The Power of Love
An English Songbook

Alice Coote, one of the most distinctive mezzo-sopranos of today, makes her recital debut on Hyperion with pianist Graham Johnson, a stalwart of the label and tireless explorer of vocal repertoire. The Power of Love creates what Johnson describes as a ‘pageant of English song and poetry’. It’s a journey through half a century of song, surveying not just human love but love of nature and even of money. Some of the most touching pieces here involve the loss of love through death, not least Ivor Gurney’s Lights Out and Gustav Holst’s Betelgeuse. There’s serenity, too, in mellifluous settings by Roger Quilter, while high spirits are supplied by Maude Valérie White’s The Spring has come and Warlock’s sardonic Queen Anne, which includes the immortal lines ‘I am Queen Anne, of whom ’tis said / I’m chiefly fam’d for being dead’.

CDA67888  73 minutes 3 seconds
‘The sheer quality of the songs will come as a surprise to many listeners … from start to finish, the artistry of Alice Coote and Graham Johnson is of the highest order’ (Gramophone)
‘[Alice Coote] can be mentioned in the same breath as Ferrier and Baker, but has her own individual manner, with a rich high register and the capacity to move her audience in Love’s Old Sweet Song ...
‘One of the finest British mezzo-sopranos since Janet Baker, an intellectual artist with an international career in recital, concert and opera. Here she selects classic English songs, but also , less ...