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Track(s) taken from CDA67188/9

A child's prayer

First line:
For Morn, my dome of blue
composer
Sir Arthur Bliss (1891-1975)
author of text
Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967)

Geraldine McGreevy (soprano), Kathron Sturrock (piano)
Recording details: February 1998
Henry Wood Hall, London, United Kingdom
Produced by Andrew Keener
Engineered by Antony Howell & Julian Millard
Release date: February 2000
Total duration: 1 minutes 37 seconds
 

Other recordings available for download

Robin Tritschler (tenor), Malcolm Martineau (piano)

Reviews

‘Kathleen Raine's poems drew the best from Bliss: simple eloquence, bold, shining gestures and memorable images including a fine nocturne: they are masterly, and would alone make investigating this pair of discs worthwhile. Geraldine McGreevy sings them simply, purely and very movingly … a minor revelation … [the songs] display the best features of the 20th-century song as an art form: the poetry is well-chosen, the music is quick-witted, and the accompaniments are as fascinating as the vocal line … no sooner had the disc finished than I punched the start button again’ (Gramophone)

‘This double album is a revelatory document and a source of ever unpredictable delight … These songs beg to be performed more often’ (BBC Music Magazine)

‘This set marks yet another achievement by Hyperion in its splendid series of song releases’ (International Record Review)
Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) joined the army when the war first broke out. He served in France as an officer in the Royal Fusiliers and the Grenadier Guards. He was wounded at the Somme in 1916 and, two years later, gassed at Cambrai. Bliss wrote to The Pall Mall Gazette championing performances of British music, a cause he continued after the war. On returning home wounded from the Somme he 'heard a (London) public vociferously applauding a German soloist', and developed a very personal musical style which owed little to German models.

Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) was already in service with the Sussex Yeomanry on the day the United Kingdom declared war. He was commissioned into the Royal Welsh Fusiliers as a second lieutenant on 29 May 1915. Sassoon’s periods of duty on the Western Front were marked by exceptionally brave actions, including the single-handed capture of a German trench. Deepening depression at the horror the soldiers were forced to endure produced in Sassoon a paradoxically manic courage, and he was nicknamed 'Mad Jack' by his men. His efforts were rewarded with a Military Cross. In 1917 his letter, Finished with the War: A Soldier’s Declaration, was read in parliament. Instead of facing a court-martial however, the Under-Secretary of State for War declared Sassoon insane and sent him to military hospital. There was only one way for Sassoon to escape the hospital, and that was to give up his protest. By July 1918 Sassoon was back on the Western Front where he was hit by friendly fire. He spent the remainder of war in Britain.

from notes by Robin Tritschler © 2014

Other albums featuring this work

No Exceptions No Exemptions
Robin Tritschler (tenor), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Studio Master: SIGCD4012CDs Download onlyStudio Master FLAC & ALAC downloads available

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