[Cover graphic]

Compact Disc CDA67188/9

£26.98

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.

Recorded in Henry Wood Hall, London, on 9-11 February 1998
Recording Engineer
ANTONY HOWELL
JULIAN MILLARD
Recording Producer
ANDREW KEENER
Cover Design
TERRY SHANNON
Booklet Editor
TIM PARRY
Executive Producers
GILES EASTERBROOK
SIMON PERRY
© Hyperion Records Ltd, London, MM

Duration: 122'31
DDD

SIR ARTHUR BLISS (1891-1978)

A Knot of Riddles
Angels of the Mind

and other songs

GERALDINE McGREEVY soprano
TOBY SPENCE tenor
HENRY HERFORD baritone
KATHRON STURROCK piano
THE NASH ENSEMBLE
MARTYN BRABBINS conductor

Contents:

COMPACT DISC 1 [61'46]

    A Knot of Riddles for baritone and eleven instruments
    (texts translated by Kevin Crossley-Holland from the old English of The Exeter Book)
  1. Fish in River [3'04]
  2. Swallows [1'16]
  3. An Oyster [1'44]
  4. A Weather Cock [2'12]
  5. A Bookworm (Hommage modeste à Maurice Ravel) [1'51]
  6. A Cross of Wood [2'58]
  7. Sun and Moon [2'59]

    Three Romantic Songs (Walter de la Mare)

  8. The Hare [1'35]
  9. Lovelocks [2'06]
  10. The Buckle [1'12]

    Four Songs for voice, violin and piano

  11. A Christmas Carol (Arthur Shearley Cripps) [1'55]
  12. Sea Love (Charlotte Mew) [1'49]
  13. Vocalise [1'55]
  14. The Mad Woman of Punnet's Town (L A G Strong) [0'58]

    Seven American Poems

  15. Gone, gone again is summer (Edna St Vincent Millay) [2'01]
  16. Siege (Edna St Vincent Millay) [1'08]
  17. Feast (Edna St Vincent Millay) [1'42]
  18. Little Elegy (Elinor Wylie) [1'43]
  19. Rain comes down (Edna St Vincent Millay) [2'03]
  20. Fair Annet's Song (Elinor Wylie) [1'14]
  21. Being young and green (Edna St Vincent Millay) [0'55]

    Two American Poems (Edna St Vincent Millay)

  22. Humoresque [1'58]
  23. The Return from Town [1'07]

    Three Songs (W H Davies)

  24. Thunderstorms [2'03]
  25. This Night [3'22]
  26. Leisure [1'17]

    Two Love Songs

  27. Fair is my love (Edmund Spenser) [4'24]
  28. In praise of his Daphnis (Sir J Wotton) [4'08]

  29. The Tramps (Robert Service) [2'08]
  30. When I was one-and-twenty (A E Housman) [1'17]
COMPACT DISC 2 [60'45]
    Two Nursery Rhymes (Frances Cornford)
  1. The Ragwort [1'31]
  2. The Dandelion [1'21]

  3. Elegiac Sonnet (Cecil Day Lewis) for tenor, string quartet and piano [8'14]

    Angels of the Mind (Kathleen Raine)

  4. Worry about Money [2'45]
  5. Lenten Flowers [1'58]
  6. Harvest [1'19]
  7. Seed [2'43]
  8. In the Beck [2'39]
  9. Storm [1'17]
  10. Nocturne [3'43]

  11. The Tempest The Storm, Overture and Act 1 Scene 1 [6'52]

    The Ballads of the Four Seasons (Li-Po, trans Shigeyoshi Obata)

  12. Spring [1'57]
  13. Summer [1'39]
  14. Autumn [2'20]
  15. Winter [1'38]

  16. The fallow deer at the lonely house (Thomas Hardy) [2'52]
  17. Rich or Poor (W H Davies) [1'55]
  18. A Child's Prayer (Siegfried Sassoon) [1'37]
  19. Three Jolly Gentlemen (Walter de la Mare) [1'04]
  20. The Hammers (Ralph Hodgson) [1'34]
  21. Simples (James Joyce) [3'17]
  22. 'Tis time, I think, by Wenlock town (a e Housman) [2'21]
  23. At the Window (Alfred Lord Tennyson) [1'14]
  24. Auvergnat (Hilaire Belloc) [1'33]
Sleeve Notes

'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)

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