Classical Editor: Rob Barnett                               Founder Len Mullenger: Len@musicweb-international.com

A VICTORIAN GENTLEMAN'S SONG BOOK. Ballads and Glees. James Griffett (tenor)/Pro Cantione Antiqua/Mark Brown REGIS RRC 1023 Around £6 per disc from retailers Seventeen sentimental, but marvellously tuneful ballads here, including most of the most popular of them (not all are Victorian, though, as Bless This House and I'll Walk Beside You date from the inter-war period, nor are they all British, as Stephen Foster is represented by two songs) and four partsongs (or "glees"), by Barnby, Hatton, Pearsall and Sullivan which would have provided better contrast if they had been scattered singly through the programme. James Griffett, lyrical in tone and clear in diction, and Pro Cantione are excellent advocates and this well recorded disc is recommendable at super-bargain price. A few faults in presentation: no accompanist's name is vouchsafed; James Molloy wrote the music, not the words, for Love's Old Sweet Song; and I Hear You Calling Me, composed by Charles Marshall (1808-1874), did not "appear in about 1908". Philip Scowcroft

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