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Track(s) taken from CDA67227

The aquiline snub, Op 375

First line:
There was an old man with a nose
composer
Karel Drofnatski (1852-1924)
composer
Sir Charles Villiers Stanford (1852-1924)
author of text
Edward Lear (1812-1888)

Lynne Dawson (soprano), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Recording details: August 2000
Rosslyn Hill Unitarian Chapel, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: May 2001
Total duration: 2 minutes 8 seconds
 

Reviews

‘A top British soprano shines in a recital that should appeal well beyond her shores. The programme is delightful, and so are the performances’ (Gramophone)

‘The programme is well chosen, with familiar songs alongside some that have been unjustly neglected. Dawson’s performances are wholly intelligent, nicely phrased and display deep musical understanding: her account of Howells’s King David is particularly mesmerizing. She is most fortunate to have Malcolm Martineau as her accompanist: he is one of the finest currently before the public, and they are rewarded with an excellent, beautifully balanced recording … this recital will give much pleasure’ (International Record Review)

‘Taken with the unusual repertory and Lynne Dawson’s unusually fine singing, this becomes an easily recommended introduction to the world of English song’ (American Record Guide)

‘The most delectable recital of English song … a generous sequence of brief, tuneful songs that are totally charming, from Armida's Garden by Parry to Ivor Gurney's rapt setting of John Fletcher’ (The Guardian)

‘A rare and rich recital … the real joy of this recital is to hear Dawson's soprano thrilling to the expressive flexibility of her own language, particularly where the glorification of the voice is fused with linguistic excitement’ (The Times)

‘What a treat it is to hear [Dawson] singing English so expressively … Nothing is lovelier than her haunting unaccompanied singing of Vaughan Williams’ (The Sunday Times)

‘The really marvellous thing about the singing is that it captures a bubbly, warm, human individuality – a kind of vocal English rose’ (Manchester Evening News)
For The Aquiline Snub (Op 375) Stanford’s satirical port of call was Bach:

A little careful reasoning soon enabled us to identify the real author of this touching Arioso. The owner of the nose (obviously a long one, though not too long) was a remarkable man. The musical style was that of a remarkable man; the remarkable man had a long nose; ergo the remarkable man must be John Sebastian. Bach’s residence in Leipzig, the Thomas School, was but a stone’s throw from the quarter, known as the Brühl, which was mainly peopled by Jews. The song is evidently a musical expression of strong protest, addressed to some friend who had offended Sebastian’s strong Anti-Semite views by suggesting that his nose was of the length and type so familiar in the adjoining street.

from notes by Jeremy Dibble © 2001

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