CKD 382

Linn Records Label of the Year ‘Linn is the very model of a modern record company, ensuring that the highest standards are maintained from the studio right through the company’s very impressive digital store.’ JAMES JOLLY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, GRAMOPHONE

ALSO AVAILABLE BY THE PRINCE CONSORT ON LINN RECORDS

NED ROREM ON AN ECHOING ROAD CKD 342

LINN, GLASGOW ROAD, WATERFOOT, GLASGOW G76 0EQ UK t: +44 (0)141 303 5027 f: +44 (0)141 303 5007 e: [email protected] the prince consort other love songs JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-97) BRAHMS LIEBESLIEDER WALZER Opus 52 NEUE LIEBESLIEDER Opus 65 songs by Brahms and Stephen Hough 1 Rede, Mädchen, allzu liebes 27 Verzicht, o Herz, auf Rettung 2 Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut 28 Finstere Schatten der Nacht 3 O die Frauen, o die Frauen 29 An jeder Hand die Finger 4 Wie des Abends schöne Röte 30 Ihr schwarzen Augen 5 Die grüne Hopfenranke 31 Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn 6 Ein kleiner, hübscher Vogel 32 Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter 7 Wohl schön bewandt war es 33 Vom Gebirge, Well auf Well 8 Wenn so lind dein Auge mir 34 Weiche Gräser im Revier 9 Am Donaustrande 35 Nagen am Herzen fühl ich 10 O wie sanft die Quelle 36 Ich Kose süß mit der und der 11 Nein, es ist nicht auszukommen 37 Alles, alles in den Wind 12 Schloßer auf, und mache Schlößer 38 Schwarzer Wald, dein Schatten 13 Vögelein durchrauscht die Luft 39 Nein, Geliebter, setze dich 14 Sieh, wie ist die Welle klar 40 Flammenauge, dunkles Haar 15 Nachtigall, sie singt so schön 41 Zum Schluß 16 Ein dunkeler Schacht ist Liebe 17 Nicht wandle, mein Licht Recorded in Potton Hall, Suffolk, UK 18 Es bebet das Gesträuche from 25th–29th October 2010 Produced by John Fraser with guest artists Philip Fowke and Stephen Hough STEPHEN HOUGH (b.1961) Engineered by Philip Hobbs Philip Fowke joins Alisdair Hogarth at the piano on tracks 1~18 & 27~41 OTHER LOVE SONGS (2010) Post-production by Julia Thomas, Finesplice Ltd and Stephen Hough joins Alisdair Hogarth at the piano on tracks 19~26 19 When I Have Passed (Claude McKay) The Prince Consort photographs 20 All Shall Be Well (Julian of Norwich) by Richard Ecclestone The Prince Consort would like to thank 21 The City’s Love (Claude McKay) Stephen Hough photograph by Grant Hiroshima Philip Fowke photograph Joyce, Mary and James Hogarth, Rayfield Artists, Simon Yates, James Murphy, Sara Mohr-Pietsch, 22 Madam and Her Madam (Langston Hughes)* by Lord Patrick Douglas Hamilton John Gilhooly at Wigmore Hall, Stephen Hough, Philip Fowke, Glen Gough & Colin Turner at Steinway & Sons, 23 Kashmiri Song (Laurence Hope) Design by John Haxby Ed Hall at Canis Media, Veronica Davies, Paul Dent & John Kilby at Lewis Golden and Co. 24 Because I Liked You Better (A.E. Housman) The Liebeslieder translations are printed with kind The Prince Consort gratefully acknowledge the support of their sponsors: Simon Yates, Philip & Chris Carne, 25 The Colour of His Hair (A.E. Housman) permission from Richard Stokes. The Nicholas Boas Charitable Trust, The Vernon Ellis Trust and The Consort Foundation 26 Simon, Son of John (St John’s Gospel) *pub. Estate of Langston Hughes

2 – other love songs other love songs – 3 LIEBESLIEDER WALTZES : JOHANNES BRAHMS (1833-97) The 1860s had been turbulent years for Brahms, in which love and loss were rahms’ two sets of Liebeslieder waltzes are the perfect repertoire for an intimately entwined. It was the death of his mother in 1865 which had prompted Bensemble like The Prince Consort. The combination of part-songs and solo the outpourings of the German Requiem. And he spent much of the decade in lieder suits this group down to the ground: a flexible band of top-class soloists unrequited love: first with Ottilie Hauer, with whom he played through many who share an understanding of the joys and demands of consort singing. What’s of Schubert’s songs in 1863, and then with Robert and Clara Schumann’s more, they are young, bringing a freshness to the Liebeslieder Walzer Opus 52, daughter, Julie. It is thought to be his feelings for Julie that infuse the Opus 52 and a poignancy to the Neue Liebeslieder Opus 65. Liebeslieder with their lightness, their swing. They are full of a certain reckless hopefulness which threatens to sweep us away. But The Prince Consort are also passionate explorers of new repertoire, and it’s the inclusion of Stephen Hough’s Other Love Songs (specially commissioned for Brahms wrote them in the summer of 1869 while he was staying near Julie and the group by its artistic director and pianist Alisdair Hogarth) which makes Clara in Baden-Baden. The poems he chose were by Georg Friedrich Daumer, this recording a unique proposition. Hough’s songs may be moving, challenging one of his favourite poets – in all, he set more than fifty of Daumer’s verses to and exquisite vignettes in their own right, but they also make new sense of the music. All eighteen poems come from Daumer’s collection Polydor, inspired by Brahms, bridging what could be an uncomfortable gap between his two sets various folk tales and songs from Russia and Poland. (It’s worth remembering of Liebeslieder, and lending them a contemporary resonance that makes for a that the ‘waltz’ of these Liebeslieder is not the Viennese waltz we think of today; compelling listen. This is an exploration of love in its many forms: both multi- instead, in keeping with the folk motifs of Daumer’s texts, these are based on faceted and universal. the Ländler, an Austro-German peasant dance in much slower triple time, the same kind that Haydn and Schubert had played with, and which later infused he two sets of Liebeslieder occupy an interesting and transitional period Mahler’s symphonies with nostalgia and irony.) Tin Brahms’ life. The Opus 52 Liebeslieder Walzer (Love Song Waltzes) date from 1869, just a few months after his first major international hit, the Brahms finished the Liebeslieder Walzer on the 8th August 1869. He performed German Requiem, was premiered at the Leipzig Gewandhaus. The Opus 65 Neue a selection of them at a private gathering a fortnight later, sent them off to Liebeslieder (New Love Songs) were published six years later in 1875, just a few his publisher Simrock just four days after that, and by October they were in months before another major compositional breakthrough, the completion of print. The following year, Brahms and Clara Schumann shared the keyboard his long-awaited First Symphony. At the age of 43, it opened up a whole new as they accompanied a group of singer friends in the first public performance phase of his musical life. of the set, all eighteen waltzes in one go. They were a resounding success;

4 – other love songs other love songs – 5 Simrock went on to publish several versions of the waltzes, and Brahms some more violent, some full of swing – but the overriding feeling is positive, himself orchestrated yet more. perhaps most of all in the best-loved song of the set, ‘Ein kleiner, hübscher Vogel nahm den Flug’ (no. 6). But if you run the end of the first set straight into the Over the next five years he composed a further fifteen waltzes, again a mix of beginning of the second, it jars immediately. The Neue Liebeslieder are much solo and ensemble songs, and Simrock published them as the Neue Liebeslieder darker, somehow less coherent as a set, and so before we get to them as listeners Opus 65 in 1875. Both sets of waltzes were a publisher’s dream: intended for we need to pause for thought, to get to grips with the corner about to be turned. amateurs to dip into at home, with whatever forces they had to hand, they were flexible and technically manageable, yet hugely rewarding to perform. This is where Stephen Hough’s Other Love Songs come in. Hough gives us the But where Julie was concerned, things didn’t end well for Brahms. At the end opportunity to take time out from Brahms’ frothy waltzes, and consider love st of the summer of 1869, she married someone else. Channelling his sorrow from a sequence of refreshingly different perspectives. Even in the 21 century once more into a musical masterpiece, he responded to the news with the Alto we like to know where we are with things, and to package love into neat Rhapsody Opus 53. It was ostensibly a wedding present for Julie, but it was boxes. But these songs refuse to help us orient ourselves – they are constantly by no means a light-hearted one. And nor are the Neue Liebeslieder Opus 65 destabilising us, creeping up on us with the same knack of surprise as love itself. which followed as light-hearted as the first set of Liebeslieder. In fact, they They’re not a tribute to Brahms, but if Hough nods at all to the Liebeslieder are unmistakeably different in tone: darker, more unsettling. Could this be an it’s in the way he plays with duplets and triplets, cutting across each other to inevitable consequence of the hardening of the heart on encountering loss? undermine our memory of the triple time of the Ländler. (This is particularly Of course, it’s a dangerous game trying to match up biographical detail with true of the opening song, ‘When I Have Passed’, which carries an actual echo of musical substance, but since this recording presents the two Liebeslieder sets the last waltz of the Opus 52 set.) The very essence of these love songs is their together, knowing that the loss of Julie falls chronologically in the middle is otherness, and they hold some of the psychological shadow which is largely one way of making sense of the dramatic difference between them. missing from the Opus 52 Liebeslieder Walzer.

istening to the first set can feel like eating a little too much cake; by the Hough also bridges the gap between Brahms and the 21st century, taking us on Ltime we get to the end of eighteen Ländler, we can feel a little full. It’s by no a romp through the intervening years of music: from the exotica of Debussian means a boring listen – Brahms bends the triple time of the waltz to his every orientalism (‘Kashmiri Song’), to the cabaret world of the 1920s (in ‘The Colour need, creating a fascinating sequence of contrasting songs, some melancholy, of His Hair’, which carries various traces of Gilbert and Sullivan, Noël Coward,

6 – other love songs other love songs – 7 Kurt Weill and Stravinsky); via the vernacular comedy of the Madam (which Rhapsody, and it’s Goethe who gets the last word in the Neue Liebeslieder. The reminds one of the Britten-Auden Cabaret Songs), and finally the delicacy of a final song, ‘Zum Schluß’, is a neat framing device, taking a step back from the ‘dona nobis pacem’ sung like a lullaby. obsessive, many-faceted qualities of love explored by Daumer (and indeed by Stephen Hough), and instead paying tribute to the muses who inspire it. Hough’s love songs are bold, and they are also heavy with the experience of the kinds of love which don’t necessarily find easy expression in our world. And yet, although it appears to celebrate and thank these muses, Brahms’ And whether it’s simply the power of Hough’s work, or the fact that it’s there pay-off threatens to make a mockery of the sincere feelings that have come in the Brahms Neue Liebeslieder anyway, something of that heaviness seems to before. Is love real? Or are we merely puppets, struck dumb by Cupid’s invisible pervade the second set of waltzes which follows. arrows, the playthings of the Gods? This may seem cruel, but it has a strong contemporary resonance, living as we do today with movie-myths like The Propelled immediately into a violent shipwreck, the first two songs of Brahms’ Matrix which challenge us to question the very nature of our reality. Opus 65 Neue Liebeslieder run together without pause for breath. We are in very different territory to that of the Opus 52 Liebeslieder Walzer. Here are But it doesn’t have to make a mockery of love per se. Brahms, after all, witches, black gypsy eyes, poisoned arrows, roses, nightingales and death. And experienced many of the many facets of love which Hough’s Other Love Songs here too are more solo songs than before, making it a slightly incoherent listen, explore. For divine or religious love, we have only to listen to his German like a split-personality song cycle. Requiem or the Four Serious Songs (Vier ernste Gesänge, Opus 121) to experience something of the complexity and rapture of the human encounter with that Again, Brahms chose the poems of Daumer, but in these he cast his net wider: which is greater than itself. For love of a lost parent, as per Claude McKay, once with a Turkish text (no. 1), a translation of Hafiz (no. 2), and Latvian/Lithuanian again witness the outpouring of grief at his mother’s death in the Requiem. (no. 3), Spanish (no. 6), Sicilian (no. 4), Serbian (no. 12) and Malaysian (no. 10) And throughout his long life, Brahms loved several women romantically and -inspired poems joining the Russian and Polish influences which dominated the platonically (Clara Schumann in particular), continuing his ardour well into Opus 52 waltzes. And yet, when he came to the last song in the set, Brahms set old age. But despite these loves, he never married, remaining faithful instead to Daumer aside and turned instead to the father-figure of German Romanticism: his greatest love of all: music. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. © Sara Mohr-Pietsch, 2011 Brahms is said to have described Goethe’s poems as: ‘So perfect in themselves that no music can improve them’. Nevertheless, it was Goethe he set in his Alto

8 – other love songs other love songs – 9 JENNIFER JOHNSTON mezzo-soprano

JACQUES IMBRAILO baritone

ALISDAIR HOGARTH piano ANNA LEESE soprano

ANDREW STAPLES tenor TIM MEAD countertenor

10 – other love songs other love songs – 11 LIEBESLIEDER WALZER Opus 52 5 Die grüne Hopfenranke 5 The green tendrils of the vine Translations of folk songs by Georg Friedrich Daumer Sie schlängelt auf der Erde hin. creep low along the ground. Die junge, schöne Dirne, How gloomy, too, 1 Rede, Mädchen, allzu liebes, 1 Tell me, my sweetest girl, So traurig ist ihr Sinn! the lovely young girl looks! Das mir in die Brust, die kühle, who with your glances Du höre, grüne Ranke! Why, green tendrils! Hat geschleudert mit dem Blicke have kindled in my cool breast Was hebst du dich nicht himmelwärts? Why do you not stretch up to the sky? Diese wilden Glutgefühle! these wild, passionate feelings! Du höre, schöne Dirne! Why, lovely girl! Willst du nicht dein Herz erweichen, Will you not relent, will you, Was ist so schwer dein Herz? Why is your heart so heavy? Willst du, eine Überfromme, with an excess of virtue, Wie höbe sich die Ranke How can the vine grow tall Rasten ohne traute Wonne, live without love’s rapture, Der keine Stütze Kraft verleiht? without support? Oder willst du, daß ich komme? or do you wish me to come to you? Wie wäre die Dirne fröhlich, How can the girl be joyful, Wenn ihr der Liebste weit? when her lover’s far away? Rasten ohne traute Wonne, To live without love’s rapture, Nicht so bitter will ich büßen. is a bitter fate I would not suffer. 6 Ein kleiner, hübscher Vogel nahm den Flug 6 A pretty little bird flew off Komme nur, du schwarzes Auge, Come, then, with your dark eyes, Zum Garten hin, da gab es Obst genug. into a garden full of fruit. Komme, wenn die Sterne grüßen! come, when the stars beckon! Wenn ich ein hübscher, kleiner Vogel wär, Were I a pretty little bird, Ich säumte nicht, ich täte so wie der. I’d not hesitate, I’d do the same. 2 Am Gesteine rauscht die Flut 2 The wildly lashed waves Leimruten-Arglist lauert an dem Ort; But treacherous lime-twigs lay in wait; Heftig angetrieben; dash against the rocks; Der arme Vogel konnte nicht mehr fort. the poor bird could not fly away. Wer da nicht zu seufzen weiß, whoever has not learnt to sigh Wenn ich ein hübscher, kleiner Vogel wär, Were I a pretty little bird, Lernt es unterm Lieben. will learn it when he loves. Ich säumte doch, ich täte nicht wie der. I’d hesitate, not do the same. 3 O die Frauen, o die Frauen, 3 O women, o women, Der Vogel kam in eine schöne Hand, The bird alighted on a fair hand, Wie sie Wonne tauen! how they delight the heart! Da tat es ihm, dem Glücklichen, nicht and. the lucky thing wanted nothing more. Wäre lang ein Mönch geworden, I should have long since turned monk, Wenn ich ein hübscher, kleiner Vogel wär, Were I pretty little bird, Wären nicht die Frauen! were it not for women! Ich säumte nicht, ich täte doch wie der. I’d not hesitate, I’d do the same. 4 Wie des Abends schöne Röte 4 Like a lovely sunset 7 Wohl schön bewandt 7 All seemed rosy Möcht ich arme Dirne glühn, I, a humble girl, would glow, War es vorehe at one time Einem, Einem zu gefallen, and find favour with one alone, Mit meinem Leben, with my life, Sonder Ende Wonne sprühn. radiating endless rapture. Mit meiner Liebe! with my love!

12 – other love songs other love songs – 13 Durch eine Wand, Through a wall, O wie schön, wenn Liebe sich, Ah, how sweet, when love Ja, durch zehn Wände, through ten walls, Zu der Liebe findet! finds itself requited! Erkannte mich my lover’s gaze 11 Nein, es ist nicht auszukommen 11 No, it is not possible Des Freundes Sehe. would reach me. Mit den Leuten; to put up with these people; Doch jetzo, wehe, But now, alas, Alles wißen so giftig they interpret everything Wenn ich dem Kalten I stand in front Auszudeuten. so spitefully. Auch noch so dicht, of his cool gaze, Vorm Auge stehe, neither his eyes, Bin ich heiter, hegen soll ich If I’m happy, they say Es merkts sein Auge, nor his heart, Lose Triebe; I harbour lewd desires; Sein Herze nicht. takes note of me. Bin ich still, so heißts, ich wäre if I’m quiet, they say Irr, aus Liebe. I’m madly in love. 8 Wenn so lind dein Aug mir 8 When you gaze at me so tenderly Und so lieblich schauet – and so full of love – 12 Schloßer auf, und mache Schlößer, 12 Locksmith, come, make me padlocks, Jede letzte Trübe fliehet, all the gloom that assails me Schlößer ohne Zahl! padlocks without number! Welche mich umgrauet. fades away. Denn die bösen Mäuler will ich So that once and for all I can shut Dieser Liebe schöne Glut, Oh, do not let this love’s Schließen allzumal. their malicious mouths. Laß sie nicht verstieben! sweet ardour vanish! 13 Vögelein durchrauscht die Luft, 13 A little bird flies through the skies, Nimmer wird, wie ich, so treu No one will love you Sucht nach einem Aste; searching for a branch; Dich ein andrer lieben. as truly as I. Und das Herz ein Herz begehrts, thus does one heart seek another, 9 Am Donaustrande, da steht ein Haus, 9 On the Danube’s shore there stands a house, Wo es selig raste. where it might rest in bliss. Da schaut ein rosiges Mädchen aus. from its windows a rosy girl looks out. 14 Sieh, wie ist die Welle klar, 14 See how clear the waves are, Das Mädchen, es ist wohl gut gehegt, The girl is excellently guarded, Blickt der Mond hernieder! when the moon shines down! Zehn eiserne Riegel sind vor die Türe gelegt. ten bolts are fixed to her door. Die du meine Liebe bist, You, my dearest love, Zehn eiserne Riegel – das ist ein Spaß! Ten bolts of iron – a mere trifle! Liebe du mich wieder. love me in return. Die spreng ich, I’ll break them down, als wären sie nur von Glas. as though they were glass. 15 Nachtigall, sie singt so schön, 15 The nightingale sings so sweetly, Wenn die Sterne funkeln – when the stars are sparkling – 10 O wie sanft die Quelle sich 10 Ah, how gently the stream Liebe mich, geliebtes Herz, Love me, dear heart, Durch die Wiese windet! meanders through the meadow! Küße mich im Dunkeln! kiss me in the dark!

14 – other love songs other love songs – 15 16 Ein dunkeler Schacht ist Liebe, 16 Love is a dark pit, NEUE LIEBESLIEDER Opus 65 Ein gar zu gefährlicher Bronnen; an all too dangerous well; Translations of folk songs by Georg Friedrich Daumer Da fiel ich hinein, ich Armer, I tumbled in, alas, Kann weder hören, noch sehn. can neither hear nor see, 1 Verzicht, o Herz, auf Rettung, 1 Renounce, o heart, all hope of rescue, Nur denken an meine Wonnen, can only recall my rapture, Dich wagend in der Liebe Meer! when you venture on the sea of love! Nur stöhnen in meinen Wehn. and only bemoan my grief. Denn tausend Nachen schwimmen For a thousand barques drift Zertrümmert am Gestad umher! and founder on the shore around! 17 Nicht wandle, mein Licht, dort außen 17 Do not wander, my love, out there Im Flurbereich! in the fields! 2 Finstere Schatten der Nacht, 2 Dark, nocturnal shadows, Die Füße würden dir, die zarten, The ground would be too wet Wogen und Wirbelgefahr! waves and whirlpool peril! Zu naß, zu weich. for your tender feet. Sind wohl, die da gelind Can they who calmly linger Rasten auf sicherem Lande, safely on the shore All überströmt sind die Wege, The paths and tracks Euch zu begreifen im Stande? ever understand you? Die Stege dir, are all flooded out there, So überreichlich tränte dorten so abundantly have my eyes Das ist der nur allein, He alone can do so Das Auge mir. been weeping. Welcher auf hoher See who drifts in the stormy desolation Stürmischer Öde treibt, of high seas, 18 Es bebet das Gesträuche, 18 The foliage trembles, Meilen entfernt vom Strande. miles away from the shore. Gestreift hat es im Fluge where a bird in flight Ein Vöglein. has brushed against it. 3 An jeder Hand die Finger 3 On the fingers of either hand In gleicher Art erbebet, And so my soul Hatt ich bedeck mit Ringen I wore the rings Die Seele mir erschüttert trembles too, shuddering Die mir geschenkt mein Bruder my brother had given me Von Liebe, Lust und Leide, with love, desire and pain, In seinem Liebeßinn. in affection. Gedenkt sie dein. whenever it thinks of you. Und einen nach dem andern And one after the other Gab ich dem schönen I gave them to the handsome Aber unwürdigen Jüngling hin. but worthless young man. 4 Ihr schwarzen Augen 4 With your dark eyes Ihr dürft nur winken – a mere gaze is needed – Paläste fallen palaces will fall Und Städte sinken. and cities sink.

16 – other love songs other love songs – 17 Wie sollte stehn How in such a skirmish Kann sich ein Mädchen, Can a young girl, In solchem Strauß should my heart, Ohne zu fröhnen without yielding Mein Herz, von Karten that frail house of cards, Zärtlichem Hang, to tender affection, Das schwache Haus? stay standing? Faßen ein ganzes bear the thought Wonneberaubtes of a whole lifetime 5 Wahre, wahre deinen Sohn, 5 Guard, good neighbour, guard Leben entlang? devoid of bliss? Nachbarin, vor Wehe, your son from harm, Weil ich ihn mit schwarzem Aug for with my dark eyes 10 Ich kose süß mit der und der 10 I sweetly caress this girl and that, Zu bezaubern gehe. I intend to bewitch him. Und werde still und kranke, grow taciturn and ill, Denn ewig, ewig kehrt zu dir, because always, always my thoughts O wie brennt das Auge mir Ah, how my eyes blaze O Nonna, mein Gedanke! return, o Nonna, to you! Das zu zünden fodert! to inflame him! Flammet ihm die Seele nicht If his soul is not kindled 11 Alles, alles in den Wind 11 Everything you tell me, flatterer, Deine Hütte lodert. your cottage will catch fire. Sagst du mir, du Schmeichler! is wasted breath! Allesamt verloren sind All your efforts are wasted, 6 Rosen steckt mir an die Mutter, 6 My mother pins roses on me, Deine Mühn, du Heuchler! you hypocrite! Weil ich gar so trübe bin. because I am so distressed. Sie hat Recht: die Rose sinket, She’s right to do so: the rose withers, Einem andern Fang zu lieb Set your snares So, wie ich, entblättert hin. when stripped of leaves, like me. Stelle deine Falle! for another victim! Denn du bist ein loser Dieb, For you are a wanton thief, 7 Vom Gebirge, Well auf Well, 7 From the mountain, wave on wave, Denn du buhlst um alle! wooing all and sundry! Kommen Regengüße, the torrential rain teems down, Und ich gäbe dir so gern and I would dearly love to give you 12 Schwarzer Wald, dein Schatten ist so düster! 12 Dark forest, your shadows are so sombre! Hunderttausend Küße. one hundred thousand kisses. Armes Herz, dein Leiden ist so drückend! Your suffering, poor heard, so oppressive! Was dir einzig wert, es steht vor Augen, The one thing you value stands before you, 8 Weiche Gräser im Revier, 8 Soft grasses in the glade, Ewig untersagt ist Huldvereinung! But a happy union is forbidden forever! Schöne stille Plätzchen! a quiet and pretty spot! O wie linde ruht es hier How blissful it is 13 Nein, Geliebter, setze dich 13 No, my love, do not sit Sich mit einem Schätzchen! to recline here with a lover! Mir so nahe nicht! so close to me! Starre nicht so brünstiglich Do not gaze so fervently 9 Nagen am Herzen 9 I feel a poison Mir ins Angesicht. into my eyes. Fühl ich ein Gift mir. gnaw at my heart.

18 – other love songs other love songs – 19 Wie es auch im Busen brennt, However much your heart might burn, Dämpfe deinen Trieb, subdue your desire, Daß es nicht die Welt erkennt that the world might not see Wie wir uns so lieb! how we love each other! 14 Flammenauge, dunkles Haar, 14 Bold, adorable young man, Knabe wonnig und verwogen. with fiery eyes and dark hair. Kummer ist durch dich hinein You are the cause that sorrow In mein armes Herz gezogen. has entered my poor heart. Kann in Eis der Sonne Brand, Can the burning sun turn to ice, Sich in Nacht der Tag verkehren? can day turn into night? Kann die heiße Menschenbrust Can an ardent human heart OTHER LOVE SONGS Atmen ohne Glutbegehren? breathe without passion’s glow? STEPHEN HOUGH (b.1961) Ist die Flur so voller Licht, Is the meadow drenched in light, Daß die Blum im Dunkel stehe? for the flower to grow in the dark? was delighted when Alisdair Hogarth asked Ist die Welt so voller Lust Is the world so full of pleasure I if I would like to write a song cycle for The Daß das Herz in Qual vergehe? for the heart to perish in grief? Prince Consort as a companion for the two Brahms Liebeslieder Walzer sets, but I decided, Zum Schluß Envoi for the sake of contrast, to avoid waltzes, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to avoid setting poems about romantic love Nun, ihr Musen, genug! Enough, now, ye Muses! between a man and a woman. Other Love Songs Vergebens strebt ihr zu schildern, You strive in vain to show explore other kinds of love; and, as a symbol of Wie sich Jammer und Glück wechseln How joy and sorrow alternate this, the accompaniment is for three rather than in liebender Brust. in loving hearts. four hands at one piano. Heilen könnet die Wunden ihr nicht, You cannot heal the wounds, die Amor geschlagen; inflicted by Love; Aber Linderung kommt einzig, but assuagement comes from you alone. ihr Guten, von euch.

20 – other love songs other love songs – 21 The first song is a double setting for tenor and baritone – two poems by Claude setting by Amy Woodforde-Finden in 1902. It appears to be a lesbian love song McKay (1889-1948), the gay, black poet who was part of the literary group in and its searing passion belies the starchy colonial life its author would have been 1920s New York known as the Harlem Renaissance. The poet-as-baritone muses living in British India in the late-Victorian period. I have used and adapted the whether, after he’s dead and forgotten, a ‘pensive youth’ might come across one traditional Indian Bhairav scale for this setting. of his verses and softly hum its tune, wondering who its author might be. The ‘Because I Liked You Better’ is one of A. E. Housman’s (1859-1936) autobiographical song opens with a short introduction in which the poet-as-tenor hums a tune and most heartbreaking poems – Victorian society’s demand for two men to part based on the last of the first set of Brahms’ Liebeslieder. This material forms the rather than to admit or pursue their love. accompaniment in the piano; it reoccurs as an accompaniment by the tenor, and finally joins the words of another of McKay’s poems about his sorrowing love for ‘The Colour of His Hair’, again by Housman, is the other side of the coin – someone his deceased mother. (probably Oscar Wilde) being taken to prison because of his homosexuality. The setting is brutal and banal, with a repetitive, crude sea-shanty tune accompanied Julian of Norwich (1342-c.1416) was a mystic and hermit whose book Revelations by an increasingly violent piano part. of Divine Love was the first written by a woman in the English language. It is astonishingly universalist for its time, suggesting, with courage and audacity, that ‘Simon, Son of John’ is taken from the end of St John’s Gospel. After the all humanity is chosen and already saved by God. I’ve taken a selection of lines Resurrection, Christ takes Simon Peter aside and asks him three times, ‘Do you love which celebrate this insight with ecstatic exuberance. me?’ This has always been thought to correspond to the three times Peter denied Christ during the Passion. Before the third affirmation by Peter, three fanfare-like The third song, again by Claude McKay, unusually describes a city loving its alien flourishes occur in the piano, suggestive of the cockcrow which alerted Peter to guest, despite the colour of his skin, and, presumably, despite the rejection of its his denial… (they also happen to be the same notes which set the second song’s citizens. words, ‘All Shall Be Well’). Jesus responds ‘Feed my lambs’ to Peter’s avowals of love, ‘Madam and Her Madam’ by Langston Hughes (1902-1967), another Harlem and the setting ends with the soprano and alto singing the Agnus Dei section of Renaissance poet, is a comic vignette about a maid’s exploitation by her mistress: the Mass: ‘Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world’. Love, in its many ‘You know, Alberta, I love you so’ receives the maid’s feisty response, ‘But I’ll be forms, conquers all. dogged if I love you’. © Stephen Hough, 2011 ‘Kashmiri Song’ is from the Garden of Kama by Laurence Hope – nom de plume for Adela Florence Cory Nicolson (1865-1904) – and was made hugely popular in its

22 – other love songs other love songs – 23 OTHER LOVE SONGS All Shall Be Well The City’s Love She opened her mouth. by Stephen Hough All shall be well! For one brief golden moment rare like wine, She cried, Oh, no! You know, Alberta, When I Have Passed He shewed me a little thing The gracious city swept across the line; A hazel nut in the palm of my hand. Oblivious of the colour of my skin, I love you so! When I have passed away and am forgotten, It was round as a ball. Forgetting that I was an alien guest, I said, Madam, And no one living can recall my face, What may this be? She bent to me, my hostile heart to win, That may be true… When under alien sod my bones lie rotten, It is all that is made. Caught me in passion to her pillowy breast; But I’ll be dogged With not a tree or stone to mark the place; I marvelled how it might last The great proud city, seized with a strange love, If I love you! Perchance a pensive youth, with passion burning, For me thought it might suddenly have fallen Bowed down for one flame hour my pride to prove. For olden verse that smacks of love and wine, to naught for littleness. Kashmiri Song The musty pages of old volumes turning, Lasteth and ever shall last, Madam and Her Madam Pale hands I loved beside the Shalimar, May light up on a little verse of mine, For God loveth it. I worked for a woman, Where are you now? And he may softly hum the tune and wonder And all thing have being through the love of God. She wasn’t mean… Who lies beneath your spell? Who wrote the verses in the long ago; Love was His meaning. But she had a twelve-room Whom do you lead on Rapture’s roadway far, Or he may sit him down a while to ponder Who shewed it thee? Love! House to clean. Before you agonise them in farewell? Upon the simple words that touch him so. What shewed He thee? Love! Had to get breakfast, Oh, pale dispensers of my Joys and Pains, Wherefore shewed He thee? (For Love!) Last night I heard your voice, mother, Dinner, and supper, too… Holding the doors of Heaven and Hell, Ere God made us He loved us, which love was The words you sang to me Then take care of her children How the hot blood rushed wildly through the veins never slacked nor ever shall be. When I, a little barefoot boy, When I got through. Beneath your touch, until you waved farewell. Knelt down against your knee. See! I am God. Wash, iron, and scrub, Pale hands, pink-tipped, like Lotus buds that float And tears gushed from my heart, mother, See! I am in all things. Walk the dog around… On those cool waters where we used to dwell, And passed beyond its wall, See! I do all things. It was too much, I would have rather felt you round my throat, But though the fountain reached my throat See! I lift never my hands off my works, Nearly broke me down. Crushing out life, than waving me farewell. the drops refused to fall. nor ever shall without end. ‘Tis ten years since you died, mother, How can any thing be amiss? I said, Madam, Just ten dark years of pain, All shall be well. Can it be Because I Liked You Better And oh, I only wish that I could weep And all shall be well. You trying to make a Because I liked you better just once again. And all manner of things shall be well. Pack-horse out of me? Than it suits a man to say,

24 – other love songs other love songs – 25 It irked you, and I promised In the good old time ‘twas hanging Simon, son of John, do you love me? Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi, To throw the thought away. for the colour that it is; You know, Lord, I love you! Miserere nobis. Though hanging isn’t bad enough To put the world between us Tend my lambs. Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi, and flaying would be fair Dona nobis, nobis pacem. We parted, stiff and dry; Simon, son of John, do you love me? For the nameless and abominable ‘Goodbye,’ you said, ‘forget me.’ Lord, you know everything Feed my lambs, colour of his hair. ‘I will, no fear,’ said I. you know I love you! Tend my lambs, Oh a deal of pains he’s taken If here, where clover whitens Feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. and a pretty price he’s paid The dead man’s knoll, you pass Agnus Dei qui tollis pecata mundi, To hide his poll or dye it of And no tall flower to meet you Miserere nobis. a mentionable shade; Starts in the trefoiled grass, But they’ve pulled the beggar’s hat off Halt by the headstone naming for the world to see and stare, The heart no longer stirred, And they’re haling him to justice THE PRINCE CONSORT And say the lad that loved you… for the colour of his hair. The lad that loved you Now ‘tis oakum for his fingers Founded by British pianist Alisdair Hogarth, The Prince Consort is a versatile Was one who kept his word. and the treadmill for his feet, ensemble that presents wide-ranging programmes for different combinations of voice And the quarry gang on Portland in the cold and piano. The six founding members of The Prince Consort met whilst studying at The Colour of His Hair and in the heat, the Royal College of Music (located on Prince Consort Road, behind the Royal Albert Oh who is that young sinner And between his spells of labour in the time Hall) in London. Following their debut in the Fresh series at the Southbank Centre with the handcuffs on his wrists? he has to spare in London – performing two of Britten’s canticles along with songs and duets by And what has he been after that they groan He can curse the God that made him Strauss, Schubert and Schumann at the Purcell Room – The Prince Consort hit the and shake their fists? for the colour of his hair. musical headlines when a recital was auctioned for charity for £14,000. And wherefore is he wearing such a conscience-stricken air? Simon, Son of John Soprano Anna Leese has appeared in leading roles at the Royal Opera House, Oh they’re taking him to prison Simon, son of John, do you love me, Covent Garden, including Musetta (La bohème) and Micaëla (Carmen), and at the for the colour of his hair. more than these? Last Night of the Proms in 2008; she recently sang the role of Antonia (Les contes ‘Tis a shame to human nature, You know, Lord, I love you! d’Hoffmann) in Cologne. Mezzo-soprano Jennifer Johnston has sung at the Salzburg such a head of hair as his; Feed my lambs. and Aix-en-Provence Festivals and with Scottish Opera in roles including Hänsel

26 – other love songs other love songs – 27 (Hänsel und Gretel) and Suzuki (Madama Butterfly); recent appearances include The Southbank Centre and many of the major international festivals. They were an Aldeburgh Festival recital with Malcolm Martineau which was broadcast on named in The Observer’s Best Classical Music of 2010. BBC Radio 3. Countertenor Tim Mead made his Royal Opera debut in the world For more information, please visit: www.theprinceconsort.com première of Birtwistle’s The Minotaur and his Glyndebourne debut in the title Follow The Prince Consort on Twitter: @princeconsort role of Handel’s Giulio Cesare. Tenor Andrew Staples won the song prizes at both the Kathleen Ferrier and Richard Tauber Awards in 2005 and has appeared as STEPHEN HOUGH a soloist at the Royal Opera House and with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra Stephen Hough is widely regarded as one of the most important and distinctive under Simon Rattle. Baritone Jacques Imbrailo won the Audience Prize at the BBC pianists of his generation. He was awarded a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship in Cardiff Singer of the World competition in 2007 and has made many appearances 2001 in recognition of his achievements, joining prominent scientists, writers and at the Royal Opera House; he recently sang the title role in Billy Budd at the others who have made unique contributions to contemporary life. opening of the 2010 Glyndebourne Festival. Pianist Alisdair Hogarth regularly partners with many of his generation’s finest singers; he made his concerto He has collaborated with most of the major orchestras in the world, and has played debut at the age of 15 and has appeared in a number of films including The Young recitals in the most prestigious concert halls from the main stages of Carnegie Hall Victoria (co-produced by Martin Scorsese) and The Duchess, and recently toured and the Concertgebouw to Wigmore Hall and the Royal Festival Hall. He performs Korea with Barbara Bonney. regularly at summer festivals including Salzburg, Tanglewood and has made over twenty appearances at the BBC Proms. He has made over fifty recordings, many of Recent performances of The Prince Consort have included Brahms’s Liebeslieder which have won prizes, including eight Gramophone Awards. with Graham Johnson at Wigmore Hall and the European première of Ned Rorem’s Evidence of Things Not Seen at the Oxford Lieder Festival, as well as recitals He began composing at the same time he began to learn the piano, and he has and several residencies in Aldeburgh and appearances on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune written extensively for his instrument since. His many original works and and The Choir. Their first album, On an Echoing Road (songs by Ned Rorem), was transcriptions have been widely performed, and his Sonata for Piano (broken released in 2009 on Linn Records (Linn CKD 342) and was Gramophone’s Editor’s branches), co-commissioned by Wigmore Hall, Musica Viva and the Louvre, Choice in addition to being named 'Outstanding' by International Record Review. receives its world première in June 2011. In 2010 the group returned to Wigmore Hall for a recital that included a world His choral music, including two Masses, has been performed at Westminster première of a setting of Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 144’ composed for them by Ned Abbey, Westminster Cathedral, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Christ Church Rorem. Forthcoming seasons include appearances at Wigmore Hall, Aldeburgh, Cathedral, Dublin and by the Bach Choir and the BBC Singers.

28 – other love songs other love songs – 29 He has performed and recorded extensively with the cellist Steven Isserlis, and Philip Fowke is recognised as a champion of British music, performing the concertos The Loneliest Wilderness, an elegy for cello and orchestra, was written for and of Arnell, Britten, Bliss, Delius, Finzi, Ireland, King, Leighton, Rawsthorne, Tippett premièred by him with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in March and Walton beside those by Grieg, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Schumann. 2007. It has since been recorded for BIS. They have also recorded two of Hough’s He continues to challenge audiences, performing orchestral works by Casella, small cello pieces ‘Angelic Song’ and ‘Angelic Dance’ for the same label on the Dohnanyi, Gershwin, Khatchaturian, Lambert, Poulenc, Richard Strauss, Stravinsky CD Children’s Cello. Hough’s trio for piccolo, contrabassoon and piano, Was mit and Weber. He also brings his keen musicianship to bear in bringing the best out den Tränen Geshieht, was commissioned by members of the Berlin Philharmonic of popular film music, including Addinsell’s Warsaw Concerto, and more recent Orchestra and premièred at the Philharmonie in 2009. His music is published by classics from this genre. He exhibits a similarly well-informed range of knowledge Josef Weinberger and Faber Music. and ability in his recital and chamber music as well as in his many broadcasts as Stephen Hough appears by kind permission of Hyperion Records. both performer and contributor to discussion programmes for BBC Radio 3 and live radio commentary during a recent Leeds International Piano Competition. PHILIP FOWKE Philip Fowke’s impressive discography includes concertos by Rachmaninov, Ravel, ‘… that co-existence of a high musical intellect with elegance, wit Tchaikovsky and Finzi, the Chopin Waltzes and Sonatas, Delius’ Piano Concerto and unashamedly joyful showmanship, marks out Philip Fowke and Alun Hoddinott’s Piano Concerto 1 for numerous labels including EMI, among his own generation of pianists …’ The Times Chandos, Lyrita and Naxos. He is a member of the London Piano Quartet, whose first CD of music by Cyril Scott was issued in 2002 and a more recent recording Philip Fowke is one of Britain’s most outstanding pianists of chamber music by Alan Bush received an excellent review in Gramophone. He and distinguished musicians. His appearances with leading is an acclaimed teacher: he holds the post of Senior Fellow of Keyboard at Trinity orchestras together with his many broadcasts and recordings have earned him College of Music in London, gives regular master classes worldwide and appears as international respect, admiration and the affection of audiences. Amongst the an adjudicator on panels for international competitions. more famous conductors he has appeared with are Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Simon Rattle, Gennadi Rozhdestvensky, Yuri Temirkanov and Klaus Tennstedt. He has toured the USA, Canada, Scandinavia, South America, Germany, Italy and New Zealand and in recent seasons he has worked with the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestras.

30 – other love songs other love songs – 31