Dreams Melting James Geer & Ronald Woodley

• Howard Ferguson (1908 - 1999): Discovery, Op. 13:
• 1 Ferguson: Discovery, Op. 13: No. 1, Dreams Melting 01:11
• 2 Ferguson: Discovery, Op. 13: No. 2, The Freedom of the City 01:51
• 3 Ferguson: Discovery, Op. 13: No. 3, Babylon 01:36
• 4 Ferguson: Discovery, Op. 13: No. 4, Jane Allen 00:44
• 5 Ferguson: Discovery, Op. 13: No. 5, Discovery 02:47
• Rebecca Clarke (1886 -1979):
• 6 Clarke: The Seal Man 05:21
• 7 Clarke: The Cloths of Heaven 02:07
• 8 Clarke: The Cherry-Blossom Wand 02:56
• 9 Clarke: Infant Joy 01:09
• 10 Clarke: Cradle Song (1) 02:27
• 11 Clarke: Tiger, Tiger 04:20
• Elizabeth Maconchy (1907 - 1994):
• 12 Maconchy: 3 Donne Songs: No. 1, A Hymn to God the Father 03:19
• 13 Maconchy: Have You Seen but a Bright Lily Grow? 01:38
• 14 Maconchy: A Meditation for His Mistress 02:45
• Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956): Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a:
• 15 Finzi: Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a: No. 1, Let Me Enjoy the Earth 02:28
• 16 Finzi: Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a: No. 2, In Years Defaced 03:31
• 17 Finzi: Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a: No. 3, The Market Girl 01:43
• 18 Finzi: Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a: No. 4, I Look Into My Glass 02:06
• 19 Finzi: Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a: No. 5, It Never Looks Like Summer 01:14
• 20 Finzi: Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a: No. 6, At a Lunar Eclipse 03:40
• 21 Finzi: Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19a: No. 7, Life Laughs Onward 02:09
• Elizabeth Maconchy: 4 Shakespeare Songs:
• 22 Maconchy: 4 Shakespeare Songs: No. 1, Come Away, Death 03:10
• 23 Maconchy: 4 Shakespeare Songs: No. 2, The Wind and the Rain 02:23
• 24 Maconchy: 4 Shakespeare Songs: No. 3, Take, O Take Those Lips Away 02:07
• 25 Maconchy: 4 Shakespeare Songs: No. 4, King Stephen 00:57
• Phyllis Tate (1911 - 1987):
• 26 Tate: 2 Songs: No. 2, The Falcon 03:12
• 27 Tate: Cradle Song (2) 01:59
• 28 Tate: Epitaph 02:53
• Total Runtime 01:07:43

Info for Dreams Melting

SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce Dreams Melting, a revealing survey of British songs from the early 20th century by tenor James Geer and pianist Ronald Woodley.

At the recital’s heart are two substantial cycles. Setting seven poems by Thomas Hardy, Gerald Finzi’s Till Earth Outwears provides an intimate and movingly melancholic commentary in what Ronald Woodley describes in his extensive and informative booklet notes as a “male perspective on life, love and loss”.

Rarely recorded, Howard Ferguson’s five-part treatment of Denton Welch’s poems, Discovery, typifies “the subtlety of the relationship between late romanticism, modernism and the inherited idioms of ‘Britishness’ that composers of Ferguson’s generation inevitably grew up with”. Its second song, ‘Dreams Melting’, provides the recital’s title.

Three songs make their first appearance on disc. Elizabeth Maconchy’s setting of John Donne’s passionate but tortured A Hymn to God the Father boasts a searching vocal line underpinned by tellingly interrogative piano. Phyllis Tate’s The Falcon is a sparse but powerful setting of an anonymous medieval text while her variegated treatment of William Blake’s poem Cradle Song is reminiscent of a Bartók folksong arrangement.

Also heard are Maconchy’s Four Shakespeare Songs and settings of Ben Jonson’s Have You Seen but a Bright Lily Grow? and Robert Herrick’s A Meditation for his Mistress, alongside six varied and vital songs by Rebecca Clarke, including The Seal Man, “one of her most soaring flights of imagination”, and Tate’s Epitaph, in which her “quietly understated writing is masterly”.

A compendium of songs by William Walton and Constant Lambert, Façades (SOMMCD 0614), James Geer and Ronald Woodley’s debut SOMM release (with pianist Andrew West) was hailed by The Telegraph as “a wonderful collection of beautifully crafted miniatures”. MusicWeb International declared it “an absolute gem of a disc in every regard” and awarded it a Recording of the Year accolade.

James Geer, tenor
Ronald Woodley, piano

James Geer
is classical tenor whose diverse performing career includes roles in opera and oratorio, as well as solo recitals and recordings. He is a member of the Royal Opera House extra chorus, the Academy of Ancient Music and the choir of St George's Church, Hanover Square.

James is a seasoned oratorio singer. He has performed as soloist in Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall, the Usher Hall and the Cadogan Hall. He has sung with choral societies in the Shetland Islands, the Isle of Mann, the Isle of Wight and the Channel Isles. He has appeared at the Aldeburgh Festival, the Three Choirs Festival and the Edinburgh International Festival. James regularly works with Capella Cracoviensis in Poland, performing many of the great Handel oratorio tenor roles. ​

Some of the choirs and orchestras that James has worked with as a soloist include; Philharmonia Orchestra, BBCSSO, BBCNOW, Academy of Ancient Music, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Handel Players, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Gloucester Choral Society, Bristol Choral Society, Hexham Festival Chorus, Leeds Philharmonic Chorus, Edinburgh Royal Choral Union, Bishopwearmouth Choral Society, Newcastle Bach Choir, Eastbourne Choral Society, Aberystwyth Choral Society, Ryton Choral Society, Rochester Choral Society, Nottingham Harmonic Choir.

Booklet for Dreams Melting