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Track(s) taken from CDA66878

Drink to me only with thine eyes

composer
traditional air
arranger
Old English Popular Songs, pub. 1921
author of text
The Forest

John Mark Ainsley (tenor), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Recording details: February 1996
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: September 1996
Total duration: 2 minutes 28 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

Sir Thomas Allen (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Robert White (tenor), Stephen Hough (piano)

Reviews

‘An exceptionally good tenor and an equally distinguished accompanist … a fine recital, admirably recorded and presented with excellent notes’ (Gramophone)

«Musiques élégantes, interprètes distingués: John Mark Ainsley a un timbre séduisant» (Diapason, France)
The song ‘Drink to me only’ goes back long before Victorian balladry and must be one of the most famous of all British songs. The words appeared in 1716 in a collection of Ben Jonson’s poems called ‘The Forest’, and its musical setting to an old English air can be traced back at least to around 1780. The present arrangement of that traditional air is by Roger Quilter.

from notes by Andrew Lamb © 2002

Other albums featuring this work

Bird Songs at Eventide
CDH55156
Songs my father taught me
CDA67290
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