Benjamin BRITTEN (1913-1976)
Britten in Scotland : The Complete Scottish Songs
A Birthday Hansel, Op.92 (1975) [19:28]
Who are these children? (1969) [20:53]
Cradle Song (Sleep, my darling, sleep) (1942) [3:16]
O that I’d ne’er married (1922) [1:27]
Ca’ the Yowes (1959) [1:49]
There’s none to soothe (1946) [1:49]
O can ye sew cushions (1942) [2:21]
The Bonny Earl o’ Murray (1942) [3:14]
Bonny at Morn (1976) [4:03]
Come you not from Newcastle? (1946) [1:19]
Dawtie’s Devotion (1969) [1:12]
The Gully (1969) [0:56]
Tradition (1969) [0:52]
Four Burns Songs (arr. Colin Matthews) (1975) [8:50]
Mark Wilde (tenor), Lucy Wakeford (harp: Hansel, Bonny at Morn), David Owen
Norris (piano)
rec. Turner Sims Concert Hall, University of Southampton, 17-19 August, 2009
NAXOS 8.572706 [74:42]
It is great to have all the Scottish songs by Benjamin Britten on one disc.
However it is not only the completeness that is important. Most of the works
on this CD have been relatively rarely recorded. At present the Arkiv catalogue
lists only three other versions of The Birthday Hansel and five versions
of Who are these Children? I cannot find a reference to the ‘Four
Burns Songs’. So it is a welcome addition. Add to this, the committed
and often moving performances from all three soloists and one has a ‘must-have’
CD for all Britten enthusiasts.
A Birthday Hansel was composed in 1975 to celebrate Her Majesty, Queen
Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s seventy-fifth birthday. It was one of the
composer’s last works. The song-cycle contained seven songs in the Scottish
dialect culled from the collected poems of Robert (‘Rabbie’) Burns.
Out of interest, the word ‘Hansel' means a gift that is given to someone
before the start of a new enterprise, or it can mean a welcome gift.
Britten does not utilise ‘existing’ folksongs, nor does he write
pastiche tunes. What he has achieved is a synthesis of the distinguishing
features of Scottish folk and dance music and applies it to Burn’s poems.
In the present recording, Mark Wilde varies the ‘richness’ or
‘depth’ of the dialect which I think is a good plan. Unremitting
‘Harry Lauder’ would be difficult to stomach. The harp part is
much more integral to the work than mere accompaniment: the Britten website
notes that it employs ‘a wide range of devices and effects to colourful
effect as well as providing the necessary transitions from song to song.’
It is this equilibrium between singer and instrumentalist that makes A
Birthday Hansel so effective. It is convincingly performed by Mark Wilde
and Lucy Wakeford.
The first performance of A Birthday Hansel was on 16 January 1976 at
Uphall which is near Sandringham. The performers were Peter Pears and the
harpist Osian Ellis. A recording was later made at The Maltings, Snape by
the same artists and was released as part of the Britten
Edition on Decca.
After Britten’s death, the composer Colin Matthews made an arrangement
for tenor and piano of four of the songs from A Birthday Hansel. It
was published as Four Burns Songs. If I am honest, I prefer these settings
to the original!
Finally, Chris Ball has written in the sleeve notes that Britten used an ‘old’
edition of Burns’ poems which had a degree of anglicising of the ‘Lallans
Scots’ dialect. He states that in A Birthday Hansel these words
have not been corrected: however in the ‘Four Burns Songs’ the
text has been corrected to follow the version in ‘The Complete Poetical
Works of Robert Burns Bi-Centenary Edition (1993)’.
The liner-notes gives the listener a good clue for approaching Who are
these children?: it is best to regard this difficult song-cycle as ‘two
works in one’: it is a balance between the ‘bairn’s’
songs and those of the ‘world of war and pain’. In fact there
are eight songs that explore ‘the happier, more innocent aspects of
childhood’ and the remaining four examine ‘the plight of children
in the context of violence and war’. William Soutar is one of the great
writers of the Scottish Literary Renaissance - alongside Hugh MacDiarmid.
I accept that some of his political views may not appeal to everyone: neither
will his pacifism. However, to be fair to Soutar, he did serve in the Royal
Navy during the First World War, so at least he has experience of some of
the subjects he explores in his poetry.
Yet the song-cycle itself, I find a little harder to come to terms with. I
find that it lacks coherence. Some of the ‘songs’ are very short
- one is just 34 seconds. Perhaps it is the mixing of the violence and innocence
that I find ‘too near the bone’?
I have listened to this a number of times in this version and also in Daniel
Norman’s recording
and long felt that it is a difficult work to bring off. However I believe
that Mark Wilde approaches the ‘dialect’ issue well. It is a fine
performance of an often morbid and always challenging piece.
The present recording includes three additional poems from the cycle that
were not used in the final arrangement. Three of the shorter dialect songs
were set - ‘Dawtie’s Devotion’, ‘The Gully’
and ‘Tradition’. Britten wished these settings to be performed
as separate songs and insisted that they were not to be incorporated into
the song-cycle.
Finally, Naxos feature all the ‘Scottish folksongs’, including
the beautiful ‘Ca’ the Yowes’. However the lovely ‘O
Can ye sew cushions?’ and the charming ‘Come you not from Newcastle’
should not be missed. One last treat is the attractive Cradle Song (Sleep,
my darling, sleep) by Louis MacNeice who squeezes into this collection as
an Ulster-Scot.
Lastly, I note that the assumption is made that listeners will have access
to either the Internet or a range of Scottish poetry books for finding the
texts of the songs. Interestingly the Naxos website uses the word ‘lyrics’
as its link to the poems!
I never really associate Soutar and MacNeice as ‘lyricists’.
The sound quality is good, the singing is effective and as I have noted above
Mark Wilde does not overdo the ‘local colour’. Piano and harp
both contribute to the overall value of this excellent and often moving CD.
John France
An excellent and often moving CD.