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Track(s) taken from SIGCD178

The darkling thrush

composer
author of text

David Stout (baritone), Patrick Hawes (piano)
Recording details: June 2009
Air Studios, United Kingdom
Produced by Alexander Van Ingen
Engineered by Nick Taylor & Tom Bullen
Release date: November 2009
Total duration: 5 minutes 8 seconds
 

Reviews

'Patrick Hawes has carved out a niche as a contemporary composer who writes melodic, atmospheric and, frankly, beautiful music' (Gramophone)

'Hawes’s admirers will find much here to confirm their warm response to his music’s quiet strength and individuality. A minor problem is the collection of so many short items which, heard through on a single album, can’t help sounding more similar than they are. Among the best are The Call—a setting of George Herbert for soprano and string quartet, cannily conjuring the sound of an Elizabethan viol consort—and the atmospheric After the Rain for string quartet and piano. The excellent performances feature the tawny loveliness of Julian Lloyd Webber’s cello-playing, plus two fine solo singers' (Classic FM Magazine)
After leaving university, I taught English for a while, and it was a particular joy to bring Hardy’s novels alive to my students. His descriptions of rural life are second to none, and I am sure that reading aloud long passages of his prose is one of the things which awakened the creative spirit within me. The darkling thrush is a beautiful poem, full of wonderful imagery describing the coldest of winters. Winter is my favourite season; and these words conjure up all that is stark and beautiful about a frost-hardened landscape. The thrush warms the poet’s heart and seems to sing of a Hope beyond his knowing.

from notes by Patrick Hawes © 2009

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