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Track(s) taken from CDA67374

The Star of the County Down

First line:
Near to Banbridge town, in the County Down
composer
Anonymous - traditional
traditional Irish tune 'My Love Nell'
arranger
Herbert Hughes (1882-1937)
author of text
Cathal McGarvey (1866-1927)

Sir Thomas Allen (baritone), Malcolm Martineau (piano)
Recording details: January 2002
Champs Hill, West Sussex, United Kingdom
Produced by Mark Brown
Engineered by Julian Millard
Release date: June 2003
Total duration: 1 minutes 54 seconds

Cover artwork: At the Piano. Robert Beyschlag (1838-1903)
Anthony Mitchell Paintings, Nottingham / Fine Art Photographic Library, London
 

Other recordings available for download

Alison Pearce (soprano), Susan Drake (harp)

Reviews

‘Other singers over recent decades have given the songs an airing from time to time, but Thomas Allen is the very man to do it’ (Gramophone)

‘With piano-playing by that most sensitive of accompanists, Malcolm Martineau, Sir Thomas Allen brings high art to these songs … with an affectionate regard to mood and feeling, and with a touching lyrical sincerity’ (The Daily Telegraph)

‘A fitting tribute to this repertory that one of the finest operatic voices of our day has chosen to record it’ (Classic FM Magazine)

‘I must confess that, what with the beauty of Thomas Allen’s voice and the lovely accompaniment of Malcolm Martineau at the piano, a tear welled in my eye more than once. Another distinguished release from Hyperion’ (Liverpool Daily Post)

‘Hyperion here brings us Sir Thomas Allen caressing 29 well-loved parlour songs with his warm, expressive baritone … Malcolm Martineau provides his usual sympathetic and well-etched pianistic support’ (Birmingham Post)

‘Wwhat quality of nostalgia, and what depth of conviction … superb performances … Martineau’s carefully moulded accompaniments enhance a glorious enterprise’ (Yorkshire Post)
Here is yet another Irish song that owes much of its wide popularity to the delightful interpretation of John McCormack. He recorded it commercially in November 1939, as well as including it in many of his broadcast recitals. It has words by Cathal MacCarvey, set to an old Irish tune called ‘My Love Nell’, and it parades the charms of a young lady from Banbridge, some twenty-odd miles south-west of Belfast. The singer considers those charms surpass those of any other ‘from Bantry Bay up to Derry Quay and from Galway to Dublin town’, which is to say the length and breadth of Ireland.

from notes by Andrew Lamb © 2003

Other albums featuring this work

My Lagan love - other songs of Ireland
Alison Pearce (soprano), Susan Drake (harp)
CDH88023Download only

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