"If Elgar was the Edwardian Age's
orchestral composer par excellence,
then Roger Quilter was its songwriter-laureate"
- Trevor Hold.
Roger Quilter composed
well in excess of one hundred exquisite
and refined songs. A delight to sing
and play, these are tuneful but more
than that, they elevated the English
drawing room ballad to the level of
the highest traditions of the European
art-song, rivalling, for my money, the
melodies of Fauré and the lieder
of Schubert and Wolf.
This new album, recorded
just last Summer is treasure-trove for
the Quilter enthusiast for it includes
no less than 21 première
recordings.
Many of the selections
are arrangements of a variety of songs
that Quilter called 'old popular songs'
or just 'old songs'. He had a way of
representing them without undue fuss
or embellishment, the vocal line following,
for the most part, the traditional well-loved
lines. The piano parts have that inimitable
Quilter-esque quality of heightened
atmosphere and emotion.
Five of these were
published in 1921 but he began working
on more for his favourite nephew Arnold
Vivian who often sang his songs and
whose gentle personality was so much
in sympathy with his own. Tragically,
during World War II, Arnold was captured
in North Africa transported to a German
POW camp from which he escaped only
to be recaptured and executed. Roger
Quilter was devastated; and so The
Arnold Book of Songs became his
nephew's epitaph.
The Arnold Book
of Old Songs is here complete -
all 16 of them. One might be tempted
to think that such material might tax,
but there is variety aplenty to always
arrest the ear. That variety comes in
rhythm, tempo, mood and atmosphere and
in choice of settings for solo singer,
two feminine voices, or male and female
soloists,.
In the context of the
Arnold songs I must mention, first,
Rodney Bennett (1890-1948) - the father
of Richard Rodney Bennett - who was
a talented poet and who collaborated
with Quilter in works for the theatre,
as well as in his songs. Bennett furnished
new texts for some of the traditional
Arnold song-settings. One of these was
'The Ash Grove' so that the song resonates
that much more tellingly to:-
"…The Ash Grove in beauty I see
once again;
The voices of friends that the long
years have taken
Oh faintly I hear them, the song and
the word,
How much in the heart can so little
awaken:
The wind in the leaves and the song
of a bird…"
And a lump comes to
the throat and the heart is touched
by that Quilter accompaniment so deceptively
simple but awakening a nostalgia that
pierces.
I could cover so many
of these 36 songs but this review would
become too interminably long so I will
restrict myself to just a few. From
the Arnold Book first.
The opening song of
the album is 'Drink to me only' (to
words by Ben Jonson, 1573-1637), sung
ardently by David Wilson-Johnson, its
haunting accompaniment singing so eloquently
and touchingly of a love that is constant
and true. That special quality of golden
nostalgia pervades so many of these
arrangements. Just think of his treatment
of the Scottish song 'Ye banks and braes'
sung most sympathetically by Amanda
Pitt. She rises so well to the rhythmic
and tempi challenges of the following
arrangement of 'Charlie is my darling'
while David Owen Norris has fun with
its amusing and rousing march-like piano
line, a delicious accompaniment. And
the depth of feeling that they convey
in that lovely song of regret 'Ca the
yowes to the knowes' - one of Arnold's
favourite songs. 'The Jolly Miller'
is distinguished by an imaginative piano
part that wonderfully evokes the movement
of the miller's wheel and his tipsiness.
'Barbara Allen' also
has a telling piano accompaniment especially
when Barbara scorns the dying (for love)
Jemmy Grove and David Owen Norris dramatically
hammers home the sound of dead-bell.
To the duets for female
voices. 'Where go the boats?', one of
Quilter's Four Child Songs,
is another of those heart-stopping melodies
that persist in the mind. This song,
to words by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894),
has all the magical enchantment of childhood
and is sung most beautifully by Amanda
Pitt and Joanne Thomas, their voices
blending beguilingly. I must also mention
the ravishing beauty, as communicated
by these two ladies, of 'Summer Sunset
' to words by Quilter himself. The pretty
duet for women's voices, 'The Starlings',
delicate and wistful, is distinguished
by its evocative bird-song piano part
and its independent soprano line. 'To
a Harebell by a Graveside' is another
simple but heart-touching melody. I
must mention just two more songs for
the women's voices: the graceful 'The
Passing Bell' with its pretty 'ding-a-dong'
refrain; and 'Blossom-Time' with its
interesting harmonies and counterpoints
in vocal writing.
One of the most unusual
songs is 'I gotta robe' written in the
style of a negro spiritual and sung
with enthusiasm and style by David Wilson-Johnson.
The song was originally written for
the black American contralto, Marian
Anderson.
Philip Langridge (with
beautifully clear diction) sings passionately
Quilter's sweet arrangement of 'The
Rose of Tralee' and another of Quilter's
most tender melodies, 'What will you
do, love' (…when waves divide us and
friends chide us for being fond … In
faith abiding I'll still be true …)
Here is beguiling simplicity; it just
rends the heartstrings. The manuscript
is marked 'for Arnold' dated June 1942.
Of course Roger Quilter
was very fond of light music and wrote
much material for the theatre. This
collection includes three songs from
the stage. Of these the most memorable
is the haunting 'Love Calls through
the Summer Night'. It is unashamedly
popular but none the worse for that.
Valerie Langfield * reckons it recalls
Edward German, this may be true of the
outer sections but the lovely central
refrain is surely pure Ivor Novello
(who was very popular at that time).
Philip Langridge and Amanda Pitt sing
it with commendable unembarrassed élan
in the rather florid style of the period.
Older readers who remember Anne Ziegler
and Webster Booth will remember what
I mean.
A memorable collection,
sympathetically performed. With over
half the songs premiere recordings,
this is an album that all Quilter enthusiasts
simply must have.
Ian Lace
* Valerie Langfield is the author of
Roger Quilter, his life and music (Boydell
and Brewer, 2002) ISBN 0 85115 871 4
Amanda Pitt (soprano); Joanne Thomas (mezzo);
Philip Langridge (tenor); David Wilson-Johnson
(baritone) and David Owen Norris (piano) 
