This is a most welcome
reissue. Pleasure at the reappearance
of these recordings is tempered mildly
by the realisation that this collection
of twenty-six songs represents just
over half of the original set, issued
under the same title. The original two-disc
set, issued in 1988, contained forty-one
songs so fifteen, all by Gurney, have
been omitted. That accounts for some
forty minutes of music left out from
the original set. Since that would make
for a very ungenerous CD I wonder if
the remaining songs are fated not to
be reissued; I do hope not. In the meantime,
we must be grateful that a new generation
of collectors can enjoy this very generous
selection. While the excision of the
Gurney songs is regrettable his songs
are pretty well known whereas these
songs by his peers are not for the most
part so Hyperion’s editorial judgement
is sound.
"War’s Embers"
is a most evocative title. It was the
title given by Gurney to a collection
of his own poems that he published in
1919. "War’s Waste" would
have been just as accurate a title for
the CD for, as you’ll guess from the
dates of the composers, four out of
the six met a grossly premature end
in the carnage of the First World War.
Another, Gurney, was so physically and
mentally traumatised by his wartime
experiences that he was a broken man
who also died far too young. Only Finzi,
who was too young, was spared active
service and lived on to enjoy the fruits
of peace.
Finzi’s Only a man
harrowing clods opens the disc.
It’s, perhaps inevitably, a Hardy setting
and it’s a rather gaunt song, which
Stephen Varcoe does very well. Finzi
provides a link with Ernest Farrar.
It was while Farrar was organist of
Harrogate Parish Church (1912-15) that
he became, briefly, Finzi’s first composition
teacher. Farrar left Harrogate to enlist
but it appears from the liner-note that
he wasn’t sent to France until September
1918. He survived just ten days. Stephen
Varcoe sings the two groups of Farrar
songs on this disc. The first trio comprises
his Vagabond Songs, Op. 10, which
date from around 1908. Two of these,
Silent Noon and The Roadside
Fire, come into direct competition
with settings by Vaughan Williams. Frankly,
neither Farrar setting is the equal
of RVW’s versions but the Vagabond
Songs are still well worth hearing.
It’s notable that in Silent Noon
Farrar’s music bears quite a kinship
to RVW’s at the passage beginning ‘O
clasp we to our hearts. The other group
by Farrar, again sung by Varcoe, is
less memorable. The songs are rather
conventional – as Michael Hurd observes
in his notes: "elegant, charming
and unpretentious – pleasant fodder
for the amateur and the drawing room".
However, Stephen Varcoe serves them
well.
He also sings the sole
song by the Australian-born Frederick
Kelly. His Who would shepherd
pipes is a rather immature piece,
in which the piano part rather draws
attention away from the vocal line.
Much more substantial fare is provided
by Denis Browne. The best of his small
output of songs is included here. Arabia
is a complex and ambitious song, which
Martyn Hill sings with sensitivity.
He’s good, too, in the easeful Diaphenia.
Best of all is To Gratiana dancing
and singing, a minor masterpiece.
Here the singer weaves a wide-ranging
line over a stately accompaniment, which
is like a slow galliard. Hill gives
a very fine account of it though I retain
a sneaking preference for Ian Bostridge’s
recording (EMI).
Like Finzi, George
Butterworth is represented by only one
song. Requiescat is a relatively
early piece, dating from 1911. It’s
not one of his best-known songs but
it deserves to be. It’s subtle and deep,
reminding us that of all the composers
cut down in the slaughter of France,
Butterworth promised the most. An incalculable
loss to English music. Stephen Varcoe
sings this restrained, eloquent song
most expressively.
The remainder of the
disc is devoted to Gurney. The more
I hear his songs the more I believe
that he was one of the very finest of
all English song composers of the twentieth
century. Indeed, I think it’s possible
to advance an argument that he was the
finest of them all. His melodic gifts
were great and he had a poet’s eye for
a text to set Sadly, some of the finest
of his songs that were included in the
original release, have been excluded
here and one regrets the loss of In
Flanders and, above all, the magnificent
Sleep, not least because Martyn
Hill sang it outstandingly well in the
original collection. I also think it’s
rather regrettable that Severn Meadows
was omitted, not just because it’s a
wonderful song but because, oddly, it’s
the only Gurney setting of one of his
own poems.
However, what we do
have here is very satisfying indeed,
both as music and as performances. All
the Gurney settings are entrusted to
Michael George, who quite clearly has
a great empathy for the music. I enjoyed
his singing of these songs very much
indeed. In particular, there’s a fine,
dark performance of The twa corbies,
balanced a little later by a sensitive
account of the touching Goodnight
to the meadow. He does the
dramatic, extended ballad, Edward,
Edward, powerfully and is equally
splendid in The night of Trafalgar.
Thou didst delight my eyes is
a truly marvellous creation, full of
aching regret. For me it’s Gurney at
his finest and Michael George gives
a deeply satisfying account of it. Finally,
we hear a nicely contrasted pairing.
First there’s the gentle innocence of
To violets after which comes
Last Hours. This is a most atmospheric
song and George conveys the otherworldly
sadness of it extremely well. Clifford
Benson, a splendid pianist throughout
the recital, places the strange, chilly
chords of Gurney’s accompaniment quite
beautifully.
This is a very fine
and attractive CD. The songs are in
the finest English tradition and without
exception they are splendidly sung by
three singers who are fully inside the
idiom. The documentation, in English
only, is excellent. All the texts are
supplied and the authoritative essay
by Gurney’s biographer, Michael Hurd,
has been retained, with one minor modification,
from the original set. The recorded
sound is very pleasing.
This is a self-recommending
issue to all lovers of the treasury
that is the English song repertory.
Anyone who missed the original release
should hasten to snap up this excellent
bargain. I do hope that Hyperion will
find a way of reissuing the remaining
material.
John Quinn
Michael George (bass) MG; Martyn Hill (tenor)
MH; Stephen Varcoe (baritone) SV 
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