Ernest John Moeran (known as ‘Jack’) was an English composer of Anglo-Irish descent. He was a pupil of Ireland, a fan of Delius, and he once shared a house with Warlock at Eynsford—the influences of all these composers are to be heard in his vocal music. He set Shakespeare, Joyce and Seumas O’Sullivan with considerable success.
In youth is pleasure (1925) is a setting of a lyric by Robert Wever (d?1565) from the play
Lusty Juventus, a poem that was also set by Warlock, Gurney, Gibbs and Charles Wood. Moeran’s setting was a great favourite of Peter Pears and Benjamin Britten—it has a sinuous legato melody, bitter-sweet in its melancholic sensuality.
from notes by Graham Johnson © 2012
