Bliss: A Knot of Riddles & other songs

CDA67188/9

Recording details: February 1998
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: February 2000
Total duration: 119 minutes 27 seconds

'This double album is a revelatory document and a source of ever unpredictable delight ... These songs beg to be performed more often.' (BBC Music Magazine)

'Kathleen Raine's poems drew the best from Bliss: simple eloquence, bold, shining gestures and memorable images including a fine nocturne: they are masterly, and would alone make investigating this pair of discs worthwhile. Geraldine McGreevy sings them simply, purely and very movingly.' (Gramophone)

'A minor revelation ... [the songs] display the best features of the 20th-century song as an art form: the poetry is well-chosen, the music is quick-witted, and the accompaniments are as fascinating as the vocal line ... No sooner had the disc finished than I punched the start button again.' (Gramophone)

'This set marks yet another achievement by Hyperion in its splendid series of song releases.' (International Record Review)

Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975)

A Knot of Riddles & other songs

The Nash Ensemble, Martyn Brabbins (conductor)

Download all MP3 £7.25Download all FLAC £7.25Download all ALAC £7.25Buy by post £26.98
2CDs Download currently discounted

LISTEN TO ALL EXTRACTS

		MP3	FLAC	ALAC
		£2.05	£2.05	£2.05	A knot of riddles [16'04] Henry Herford (baritone), The Nash Ensemble, Martyn Brabbins (conductor)
CD1	1	£0.40	£0.40	£0.40	Fish in river My abode's not silent, but I am not loud-mouthed [3'04]
	2	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	Swallows This wind wafts little creatures [1'16]
	3	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	An oyster The deep sea suckled me, the waves sounded over me [1'44]
	4	£0.30	£0.30	£0.30	A weather cock My breast is puffed up and my neck extended [2'12]
	5	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	A bookworm 'Hommage modeste à Maurice Ravel' A moth devoured words [1'51]
	6	£0.35	£0.35	£0.35	A cross of wood I am supple of body and sport with the wind [2'58]
	7	£0.40	£0.40	£0.40	Sun and moon I saw a strange creature [2'59]
		£0.60	£0.60	£0.60	Three Romantic songs [4'53] Toby Spence (tenor), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	8	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	The hare In the black furrow of a field [1'35]
	9	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Lovelocks I watched the Lady Caroline [2'06]
	10	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	The buckle I had a silver buckle [1'12]
	11	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	A Christmas carol Come, browse, my goats, Christ's manger hay [1'55] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Leo Phillips (violin), John Lenehan (piano)
	12	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Sea love Tide be runnin' the great world over [1'49] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Leo Phillips (violin)
	13	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Vocalise [1'55] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Leo Phillips (violin)
	14	£0.10	£0.10	£0.10	The mad woman of Punnet's Town A swell within her billowed skirts [0'58] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Leo Phillips (violin), John Lenehan (piano)
		£1.30	£1.30	£1.30	Seven American poems [10'46] Henry Herford (baritone), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	15	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Gone, gone again is summer [2'01]
	16	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	Siege This I do being mad [1'08]
	17	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	Feast I drank from ev'ry vine [1'42]
	18	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	Little elegy Without you no rose can grow [1'43]
	19	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Rain comes down [2'03]
	20	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	Fair Annet's song One thing comes [1'14]
	21	£0.10	£0.10	£0.10	Being young and green [0'55]
		£0.40	£0.40	£0.40	Two American poems [3'05] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	22	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Humoresque Heaven bles the babe! they said [1'58]
	23	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	The return from town As I sat down by Saddle Stream [1'07]
		£0.80	£0.80	£0.80	Three Songs [6'42] Toby Spence (tenor), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	24	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Thunderstorms My mind has thunderstorms [2'03]
	25	£0.40	£0.40	£0.40	This night [3'22]
	26	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	Leisure What is this life if, full of care [1'17]
		£1.05	£1.05	£1.05	Two Love songs [8'32] Henry Herford (baritone), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	27	£0.55	£0.55	£0.55	Fair is my love [4'24]
	28	£0.50	£0.50	£0.50	In praise of his Daphnis Tune on my pipe the praise of my Love [4'08]
	29	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	The tramps Can you recall, dear comrade, when we tramped God's land together [2'08] Henry Herford (baritone), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	30	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	When I was one-and-twenty [1'17] Henry Herford (baritone), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
		£0.35	£0.35	£0.35	Two Nursery rhymes [2'52] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano)
CD2	31	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	The ragwort The thistles on the sandy flats [1'31] John Lenehan (piano), Michael Collins (clarinet)
	32	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	The dandelion [1'21] Michael Collins (clarinet)
	33	£1.05	£1.05	£1.05	Elegiac sonnet A fountain plays no more [8'14] Toby Spence (tenor), The Nash Ensemble, Martyn Brabbins (conductor)
		£2.05	£2.05	£2.05	Angels of the mind [16'24] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	34	£0.35	£0.35	£0.35	Worry about money Wearing worry about money like a hair shirt [2'45]
	35	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Lenten flowers Primrose, anemone, bluebell, moss [1'58]
	36	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	Harvest Day is the hero's shield [1'19]
	37	£0.35	£0.35	£0.35	Seed From star to star, from sun and spring and leaf [2'43]
	38	£0.35	£0.35	£0.35	In the beck There is a fish, that quivers in the pool [2'39]
	39	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	Storm God in me is the fury on the bare heath [1'17]
	40	£0.45	£0.45	£0.45	Nocturne Night comes, an angel stands [3'43]
	41	£0.85	£0.85	£0.85	The tempest Heigh my hearts! [6'52] Toby Spence (tenor), Henry Herford (baritone), The Nash Ensemble, Martyn Brabbins (conductor)
		£0.95	£0.95	£0.95	The ballads of the four seasons [7'34] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	42	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Season 1: Spring The lovely Lo-foh of the land of Chin [1'57]
	43	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	Season 2: Summer On the Mirror Lake three hundred lie around [1'39]
	44	£0.30	£0.30	£0.30	Season 3: Autumn The moon is above the city of Chang-an [2'20]
	45	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	Season 4: Winter The courier will depart on the morrow for the front [1'38]
	46	£0.35	£0.35	£0.35	The fallow deer at the lonely house One without looks to-night [2'52] Toby Spence (tenor), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	47	£0.25	£0.25	£0.25	Rich or poor With thy true love I have more wealth [1'55] Henry Herford (baritone), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	48	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	A child's prayer For Morn, my dome of blue [1'37] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	49	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	Three Jolly gentlemen [1'04] Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	50	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	The hammers Noise of hammers once I heard [1'34] Toby Spence (tenor), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	51	£0.40	£0.40	£0.40	Simples Of cool sweet dew and radiance mild [3'17] Toby Spence (tenor), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	52	£0.30	£0.30	£0.30	'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town [2'21] Toby Spence (tenor), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	53	£0.15	£0.15	£0.15	At the window Vine, vine and eglatine [1'14] Toby Spence (tenor), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
	54	£0.20	£0.20	£0.20	Auvergnat There was a man was half a clown [1'33] Toby Spence (tenor), Kathron Sturrock (piano)

This 2-CD set presents the most comprehensive recording yet of the songs of Sir Arthur Bliss—which turns out to be a surprisingly varied output dating from all periods of his life. There are many first recordings here, and in fact many of the songs are virtually unknown. The poets range from the eighth-century Li-Po and early English to Housman, Hardy, Walter de la Mare and Kathleen Raine (the cycle Angels of the Mind), with a strong showing of the American writers Edna St Vincent Millay and Elinor Wylie. (Bliss was half-American himself.)

The Nash Ensemble provides the varied instrumental backings for the many songs which are not accompanied by piano alone.

The set comes with generous notes by Giles Easterbook and complete texts.

Other recommended albums