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Track(s) taken from CDA67644

Slow March

First line:
One evening just at sunset we laid him in the grave
composer
1887/8; based on the Dead March from Handel's Saul
author of text
with assistance from his uncle, Lyman Brewster

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)
Recording details: February 2007
All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: February 2008
Total duration: 1 minutes 50 seconds

Cover artwork: Early Spring Afternoon, Central Park (1911). Willard Leroy Metcalf (1858-1925)
Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York / Bridgeman Images
 

Other recordings available for download

Andrew Swait (treble), Andrew Plant (piano)

Reviews

‘Outstandingly well sung and played, equally well recorded, and highly recommendable to all lovers of fine songs and fine singing’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘This is a highly successful follow-up to Gerald Finley and Julius Drake's first Ives recital from 2005. Here there is the same sort of mix, from familiar songs such as The Circus Band and Watchman! to an early requiem for the family cat and the intriguing title song, Romanzo, di Central Park, with its obbligato violin part atmospherically played by Magnus Johnston. Finley is his usual charismatic self, at home as much in the hymnody as the parody, and he is careful not to over-sentimentalise the more homely numbers while injecting pathos into the war songs. Drake projects Ives's often complex accompaniments with clarity and style’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘The programme has been selected and sequenced with care … the booklet includes not just texts but also comments by Calum MacDonald about every single song. Hyperion always gets these things right; even the cover art is a bull's-eye. Finley and Drake give no cause for complaint either … the engineers have done their work well. Finley and Drake are perfectly balanced and they perofrm in an environment of intimate warmth’ (International Record Review)

‘Finley is a wonderfully assured interpreter … perfectly registering their switchback changes of mood and presenting their occasional lapses into sentimentality with total conviction. More than any other performers on disc, Finley and Drake establish these songs, with all their quirks and flights of fantasy, among the most important of the 20th century in any language’ (The Guardian)

‘Gerald Finley has everything and more in his darkly full-bodied voice to match the often formidable technical and expressive requirements of Ives's songbook—reinforced by Drake's elastic, expressive piano … this is a must-buy album’ (The Times)

‘The variety of songs recorded here is extraordinary … Gerald Finley's warm baritone sits right inside Ives's soundworld, while Drake refuses to be fazed by the idealistic piano writing’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘Listening to a collection such as this reveals genuine delights of phrase and harmony. These are, by and large, not songs for 'showy' singers, yet several of the numbers more citational of popular song do demand some verbal panache, which the Canadian bass-baritone can certainly supply, along with fine-honed dynamic control and a warm, solidly delineated tone … Drake, very sensitive as to tempo and mood, proves willing to haul out the trombones when needed’ (Opera News)

‘It's the best kind of fun. The astonishing range Ives exhibits in the 30 songs on the disc—some comic, others serious—is astonishing. Finley, in even better voice than on the Barber CD, and Drake, relishing Ives' complexities, dig deep into them all’ (Bay Area Reporter, USA)

‘Gerald Finley's second disc of Ives songs is every bit as wonderful as the first. Finley is the perfect song recitalist … he can sound dreamy, tender, raucous, heroic, and serene, all without ever disfiguring his timbre or letting the pitch waver. Julius Drake offers accompaniments that are as perfect and knowing as the singing, and the engineering couldn't be better … this is magnificent—vocal recitals don't come any better’ (Classics Today)
Slow March stands as the very last item in 114 Songs, signifying that it was the first to be composed—one of the very earliest pieces by Ives we possess. Written in 1887 or 1888, to words contributed by the Ives family and his uncle Lyman Brewster, it commemorates the burial of the family cat. Ives noted long after on the manuscript that Harmony found it in the cellar on 16 May 1921, to which fact it undoubtedly owed its publication the following year. The music is based on the ‘Dead March’ from Handel’s Saul.

from notes by Calum MacDonald © 2008

Placée à la toute fin des 114 Songs, ce qui en fait la pièce la plus ancienne de ce recueil, Slow March («Marche lente») est l’une des toutes premières œuvres de Ives à nous être parvenues. Écrite en 1887 ou en 1888 sur des paroles fournies par la famille de Ives et par son oncle Lyman Brewster, elle commémore l’enterrement du chat de la maison. Bien plus tard, Ives mentionna sur le manuscrit que cette pièce fut découverte à la cave par Harmony, le 16 mai 1921—ce qui lui valut probablement d’être publiée l’année suivante. Sa musique est fondée sur la «Dead March» de Saul (Haendel).

extrait des notes rédigées par Calum MacDonald © 2008
Français: Hypérion

Slow March steht in 114 Songs an letzter Stelle, was bedeutet, dass es das zuerst komponierte war—eines der frühesten erhaltenen Stücke von Ives. Es entstand 1887 oder 1888 anlässlich des Begräbnisses der Familienkatze auf Worte, die der Ives-Famile und seinem Onkel Lyman Brewster zugeschrieben sind. Ives notierte viel später auf der Handschrift, dass Harmony sie am 16. Mai 1921 im Keller gefunden hätte, was zweifellos zur Veröffentlichung im folgenden Jahr führte. Die Musik basiert auf dem Totenmarsch aus Händels Saul.

aus dem Begleittext von Calum MacDonald © 2008
Deutsch: Renate Wendel

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