doctor, he will cure me, And no other woman your place shall fi ll. If he is not, my pain will deepen. Both by breath and by blood, Then she wrung her hands in wild despair, Way-ya hey, way hey-yah, Dear Edwin, it may be true, but I am in doubt, Until her cries did rend the air; I have a friend, but I do not know her, We are fuelled by the fi re But there’s some beautiful fl owers here about, And she cried, Edwin, dear, hard is our lot, Because, by faith, I have never met her. Of each bright shining star Growing on the other side of the river, But I’ll name this fl ower Forget-me-not. She has neither pleased nor grieved me, But, just as the moon But how to get one, I cannot discover. Nor do I care, In the heavens above And I’ll remember thee while I live, Since I have had neither a Norman, nor a Frenchman Takes its light from the sun, Dear Ellen, they seem beautiful indeed, And to no other man my hand I’ll give, In my house. We are warmed by your love. But of them, dear, take no heed; And I will place my affection on this little fl ower, Because they are on the other side, And it will solace me in a lonely hour. I have never met her, but I love her dearly, Lu, lu-la-la - lu, la-la-lu. Besides, the river is deep and wide. William McGonagall (1830-1902) She has been neither true nor untrue to me. May we share this dance with you When I don’t see her, I pass my time happily, Under the moon, beside the sea, Dear Edwin, as I doubt your love to be untrue, Nor do I care, Our little tiny child and me? I ask one favour now from you: For I know another; kinder, more beautiful, And one who is worth more. 1412 1315 I do not know where she lives, ‘Piper, pipe that song again;’ Raymond Yiu Symphony If she is on a high hill or on the plain, So I piped: he wept to hear. (Intermezzo and Movement V) [I dare not say how she has wronged me,] I therefore remain silent, ‘Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe; When thou and I fi rst one another saw: And it grieves me to stay here, Sing thy songs of happy cheer.’ All other things to their destruction draw, For that reason I will leave. So I sang the same again, Only our love hath no decay; While he wept with joy to hear. I have written this song, about whom, I do not know, This, no to-morrow hath, nor yesterday, And I will send it to one, ‘Piper, sit thee down and write Running it never runs from us away, Who will pass it to another, In a book, that all might read.’ But truly keepes his fi rst, last, everlasting day. And thereon, towards Poitiers, So he vanish’d from my sight, So that he might send me And I pluck’d a hollow reed. John Donne (1572-1631) The second key to that box. from The Anniversarie from Songs and Sonets Guilhelm IX d’Aquitane (1071-1127); And I made a rural pen, Translation by Mariette Purcell And I stained the water clear, And I wrote my happy songs Colin Matthews Un Colloque Sentimental Every child may joy to hear. Neville Bower Songs of Innocence I Sentimental Conversation, Part 1 I Colloque Sentimental, 1ère Partie The Lamb In the old, lonely and frozen park Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé Infant Joy Little Lamb, who made thee? Two fi gures have just passed by. Deux formes ont tout à l’heure passé. ‘I have no name: Dost thou know who made thee? I am but two days old.’ Gave thee life, and bid thee feed, Their eyes are dead and their lips are slack, Leurs yeux sont morts et leurs lèvres sont molles, What shall I call thee? By the stream and o’er the mead; And their words can hardly be heard: Et l’on entend à peine leurs paroles: ‘I happy am, Gave thee clothing of delight, Joy is my name.’ Softest clothing, woolly, bright; Paul Verlaine (1844-1896) Sweet joy befall thee! Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice? II The Fountain II Le Jet d’Eau Pretty Joy! Little Lamb, who made thee? Your beautiful eyes are tired, poor love! Tes beaux yeux sont las, pauvre amante! Sweet Joy, but two days old. Dost thou know who made thee? Keep them long closed Reste longtemps, sans les rouvrir, Sweet Joy I call thee In this careless pose Dans cette pose nonchalante Thou dost smile, Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee, Where pleasure surprised you. Où t’a surprise le plaisir. Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee, I sing the while, ln the courtyard the babbling fountain Dans Ia cour le jet d’eau qui jase He is callèd by thy name, Sweet joy befall thee! That’s never quiet day or night Et ne se tait ni nuit ni jour For He calls Himself a Lamb. Sustains the rapture Entretient doucement l’extase He is meek, and He is mild; Piping Down the Valleys Wild Into which love has plunged me this evening. Où ce soir m’a plongé l’amour, Piping Down the Valleys Wild, He became a little child. Piping songs of pleasant glee, I a child, and thou a lamb, We are callèd by His name. Thus your soul, fi red Ainsi ton âme qu’incendie On a cloud I saw a child, By the lightning fl ash of sensuality, L’éclair brillant des voluptés And he laughing said to me: Little Lamb, God bless thee! Little Lamb, God bless thee! Rushes ... S’élance ... Towards the vast mysterious horizon. Vers les vastes cieux enchantés. ‘Pipe a song about a Lamb! William Blake (1757-1827) Then, dying, it is absorbed Puis, elle s’épanche, mourante, So I piped with merry cheer. 1614 1715 In a wave of sad languor En un fl ot de triste langueur, IV Intermezzo: A Path in the Luxembourg Gardens IV Intermezzo: Une Allée du Luxembourg Which descends down an invisible slope Qui par une invisible pente The girl passed by, Elle a passé, la jeune fi lle Into the depths of my heart. Descend jusqu’au fond de mon coeur. As lithe and lively as a bird: Vive et preste comme un oiseau: A bright fl ower in her hand, A Ia main une fl eur que brille, 0 you, whom the night makes so beautiful Ô toi, que Ia nuit rend si belle, A new song on her lips. A Ia bouche un refrain nouveau. How sweet it is for me, bending towards your breasts, Qu’il m’est doux, penché vers tes seins, Perhaps she is the only woman in the world C’est peut-être la seule au monde To listen to the eternal lament D’écouter Ia plainte éternelle Whose heart might answer mine, Dont le coeur au mien répondrait, Sobbing in the fountains. Qui sanglote dans les bassins! Who, coming into the dark night of my soul, Qui venant dans ma nuit profonde 0 moon, sounding water, blessed night, Lune, eau sonore, nuit benie, Might light it up with one glance! D’un seul regard l’éclaircirait! Trees that shiver all around, Arbres qui frissonez autour, Your pure melancholy Votre pure mélancholie But no – my youth is over ... Mais non,– ma jeunesse est fi nie ... Is the mirror of my love. Est le miroir de mon amour. Farewell light of my life – Adieu, doux rayon qui m’as lui, – 0 perfume, girl, harmony ... Parfum, jeune fi lle, harmonie ... III What will you say tonight III Que diras-tu ce soir The sickness has passed, it has fl ed! Le malheur passait, – il a fui! What will you say tonight, poor solitary soul, Que diras-tu ce soir, pauvre âme solitaire, Gérard de Nerval (1808-1855) What will you say, my heart, my heart faded until now, Que diras-tu mon coeur, coeur autrefois fl étri, To the most beautiful, the most good, the most dear, A la très-belle, à la très-bonne, à Ia très chère, V Sentimental Conversation, Part 2 ème Whose divine gaze has suddenly brought you Dont le regard divin t’a soudain V Colloque Sentimental, 2 Partie back to life? refl euri? In the old, lonely and frozen park, Dans le vieux parc solitaire et glacé Two ghosts have been recalling the past. Deux spectres ont évoqué le passé. – Our pride shall be set to singing – Nous mettrons notre orgueil à chanter her praises: ses louanges: ‘Do you remember our old rapture? –Te souvient-il de notre extase ancienne? ‘Why on earth would you have me remember it?’ Nothing is so dear as the sweetness of her command ... Rien ne vaut la douceur de son autorité ... –Pourquoi voulez-vous donc qu’il m’en souvienne? ‘Does your heart still beat at the mere sound of Whatever may happen in the night and in solitude, Que ce soit dans la nuit et dans la solitude, –Ton coeur bat-il toujours à my name? Or in the open amongst the throng, Que ce soit dans la rue et dans la multitude, mon seul nom? Do you still see my soul in your dreams?’ ‘No.’ Her image dances in the air like a torchlight. Son fântome dans l’air danse comme un fl ambeau. Toujours vois-tu mon âme en rêve? –Non.

Sometimes it speaks and says: ‘I am beautiful, and Parfois il parle et dit: ‘Je suis belle, et ‘Oh, those beautiful days of unspeakable happiness –Ah! les beaux jours de bonheur indicible When our lips were joined.’ Où nous joignions nos bouches! I command j’ordonne ‘lt might have happened.’ That for love of me you love only what is beautiful; Que pour l’amour de moi vous n’aimiez que le Beau; –C’est possible. I am your guardian angel, your muse, Je suis I’Ange gardien, la Muse ‘How blue the sky was, how great our hope! ‘ –Qu’il était bleu, le ciel, et grand, l’espoir! and your madonna’. et la Madone.’ ‘Our hope ...’ –L’espoir ... Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867) So they walked on through the wild grass, Tels ils marchaient dans les avoines folles, But the blessed night heard their words. Mais Ia nuit bénie entendit leurs paroles. Paul Verlaine (1844-1896)

1816 1719 Sir Michael Tippett was born in in 1905 and College of the Arts, the City of Caulfi eld in Australia, and 2013. Originally trained as an engineer, Yiu was self- Cave – was premiered by Mark Padmore, Elaine- spent his childhood in Suffolk. He studied at the Royal the East London Late Starters Orchestra. In 1999 he taught as a composer until he undertook his DMus Mitchener and in 2018. College of Music and later took lessons with R. O. was made Professor of Composition at the University of under the auspice of at Guildhall Morris. He became musical director of Morley College Southampton. School of Music & Drama. He has worked with Neville Bower studied composition with Patrick Hadley and piano with Kendall Taylor, at the Royal College of in 1940 where he lead a revival of Purcell’s music, and Finnissy has been featured composer at the Bath, ensembles and artists including Lukas Foss, BBC Music. After a short career as a concert pianist and presented and recorded the fi rst performance since Huddersfi eld and Almeida festivals, amongst others, Singers, Chroma, Ensemble 10/10, Nouvel Ensemble ballet pianist, he followed a more serious career as Elizabethan times of Tallis’s 40-part motet. and his works are widely performed and broadcast Moderne, London Sinfonietta and Lontano. a composer whilst working as Director of Music at He completed his First Symphony in 1945 and then worldwide. The Original Chinese Conjuror was commissioned for Ealing and Slough Grammar Schools. He composed embarked on his fi rst opera,The Midsummer Marriage, the 2006 Aldeburgh Almeida Opera, and Maomao Yü Michael Finnissy was awarded two British Composer much music for school use, but also wrote works for originally produced by the Royal Opera House. was commissioned by LSO for and the Silk Awards in 2015. His choral work John the Baptist orchestra, , solo instruments and small ensembles. Tippett’s international reputation blossomed from String Quartet. His ‘hugely impressive’ (The Guardian) won the Liturgical award, and his piano cycle, Beat For a time he also conducted the Apollo Singers and his sixties onwards, partly through a proliferation of Symphony was commissioned by the BBC, and Generation Ballads won in the Solo/Duo category. amateur orchestras. His music has been broadcast on recordings of his music. He was especially esteemed premiered during Proms 2015 by Andrew Watts, BBCSO BBC Radio 3 and has featured in recital and concert in America, where some of his most signifi cant works and Edward Gardner. First performed at programmes. (such as his Fourth Symphony and The Mask of Time) Joe Cutler’s music has been described as ‘propulsive’ International Festival 2017, and given its London were commissioned. He remained exceptionally (BBC Music Magazine), ‘alluring’ (Scotsman), ‘neurotic’ premiere by , BBCSO and Sir Andrew active through his eighties, composing, conducting (Re-Diffusion) and ‘the best thing to come out of Davis in April 2018, The World Was Once All Miracle Colin Matthews was born in London in 1946. He and travelling worldwide. His fi fth opera,New Year, Neasden since Twiggy’ (Gramophone). was nominated in the large-scale composition category studied with Arnold Whittall and Nicholas Maw; in commissioned jointly by Houston Grand Opera, With collaborators ranging from the London Symphony of 2018 Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards. the 1970s he was assistant to , Glyndebourne and the BBC, received its premiere in Orchestra to Evan Parker and Orkest de Ereprijs to and worked for many years with Imogen Holst. His 1989, and his last orchestral work, The Rose Lake, collaboration with Deryck Cooke on the performing Vince Mendoza, his music has been performed in over In 2004 Tansy Davies composed neon – a gritty collage was premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra version of Mahler’s Tenth Symphony lasted from 1963 40 countries and on six continents including at festivals of twisted funk – that quickly became her calling card. under Sir Colin Davis as part of a two-week long festival until its publication in 1975. and venues such as Bang-on-a-Can Music Marathon Since then her music has been championed by the celebrating his 90th birthday at the , (New York), Gaudeamus Music Week (Amsterdam and New York Philharmonic, Asko|Schönberg, the Tokyo Over four decades his music has ranged from solo London. Utrecht), Opera City (Tokyo), Musik Monat (Basle), Symphony Orchestra, and the London Symphony piano music through fi ve string quartets and many th Tippett received many honours and awards; he was Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Beijing Modern Music Orchestra, and at festivals including Présences, and ensemble and orchestral works. He wrote his 4 String Quartet, for the Elias Quartet, in 2012, and his 5th, for made a CBE in 1959, was knighted in 1966, became Festival, London Jazz Festival and the BBC Proms. Warsaw Autumn. a Companion of Honour in 1979 and was awarded the the Tanglewood Music Center, in 2015; Spiralling was In 2008 he was awarded the British Composer Award in Between Worlds – a bold response to the events of Order of Merit in 1983; he was a recipient of a Royal written for Spira Mirabilis in 2014; The Pied Piper, a the chamber music category, whilst in 2016 he received 9/11 to a libretto by Nick Drake – was premiered by Philharmonic Society Gold Medal. He died on 8 January collaboration with Michael Morpurgo, was performed by the British Composer Award in the jazz category. Since in 2015, and was later awarded 1998. the LPO in 2015. 2000 he has been a founder member of the collective a British Composer Award. The same year saw Matthews is Executive Administrator of the Holst Noszferatu, and since 2005 he has been Head of Re-greening for large singing orchestra premiered by Michael Finnissy was born in Tulse Hill, London in Foundation and Music Director of the Britten-Pears Composition at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. 1946 and studied at the Royal College of Music. He Foundation. He has been co-director of the Aldeburgh later studied in Italy with Roman Vlad. He went on to 2017 saw the premiere of Antenoux, commissioned by Composition Course since 1992, and composition create the music department of the London School The Hong-Kong born, London-based composer, jazz the Crash Ensemble, and Forest, a concerto for four director of the LSO’s Panufnik Scheme since 2005. He of Contemporary Dance, and has been associated as pianist and conductor Raymond Yiu is the winner horns and orchestra premiered by the Philharmonia holds honorary posts with several universities and is composer with many notable British dance companies. of a BASCA British Composer Award in 2010, and Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen. A second Prince Consort Professor of Composition at the Royal He has also been musician in residence to the Victorian nominated for the same award in 2004, 2012 and collaboration with Nick Drake – the chamber opera College of Music.

2018 1921 From Andrew Watts Andrew Watts was born in Middlesex and Supper and Snake Priestess (), Iain Burnside is a pianist who has appeared in studied at the Royal Academy of Music. He Olga Neuwirth’s Bahlamms Fest, Lost Highway recital with many of the world’s leading singers A Countertenor Songbook charts over 30 years has established a reputation for being one and The Outcast, Liza Lim’s The Navigator, (‘pretty much ideal’ BBC Music Magazine). He is of singing and represents relationships built of the foremost operatic countertenors of his Judith Weir’s Miss Fortune and White Rabbit also an insightful programmer with an instinct on mutual admiration and the joy of music generation and has appeared on opera and and March Hare in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in for the telling juxtaposition. Appearances at making. I am indebted to all of the composers concert platforms throughout the world. Wonderland. Wigmore Hall include the three Schubert song featured on this recording for their kindness cycles with Roderick Williams and a over the years and for agreeing to be a part of His operatic engagements include appearances Andrew Watts’ concert engagements have major series of Russian Song. His recordings this journey. with the Royal Opera Covent Garden, English included appearances with BBC Symphony include the Gramophone Award-winning NMC From a last-minute coaching session at the National Opera, Glyndebourne Festival, Welsh Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Royal Scottish Songbook and the complete Rachmaninov Royal Academy of Music with Michael Tippett National Opera, the Aldeburgh and Almeida National Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, songs (Delphian) with seven outstanding in 1986 to a random drink at Dartington in Festivals and BBC Proms. Foreign engagements Los Angeles and Cleveland Philharmonic Russian artists (‘the results are electrifying’ 2013 with Joe Cutler this album also charts the include La Scala Milan, Staatsoper Berlin, Orchestras, Niew Ensemble, Klangforum, at Daily Telegraph). Burnside’s passion for incredible serendipity and bringing together of Komische Oper Berlin, Hamburgische the Salzburg, Lucerne, Lausanne, Cernier English Song is refl ected in acclaimed CDs of people through music. Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Edinburgh Festivals, , New York, Britten, Finzi, Ireland, Butterworth and Vaughan Budapest, Seville, Paris, Cologne, , I would like to personally thank all the Nationaltheater Mannheim, Theater an der Williams, many with Roderick Williams. France, Australia and Italy. composers here for their tireless work, Wien, Teatro La Fenice, Opéra National du Rhin, Iain Burnside is Artistic Director of the Ludlow for allowing myself and Iain to workshop Teatro Real , Paris Opera, Opéra de Andrew Watts is Professor of Singing at English Song Weekend and Artistic Consultant these pieces with them and to explore their Lyon, Teatro Sao Carlos Lisbon, Grand Théâtre the Guildhall School of Music and Drama to Grange Park Opera. musical ideas, and allow us to investigate our de Genève, Dutch National Opera, Amsterdam, and on the Jette Parker Young interpretation of them. Also for their humour De Vlaamse Opera, Graz Opera, Stadttheater Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, and generosity of spirit in allowing us to inhabit Klagenfurt, RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, Bielefeld, Covent Garden and is visiting their wonderfully crafted works. Los Angeles, Australia, Canada and Mexico and to the Opera Studio at the Hamburgische the Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, Vienna, Dresden, I am very grateful to Aldeburgh Music for Staatsoper. He gives regular masterclasses at Bregenz, Batignano and Montepulciano presenting us as part of their artist residency the Dartington International Summer School Festivals. His repertoire includes Arsamenes scheme and helping pioneer this and for those and has appeared in masterclass in Australia, (Xerxes), title role , Ottone (), people who have made this project possible and France. Nero and Nutrice (L’incoronazione Di Poppea), through their fi nancial generosity. Oberon (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Orestes None of this would have been possible without (La Belle Hélène), Baba the Turk (The Rake’s the skill and commitment of my friend and Progress), Edgar (), Prince Go-Go (Le collaborator Iain Burnside and without the love Grand Macabre) and many world premieres and support of my husband Arjun Devanesan. including Cherubino in Elena Langer’s Figaro © 2018 Andrew Watts Gets a Divorce, James in Birtwistle’s The Last Andrew Watts and Iain Burnside at recording sessions

2220 2321 THANK YOU SUPPORT NMC RECORDINGS NMC is especially grateful for the support of Barry Ife & Trudi Darby, and Frances Onians PRODUCERS’ CIRCLE As a registered charity (no. 328052) NMC holds in making this recording. Anonymous, Robert D. Bielecki Foundation, Anthony Bolton, Bill a distinctive position in the recording industry, Connor, Luke Gardiner, Nicholas and Judith Goodison, Ralph providing public benefi t through the contribution Kanza, George Law, Colin Matthews, Nick Prettejohn, Simon and our work makes to enriching cultural life. NMC is grateful to the RVW Trust for supporting the recording of this album. Victoria Robey, James and Anne Rushton, Richard Steele, Janis Susskind, Andrew Ward, Judith Weir, Arnold Whittall. Becoming a Friend of NMC allows you to support the most exciting new music from the AMBASSADORS British Isles and helps secure NMC’s future. We City & Cambridge Consultancy, Dominic Nudd, Tarik O’Regan, provide a range of opportunities for our donors Duncan Tebbet, Peter Wakefi eld. to see behind the scenes of the organisation PRINCIPAL BENEFACTORS and the music we release. Robin Chapman, Anton Cox, Brian Elias, Richard Fries, Sally Friends (£50 - £99 per year) receive a quarterly Groves, Terry Holmes, Stephen Johns, Jeremy Marchant, Belinda newsletter, updates on future releases, plus invites Recorded at Potton Hall, Suffolk on 23-25 February 2018 FOR FURTHER DETAILS PLEASE CONTACT: Matthews, Robert McFarland, Chris Potts, Howard Skempton, to special events. DAVID LEFEBER Recording Producer & Engineer NMC Recordings Ltd Kenneth Smith, Christoph and Marion Trestler, Hugh Wood. St Margaret’s House SUSANNE STANZELEIT Digital Editing Benefactors (£100 - £249) also enjoy a 25% 21 Old Ford Road BENEFACTORS discount in our online store, a CD booklet credit, Michael Tippett’s music is published by Schott Music. Michael Bethnal Green, London, E2 9PL Finnissy’s music is published by Verlag Neue Musik GmbH (Berlin). Joe Anonymous, Geoff Andrew, Raj Arumugan, Peter Aylmer, Peter and invitations to recording sessions. Tel. +44 (0)20 3022 5836/88 Cutler’s music is published by Composers Edition and Chester Music. Baldwin, Sir Alan Bowness, Tony Britten, Benjamin Bruce, Andrew E-mail: [email protected] • Website: www.nmcrec.co.uk Burn, David Charlton, Susan Costello and Robert Clark, Roderick Principal Benefactors (£250 - £499) also enjoy an Tansy Davies’ and Colin Matthews’ music is published by Faber Music. invitation to our annual composer gathering. Neville Bower’s music is published by Nymet Music. All rights of the manufacturer and owner of the recorded material Dale, Matthew Frost, Anthony Gilbert, , Adam reserved. Unauthorised public performance, broadcasting and copying Cover image: painting by Arjun Devanesan Gorb, Elaine Gould, Michael Greenwald, David Gutman, Barry Ambassadors (£500 - £999) also enjoy invitations of this recording prohibited. PENNY MACKAY French language coaching Guy, Matthew Harris, Robin Holloway, Alison and Kjeld Jensen, to intimate, exclusive events with the NMC team, ℗ 2018 NMC Recordings Ltd Ed Jones, Neil King QC, Liz Leach, Bertie Leigh, Prof Stephen composers and artists. NMC Recordings is a charitable company (reg. no. 328052) established © 2018 NMC Recordings Ltd for the recording of contemporary music by the Holst Foundation; it is McHanwell, Graham Mole, Garth Morton, Stephen and Jackie Catalogue no.: NMC D243 Newbould, Marina Ogilvy, Kieron O’Hara and Rebecca Hughes, Joining the Producer’s Circle (£1,000+) allows you grateful for funding from Arts Council and The Delius Trust. Stephen Plaistow, Ronald Powell, Paul L.D. Rank, Philip Reed and to take your support of NMC further and have a ANNE RUSHTON Executive Director closer association with our work, through a deeper ELEANOR WILSON General Manager Harriet Wybor, Mark Robinson, Lee Rodwell, Laurence Rose, Julian ALEX WRIGHT Development and Partnerships Manager Rushton, Steve Saltaire, Keith Salway, Howard Saunders, Dan insight into the projects we put together and the artists we work with. LUCILE GASSER Development Assistant Simpson, Martin Staniforth, Owen Toller, Kevin Turner, Hannah RACHEL WILMOT Label Assistant v Vlcek, Huw Watkins, Anthony Whitworth-Jones. You can also support NMC with a one-off donation, COLIN MATTHEWS Executive Producer for NMC by becoming a Corporate Friend (£500+ per year) CORPORATE FRIENDS DISTRIBUTION and by leaving a gift in your will. NMC recordings are distributed worldwide in CD, download and Faber Music, Freshfi elds Bruckhaus Deringer LLP, The Incorporated streaming formats. For more information visit our website. Society of Musicians, The Music Sales Group, Royal Philharmonic Please visit www.nmcrec.co.uk/support-us, You can also purchase recordings direct from our online store Society, Schott Music Ltd. email [email protected], www.nmcrec.co.uk or call 020 3022 5888 for more information. 2422 2523