Coleridge-Taylor: Songs

[guest822]

An absolute 'must' for me!



Full track listings here:

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8906380--heart-hereafter

Trust me, there is some glorious music to be experienced here. The release date is 28th May 2021. I only hope I don't peg out before then!

[Albion]

Lionel, how fantastic! Thanks for this heads-up: we know you're devoted to S C-T and that any recommendation from you regarding him is sound.

 :)

[guest822]

Lionel, how fantastic! Thanks for this heads-up: we know you're devoted to S C-T and that any recommendation from you regarding him is sound.

 :)

Thank you, John.  :) As far as I can establish, many of these are 'first commercial recordings'; of the Six Sorrow Songs, only the fifth, Unmindful of the Roses, has been recorded before (by the baritone Arthur Reckless in March 1935).  The Southern Love Songs have been recorded (in 2000 by the Artsong Collective on the Musaeus label). Of the African Romances, only the fourth, Dawn, has been recorded previously: by soprano Alma Gluck in June 1917. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, I have not been able to locate a copy of this!

The Songs of Sun and Shade have fared a little better on disc: Arthur Reckless set down Thou Hast Bewitched Me, Beloved; Thou Art Risen, My Beloved and This is the Island of Gardens, a song not included on the new disc. Big Lady Moon, a thoroughly enchanting little song, has been recorded in the stereo era by Robert Tear and, most delightfully, by Felicity Palmer, accompanied by John Constable, on an Argo LP. For the sake of completeness, I might mention that it was also recorded by contralto Violet Oppenshaw on 7 July 1916. I don't have this either!

Life and Death (SC-T's last completed song, ironically) was included on the Artsong Collective CD referred to above, and on an ars vobiscum CD, together with A Lament, sung by bass Thomas Stimmel with pianist Philipp Vogler.

That's the sum total of recordings of these particular songs, until this new and most welcome collection from Elizabeth Llewellyn and Simon Lepper.

[Chriskh]

"of the Six Sorrow Songs, only the fifth, Unmindful of the Roses, has been recorded before (by the baritone Arthur Reckless in March 1935)".

The complete cycle of Sorrow Songs, and also Lament, were recorded in 2012 by mezzo-soprano Elisabetta Paglia and the undersigned pianist as part of a disc dedicated to settings of Christina Rossetti (Sheva SHO 76). The disc is available on Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/My-Heart-Like-Singing-Bird/dp/B00E3QKX18, directly from the manufacturer  http://www.shevacollection.co.uk/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=74 and was reviewed favourably by MusicWeb http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Aug13/Singing_bird_SH076.htm

I do wish people would do a minimum of googling before claiming first recordings. I seem to spend a certain amount of my time making first recordings, only to have other people come along later with claimed first recordings of the same pieces. I had another recent example of this with Stanford's Triumph of Love

[guest822]

"of the Six Sorrow Songs, only the fifth, Unmindful of the Roses, has been recorded before (by the baritone Arthur Reckless in March 1935)".

The complete cycle of Sorrow Songs, and also Lament, were recorded in 2012 by mezzo-soprano Elisabetta Paglia and the undersigned pianist as part of a disc dedicated to settings of Christina Rossetti (Sheva SHO 76). The disc is available on Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/My-Heart-Like-Singing-Bird/dp/B00E3QKX18, directly from the manufacturer  http://www.shevacollection.co.uk/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=74 and was reviewed favourably by MusicWeb http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Aug13/Singing_bird_SH076.htm

I do wish people would do a minimum of googling before claiming first recordings. I seem to spend a certain amount of my time making first recordings, only to have other people come along later with claimed first recordings of the same pieces. I had another recent example of this with Stanford's Triumph of Love

Oh I do apologise! I was unaware of your recording and I shall seek it out immediately. I'm really not sure how that slipped under my radar, especially as it's not particularly recent. I understand that it must be terribly irritating and I'm very glad you corrected my error. Put it down to old age, if you can feel charitable!

[Chriskh]

No problem! My irritation was directed, not so much at you as at Orchid Classics whose blurb certainly implies ("To poetry by Christina Rossetti, Coleridge-Taylor’s Six Sorrow Songs and A Lament are almost all world-premiere recordings") they are first recordings

[guest822]

No problem! My irritation was directed, not so much at you as at Orchid Classics whose blurb certainly implies ("To poetry by Christina Rossetti, Coleridge-Taylor’s Six Sorrow Songs and A Lament are almost all world-premiere recordings") they are first recordings

It's kind of you to say so but I really should have checked, rather than relying on that blurb. :(

[Albion]

"of the Six Sorrow Songs, only the fifth, Unmindful of the Roses, has been recorded before (by the baritone Arthur Reckless in March 1935)".

The complete cycle of Sorrow Songs, and also Lament, were recorded in 2012 by mezzo-soprano Elisabetta Paglia and the undersigned pianist as part of a disc dedicated to settings of Christina Rossetti (Sheva SHO 76). The disc is available on Amazon https://www.amazon.ca/My-Heart-Like-Singing-Bird/dp/B00E3QKX18, directly from the manufacturer  http://www.shevacollection.co.uk/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=74 and was reviewed favourably by MusicWeb http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2013/Aug13/Singing_bird_SH076.htm

I do wish people would do a minimum of googling before claiming first recordings. I seem to spend a certain amount of my time making first recordings, only to have other people come along later with claimed first recordings of the same pieces. I had another recent example of this with Stanford's Triumph of Love

Chris, I do sympathise! You've personally done so much for British music (especially on the Sheva label with Stanford's and Mackenzie's piano music, etc.) and it must be incredibly frustrating to encounter other record companies claiming premieres which clearly aren't.

 >:(

Please, please, please keep searching out, reviving and preserving this music (mentioning no names, but a certain composer whose surname also starts with the letter C springs to mind, lol).

 :)

[guest822]

Some interesting little one-minute vignettes from Liz Llewellyn, Simon Lepper and others about the genesis of this recording:

[guest822]

A positive review from the Grauniad (although one which repeats the erroneous statement that SC-T was born in Croydon -- really, this is very lazy journalism):

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/27/heart-hereafter-songs-of-samuel-coleridge-taylor-review-elizabeth-llewellyn-simon-lepper

[Albion]

A positive review from the Grauniad (although one which repeats the erroneous statement that SC-T was born in Croydon -- really, this is very lazy journalism):

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/27/heart-hereafter-songs-of-samuel-coleridge-taylor-review-elizabeth-llewellyn-simon-lepper

A good review indeed! Yep, journalists do not tend to research but churn out snippets of linguistic bum-fodder off t'interweb. Speaking of such matters (tangentially of course), I toddled off to Farmfoods for me pauper's chicken nuggets to be greeted with a pile of boxes of washing powder with a planet-saving slogan given total domination of the packaging -

USE LESS

Should I invest me pennies in said product? Methinks not! Hmmm. I wonder what advertising genius/ graphic artist came up with that one?

 :-\

[guest822]

A positive review from the Grauniad (although one which repeats the erroneous statement that SC-T was born in Croydon -- really, this is very lazy journalism):

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/may/27/heart-hereafter-songs-of-samuel-coleridge-taylor-review-elizabeth-llewellyn-simon-lepper

A good review indeed! Yep, journalists do not tend to research but churn out snippets of linguistic bum-fodder off t'interweb. Speaking of such matters (tangentially of course), I toddled off to Farmfoods for me pauper's chicken nuggets to be greeted with a pile of boxes of washing powder with a planet-saving slogan given total domination of the packaging -

USE LESS

Should I invest me pennies in said product? Methinks not! Hmmm. I wonder what advertising genius/ graphic artist came up with that one?

 :-\

 ;D ;D ;D That really tickled me!

[cilgwyn]

Haven't had chicken nuggets for years!!

[guest822]

Haven't had chicken nuggets for years!!

I have a funny feeling that there are some lurking in the nether regions of our freezer...

[Albion]

Haven't had chicken nuggets for years!!

Yum, nice with mushy peas 'n' wedges. Ah what gourmet delights await!



Hey, means more money for lovely discs of Potter, Bantock and Coleridge-Taylor.



 :)