Britten: Before Life & after, Sonnets of J. Donne op. 35, Folksongs, Winter Words op. 52

Padmore, Mark, Vignoles, Roger

HMU 907443

Within nine days Benjamin Britten set his Holy Sonnets of John Donne to music in 1945. Under the impression of a visit to German concentration camps made together with Yehudi Menuhin shortly after Germany's surrender, which triggered violent fever attacks on Britten, the composer had set about realizing his longstanding plan to set poems by John Donne (1572-1631) to music.

Works:

The Holy Sonnets Of John Donne, Op.35 (1945)

• Oh My Blacke Soule!
• Batter My Heart
• O Might Those Sighes And Teares
• Oh, To Vex Me
• What If This Present
• Since She Whom I Loved
• At The Round Earth's Imagined Corners
• Thou Hast Made Me
• Death, Be Not Proud

Henry Purcell, Realized By Benjamin Britten

• A Morning Hymn (1960) Two Divine Hymns & Alleluia From «Harmonia Sacra»
• Job's Curse (1950) – From «Harmonia Sacra»
• An Evening Hymn (1947) – Three Divine Hymns From «Harmonia Sacra»

Winter Words, Op.52 (1953) – Lyrics & Ballads Of Thomas Hardy

• At Day-close In November
• Midnight On The Great Western (Or The Journeying Boy)
• Wagtail And Baby (A Satire)
• The Little Old Table
• The Choirmaster's Burial (Or The Tenor Man's Story)
• Proud Songsters (Thrushes, Finches And Nightingales)
• At The Railway Station, Upway (Or The Convict And Boy With The Violin)
• Before Life And After

Folksongs Arranged By Benjamin Britten

• I Wonder As I Wander – From «Songs Of The Hill Folk» (1934)
• Sail On, Sail On – From Volume 4 (1957-58), «Moore's Irish Melodies»
• The Miller Of Dee – From Volume 3 (1947), «Folksongs Of The British Isles»
• At The Mid Hour Of Night – From Volume 4 (1957-58), «Moore's Irish Melodies»
• There's None To Soothe – From Volume 3 (1947), «Folksongs Of The British Isles»

CD x 1

Harmonia Mundi

7.05.2009

93046744328