Somervell: Maud & A Shropshire Lad Roderick Williams

• Arthur Somervell (1863 - 1937): Maud:
• 1 Maud: No. 1, I Hate the Dreadful Hollow 01:44
• 2 Maud: No. 2, A Voice by the Cedar Tree 03:59
• 3 Maud: No. 3, She Came to the Village Church 01:24
• 4 Maud: No. 4, O Let the Solid Ground 01:08
• 5 Maud: No. 5, Birds in the High Hall Garden 02:40
• 6 Maud: No. 6, Maud Has a Garden 01:43
• 7 Maud: No. 7, Go Not, Happy Day 01:35
• 8 Maud: No. 8, I Have Led Her Home 02:35
• 9 Maud: No. 9, Come Into the Garden, Maud 03:28
• 10 Maud: No. 10, The Fault Was Mine 03:40
• 11 Maud: No. 11, Dead, Long Dead 04:08
• 12 Maud: No. 12, O That 'Twere Possible 01:45
• 13 Maud: No. 13, My Life Has Crept so Long 05:12
• Arthur Somervell:
• 14 A Kingdom by the Sea 03:36
• A Shropshire Lad:
• 15 A Shropshire Lad: No. 1, Loveliest of Trees 01:52
• 16 A Shropshire Lad: No. 2, When I Was One-and-Twenty 01:09
• 17 A Shropshire Lad: No. 3, There Pass the Careless People 01:25
• 18 A Shropshire Lad: No. 4, In Summer-Time on Bredon 03:11
• 19 A Shropshire Lad: No. 5, The Street Sounds to a Soldier's Tread 02:00
• 20 A Shropshire Lad: No. 6, On the Idle Hill of Summer 02:23
• 21 A Shropshire Lad: No. 7, White in the Moon the Long Road Lies 02:55
• 22 A Shropshire Lad: No. 8, Think No More, Lad 01:43
• 23 A Shropshire Lad: No. 9, Into My Heart an Air That Kills 01:37
• 24 A Shropshire Lad: No. 10, The Lads in Their Hundreds, to Ludlow Come In for the Fair 02:45
• Arthur Somervell:
• 25 Shepherd's Cradle Song 02:35
• Total Runtime 01:02:12

Info for Somervell: Maud & A Shropshire Lad

SOMM Recordings announces an important new recording of two classic English song cycles by Sir Arthur Somervell – Maud and A Shropshire Lad – from the acclaimed partnership of baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Susie Allan.

Hailed as “the English Schumann” for his mastery of song setting, song cycles in particular, Somervell’s music is marked by a distinctive blend of lyricism and harmony that makes itself indelibly felt in these two seminal works of the English song repertoire.

His first cycle, Maud, setting 13 poems from Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s dark monodrama, was first performed in 1899 at the height of a fashion for recitals of songs sung in English. An intense, impassioned portrayal of infatuation, it is marked by remarkably eloquent and revealing relationships between voice and text, and voice and piano.

Composed in 1904, the 10 poems from A.E. Housman’s A Shropshire Lad portray a young man wistfully contemplating nature, life and love at the age of 20 before following him through a life full of incident, the horror of the First World War and growing self-awareness. It prompted from Somervell texturally rich and varied music shot through with an aching lyricism all the more powerful and potent for its folk song-like simplicity and directness.

Completing the recital are the enchanting, ever-popular lullaby Shepherd’s Cradle Song and wistful tale of childhood sweethearts with texts by Edgar Allan Poe, A Kingdom by the Sea. British music authority Jeremy Dibble provides informative booklet notes and Roderick Williams a revealing take on Somervell’s music from a singer’s perspective.

Roderick Williams and Susie Allan’s most recent SOMM releases include Celebrating English Song (SOMMCD 0177), described by MusicWeb International as “an exemplary recital of English song”, and BBC Music Magazine’s “strongly recommended” Severn & Somme (SOMMCD 057) focusing on Ivor Gurney and his peers.

Roderick Williams, baritone
Susie Allan, piano

Roderick Williams
sings a wide repertoire, from baroque to contemporary music, in the opera house, on the concert platform, and in recital. He has performed in all the major opera houses in the United Kingdom and is particularly associated with the baritone rôles of Mozart. He has also sung world premières of operas by David Sawer, Sally Beamish, Michael van der Aa, Robert Saxton and Alexander Knaifel. Williams sings concert repertoire with all the BBC orchestras as well as the Bournemouth Symphony, London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Russian National Orchestra, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, among many others. His festival appearances include the BBC Proms, Edinburgh, Cheltenham, Aldeburgh and Melbourne. Roderick Williams is also a composer and has had works performed at the Barbican Centre, the Purcell Room, and Wigmore Hall.

Booklet for Somervell: Maud & A Shropshire Lad