Stanford: Songs, Vol. 2

CDA67124

Recording details: October 1999
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell
Release date: June 2000
DISCID: 4B12171A
Total duration: 75 minutes 3 seconds

'Immediately appealing. Stephen Varcoe is the perfect singer for this repertoire. A treasure of a disc' (Fanfare)

'Maintains in each and every bar the high standards of the previous release' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Beautifully performed with excellent notes, this recording will convince even the sceptical of the true worth of these songs ... a most sensitive performance' (Gramophone)

'This collection, along with its predecessor has changed my life. Without any question, it contains some magnificent songs, settings that would grace any company under the sun ... voice and piano are in true partnership. I can only salute with deepest admiration Stephen Varcoe's sterling baritone, so utterly sympathetic to Stanford's every note, so undemonstratively secure, so responsive to word and musical line' (International Record Review)

Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)

Songs, Vol. 2

Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Clifford Benson (piano)

Buy by post £13.99Show download options

LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS

1		Tragödie Op 14 No 5 Entflieh mit und sei mein Weib [5'09]
		The clown's songs from 'Twelfth night' Op 65
2		No 1: O mistress mine [1'34]
3		No 2: Come away, death [4'04]
4		No 3: The rain it raineth every day When that I was and a little tiny boy [1'26]
		Songs of a Roving Celt Op 157
5		No 1: The Pibroch The pibroch, man, the pibroch! [2'37]
6		Phoebe Op 125 No 3 Phoebe sat, sweet she sat [2'01]
		Songs of the Sea Op 91
7		No 1: Drake's drum Drake he's in his hammock and a thousand miles away [2'36]
8		No 2: Outward bound Dear Earth, near Earth, the clay that made us men [3'15]
9		No 3: Devon, O Devon, in wind and rain Drake in the North Sea grimly prowling [1'49]
10		No 4: Homeward bound After a long lab'ring in the windy ways [6'52]
11		No 5: The old superb The wind was rising easterly, the morning sky was blue [3'02]
12		For ever mine I liken my love to a gossamer afloat in the summer air [3'15]
		A Child's Garland of Songs Op 30
13		No 4: Windy Nights Whenever the moon and the stars are set [0'48]
14		A Lullaby Op 19 No 2 Golden slumbers kiss your eyes [2'16]
15		To the Rose Op 19 No 3 Go happy rose, and interwove [2'01]
		Songs of Faith Op 97
16		No 4: To the soul Darest thou now, O soul [4'55]
17		No 6: Joy, shipmate, joy! [1'49]
		An Irish Idyll in Six Miniatures Op 77
18		No 2: The Fairy Lough Loughareema! Lies so high among the heather [4'23]
19		Tom Leminn As I was crossing Tanner's Hill [2'49]
		A Fire of Turf Op 139
20		No 1: A fire of turf In summer time I foot the turf [3'54]
21		No 2: The chapel on the hill the chapel of my childhood [2'49]
22		No 3: Cowslip time God bless the time when cowslips grow [1'31]
23		No 4: Scared These dusky evenings in December [2'01]
24		No 5: Blackberry time In blackberry time herself and me [2'07]
25		No 6: The fair Oh! We're off to the fair now the lot of us together [1'38]
26		No 7: The west wind Last night the air was cold and still [4'22]

Here is the second disc of Stanford songs promised when the first was issued in February (CDA67123). This one contains some of Stanford's best-known songs including The Fairy Lough and the complete 'Songs of the Sea' to words by Sir Henry Newbolt (Drake's Drum, The Old Superb etc). It also includes all seven songs of A Fire of Turf—affectionate vignettes of Irish country life (Blackberry Time and The Chapel on the Hill). As with the first disc, this includes many songs of which we can find no evidence of previous recordings.

A 'must' for all lovers of English song—even though Stanford was Irish.

Other albums in this series

Stanford: Songs, Vol. 1

Stephen Varcoe (baritone), Clifford Benson (piano)

Buy by post £13.99 CDA67123

Hyperion Records