Hyperion Records

Willow, willow was first set by Grainger for voice and piano in November 1898. It was his first setting of a traditional tune. Four years later he sketched a version for voice, strings and guitar or harp adding a further verse with a much richer accompaniment, finally publishing this version together with its voice and piano counterpart in 1912. The words are familiar to us as those sung by Desdemona in Shakespeare’s Othello. This lament for lost love, with its sighing motifs, is of rare and ravishing beauty.

from notes by Barry Peter Ould © 1996