Hyperion Records

Lord Maxwell’s goodnight is an by David Tall. The words for the first half of the tune (bars 1–8) are from Walter Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, those for the second (bars 9–16) were added by Grainger. The first setting of this work dates from 1904 when the twenty-two-year-old Grainger scored it for solo male voice and strings. But it was Grainger’s habit to lay aside his manuscripts for mature reflection and, in 1912, a new setting was made for solo male voice, six solo strings and string orchestra. Not being satisfied he returned to the 1904 setting at the age of seventy-six, casting it for voice and piano and giving it his final blessing as BFMS Number 42: the version which forms the basis of this arrangement for tenor solo and male voices.

from notes by Barry Peter Ould © 1996