Britten Vocal Works
Unlikely companions, but great Britten and lighter Lehmann are choice reissues
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Liza Lehmann, Charles Edward Horn
Genre:
Vocal
Label: Naxos
Magazine Review Date: 7/2004
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 75
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 557118
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (The) Daisy Chain, Movement: Fairies |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| (The) Daisy Chain, Movement: Keepsake Mill |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Liza Lehmann, Composer Neal Davies, Baritone Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| (The) Daisy Chain, Movement: If no one ever marries me |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| (The) Daisy Chain, Movement: Stars |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano Toby Spence, Tenor |
| (The) Daisy Chain, Movement: The Swing |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| (The) Daisy Chain, Movement: Mustard and Cress |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Liza Lehmann, Composer Neal Davies, Baritone Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Bird Songs, Movement: The Woodpigeon |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Bird Songs, Movement: The Starling |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Bird Songs, Movement: The Yellowhammer |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Bird Songs, Movement: The Wren |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Bird Songs, Movement: The Owl |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Magdalen at Michael's gate |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Evensong |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Endymion |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Music when soft voices die |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Liza Lehmann, Composer Neal Davies, Baritone Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| To a little red spider |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Dusk in the Valley |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| (The) Lily of a Day |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| When I am dead, my dearest |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral, Movement: Rebecca |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Neal Davies, Baritone Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral, Movement: Jim |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral, Movement: Matilda |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Neal Davies, Baritone Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral, Movement: Henry King |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Liza Lehmann, Composer Neal Davies, Baritone Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Four Cautionary Tales and a Moral, Movement: Charles Augustus Fortesque |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Neal Davies, Baritone Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| (10) Nonsense Songs, Movement: Mockturtle Soup |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Liza Lehmann, Composer Steuart Bedford, Piano Toby Spence, Tenor |
| (10) Nonsense Songs, Movement: Will you walk a little faster? |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Catherine Wyn-Rogers, Mezzo soprano Janice Watson, Soprano Liza Lehmann, Composer Neal Davies, Baritone Steuart Bedford, Piano Toby Spence, Tenor |
| Parody Pie |
Liza Lehmann, Composer
Liza Lehmann, Composer Neal Davies, Baritone Steuart Bedford, Piano Toby Spence, Tenor |
| Cherry ripe |
Charles Edward Horn, Composer
Charles Edward Horn, Composer Janice Watson, Soprano Steuart Bedford, Piano |
Composer or Director: Benjamin Britten
Label: Naxos
Magazine Review Date: 7/2004
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 67
Mastering:
Stereo
DDD
Catalogue Number: 8 557201
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| (The) Holy Sonnets of John Donne |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Philip Langridge, Tenor Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| (7) Sonnets of Michelangelo |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Philip Langridge, Tenor Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| Winter Words |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Philip Langridge, Tenor Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| If it's ever spring again |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Philip Langridge, Tenor Steuart Bedford, Piano |
| (The) Children and Sir Nameless |
Benjamin Britten, Composer
Benjamin Britten, Composer Philip Langridge, Tenor Steuart Bedford, Piano |
Author: John Steane
Two further happy returns from the English Song series which went missing-presumed-dead when the rest of the Collins Classics catalogue was lamentably withdrawn. It’s good also that they are revived and reviewed together, for both deserve attention and it seems more than likely that the admirers of Britten would hardly look twice at Liza Lehmann, whose own supporters, finding themselves outnumbered, would make a special point of ignoring Britten. He, incidentally, did not despise her, and, as a youngster, was particularly fond of the ups-and-downs of ‘How do you like to go up in a swing?’ (fifth song in The Daisy Chain). This was mentioned in the original booklet-note by Steuart Bedford, who is the link between the two composers. A Britten specialist, he is Lehmann’s grandson. As pianist, he serves both of them with a high degree of skill and devotion.
The Britten recital contains at least one great performance, though a slight difference of critical opinion exists concerning its identity. Reviewing in 1996, Alan Blyth found Winter Words,/I> ‘simply superb’ and the source of his greatest pleasure in the disc. My choice is the Donne sonnets. Putting the two of us together, you have a double recommendation. Conversely, you may prefer to give double weight to the negatives: AB considered that in the Donne settings both performers ‘impose a forceful reading on what is already tough enough’, while in the Hardy cycle I miss the more graceful, more vividly characterised touch of Pears and Britten (Decca – nla). We are at one in thinking the Michelangelo songs less well-suited. To return to the Donne, I press its case strongly: Langridge is uncannily sensitive in his tonal modulations and Bedford’s mastery of the difficult piano part frees the impetuous spirit which ranges so passionately throughout his work.
And Liza Lehmann, especially after such verbal and musical intensity, is delightful. Her poets are Robert Louis Stevenson, Hilaire Belloc and such, and her singers here are a fresh-voiced, talented quartet who by no means disgrace the memory of Nellie Melba, Blanche Marchesi and the others for whom the songs were written. And let me again recommend the two issues in conjunction. Those whom Gramophone hath joined together let no man put asunder!
The Britten recital contains at least one great performance, though a slight difference of critical opinion exists concerning its identity. Reviewing in 1996, Alan Blyth found Winter Words,/I> ‘simply superb’ and the source of his greatest pleasure in the disc. My choice is the Donne sonnets. Putting the two of us together, you have a double recommendation. Conversely, you may prefer to give double weight to the negatives: AB considered that in the Donne settings both performers ‘impose a forceful reading on what is already tough enough’, while in the Hardy cycle I miss the more graceful, more vividly characterised touch of Pears and Britten (Decca – nla). We are at one in thinking the Michelangelo songs less well-suited. To return to the Donne, I press its case strongly: Langridge is uncannily sensitive in his tonal modulations and Bedford’s mastery of the difficult piano part frees the impetuous spirit which ranges so passionately throughout his work.
And Liza Lehmann, especially after such verbal and musical intensity, is delightful. Her poets are Robert Louis Stevenson, Hilaire Belloc and such, and her singers here are a fresh-voiced, talented quartet who by no means disgrace the memory of Nellie Melba, Blanche Marchesi and the others for whom the songs were written. And let me again recommend the two issues in conjunction. Those whom Gramophone hath joined together let no man put asunder!
Lehmann Songs
Britten Vocal Works
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