Sarah Connolly - My True Love Hath My Heart: English Songs Vocal & Song Piano Chandos

Sarah Connolly - My True Love Hath My Heart: English Songs

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CHAN 10691

Sarah Connolly - My True Love Hath My Heart: English Songs

Running Time: 62:47

CD UPC: 0095115169124

Release Date: October 2011
Originally recorded in 2011

Composer (1913-1976)
Benjamin Britten

Composer (1892-1983)
Herbert Howells

Composer (1879-1962)
John Ireland

Composer (1890-1937)
Ivor Gurney

Composer (1900-1976)
Michael Head

Composer (1894-1930)
Peter Warlock

Composer (b. 1936)
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett

Mezzo Voice mezzo-soprano
Dame Sarah Connolly

Solo Piano piano
Malcolm Martineau

Venue
All Saints' Church, East Finchley, London

Producer
Rachel Smith

Engineer
Jonathan Cooper

Engineer (Assistant)
Paul Quilter

Genre:
Vocal & Song
Piano

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P&P for single unit's: UK=£2.4, EU=£9, World=£12

BENJAMIN BRITTEN

(1913-1976)

O Waly, Waly (1945-46)

3:44

No. 6 from Folk Song Arrangements, Volume 3 (1948) from Somerset (Cecil Sharp)

Allegretto

How sweet the answer (1957)

1:51

(The Wren)

No. 3 from Folk Song Arrangements, Volume 4 (1960)

Flowing

Corpus Christi Carol (1961)

2:42

Arranged by the composer from A Boy Was Born, Op. 3 (1933)

Gently flowing

Early one morning (1951-59)

2:29

No. 4 from Folk Song Arrangements, Volume 5 (1961)

Gently flowing - With movement - Very quietly

HERBERT HOWELLS

(1892-1983)

King David (1919, published 1923)

5:15

To John Coates

Quasi lento - Pocchettino più mosso - Placido

Come sing and dance (1927)

3:58

The Words from an Old Carol

For Dorothy Silk

With gentle dance movement - Sempure un poco accelerando - Poco meno mosso, assai espressivo

JOHN IRELAND

(1879-1962)

Her Song (1925)

2:45

No. 2 from Three Songs (1925)

Rather slowly

My true love hath my heart (1920)

1:57

No. 1 from Two Songs (1921)

Con anima ma non troppo mosso

Tryst (1928)

3:24

(In Fountain Court)

No. 1 from Two Songs (1929)

Very slow and sustained - Slower

IVOR GURNEY

(1890-1937)

10.

Sleep (1914)

3:04

No. 4 from Five Elizabethan Songs (1920)

To Emmy Hunt

Adagio

11.

By a Bierside (1916, published 1979)

4:21

Adagio quasi andante

HERBERT HOWELLS

12.

Gavotte (1919, published 1927)

3:37

To my daughter Ursula

Tempo di Gavotte

13.

Lost love (1934)

4:00

To Dorothea Webb

Semplice patetico - Assai tranquillo

MICHAEL HEAD

(1900-1976)

14.

Foxgloves (1932)

3:39

No. 1 from More Songs of the Countryside (1933)

To Winifred Small

Moderato

PETER WARLOCK

(1894-1930)

15.

The First Mercy (1927)

2:51

Allegretto con moto

MICHAEL HEAD

16.

Cotswold Love (1938)

2:39

No. 1 from Three Cotswold Songs (1938)

Allegretto, poco rubato

SIR RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT

(b. 1936)

A History of the Dansant (1994, published 1995)

10:33

17.

Foxtrot. Vivo -

2:26

18.

Slow Foxtrot. Allegretto con eleganza -

3:47

19.

Tango. Tempo giusto e ritmico - Con anima - Non troppo allegro -

4:18

A tempo tranquillo - A tempo sostenuto

63:00

1 and 2 February 2011

About

Chandos CHAN 10691

English Songs – Sarah Connolly, Malcolm Martineau

Sarah Connolly received excellent reviews for her recital performance of English songs on 11 April 2011 at the Alice Tully Hall in New York. The New York Times wrote: ‘Ms Connolly’s voice was strong and steady through its range, velvety, but with a soft, subtle graininess that gave weight and presence to even her most ethereal floated notes.’

Here the mezzo-soprano, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau on piano, performs four arrangements by Benjamin Britten: three folk songs and one song from an early choral work. These complement the recent Britten CD on Chandos, on which Connolly performs the cantata Phaedra as well as A Charm of Lullabies (CHAN 10671).

Next come eleven songs from the 1920s, which is considered the golden decade for English art songs. Among the highlights are ‘By a Bierside’, Ivor Gurney’s stark reflection on death, written in the World War I trenches, and Herbert Howells’s ‘King David’ which has long been considered a masterpiece. Howells himself said: ‘I am prouder to have written King David than almost anything else of mine.’

The most recent contribution to this disc of English songs is the surreally retro A History of the Thé Dansant by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, which was published in 1995.

Sarah Connolly gave a concert performance of this programme at the Alice Tully Hall in New York in April this year. The New York Times wrote: ‘Ms Connolly’s voice was strong and steady through the range, velvety, but with a soft, subtle graininess that gave weight and presence to even her most ethereal floated notes.’ She is ably accompanied by the pianist Malcolm Martineau as they explore four arrangements by Benjamin Britten, and eleven songs dating from the 1920s. This period is often considered a golden decade for English songs, with contributions from Ivor Gurney, Peter Warlock, John Ireland, and Herbert Howells. The compilation also includes a short song cycle by Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, A History of the Thé Dansant, which was published in 1995 and is surreally retro.

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Reviews

“An interesting program of 20th Century English songs thoughtfully chosen from both well-known and less familiar composers, in stunningly beautiful performances that go straight to the heart: this is a recording that you will want to return to again and again. Sarah Connolly’s voice has color and richness to spare, and she knows how to use it sparingly. She sings with expressive legato and perfect intonation and diction Most important, she has a wonderful ability to find and communicate surprising depths of meaning, and Malcolm Martineau matches her phrase for phrase”

Marcuse – American Record Guide – March/April 2012

“Sarah Connolly, with here clear, fresh mezzo, here tackles a delightful, wide-ranging sequence of English songs In all these Sarah Connolly sings immaculately, with impeccably sensitive accompaniment from Malcolm Martineau, in sound both clear and perfectly balanced.”

Edward Greenfield – Gramophone magazine – January 2012

“... This diverse miscellany of English songs is well worth investigating. It has been given an ideally balanced recording.”

Richard Nicholson – Classical Source.com – 1 November 2011

“... Connolly and Martineau make an impressive double act. The former has performed this material live to glowing reviews, and you can hear why. Her voice has such a pleasing texture – it is womanly rather than girlish; velvet rather than satin – and her sense of drama is never overstated. She excels, therefore, in capturing the masculine and melancholy of Britten’s lullabies and Bennett’s brittle, unpredictable scenes from a long marriage. Martineau responds throughout with characteristically flawless, subtle and intuitive accompaniment.” ****

Anna Britten – Classic FM Magazine – December 2011

Performance **** Recording ****

Hilary Finch – BBC Music Magazine – December 2011

"... Connolly and her supersensitive accompanist, Malcolm Martineau, ideally recorded, are throughout simply ideal in this treasurable repertoire. Should Sarah Connolly be tempted to keep exploring the highways and byways of English song, as I devoutlyhope she will, she will soon find plenty more material to delight both her, and us."

Piers Burton-Page - International Record Review - October 2011

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