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Brian Blyth
DAUBNEY (b. 1929) October Roses
1.The Lent Lily [2:19]
2. March [2:56]
3. A Rose for Lidice
[5:08]
4. She hath an Art [1:26]
5. Autumn, the Fool [1:52]
6. Echo
and Narcissus [2:16]
7. The Frost [1:34]
8. Helen in Sparta
[2:47]
9. Goblin Song [2:21]
10. Mother Redcap [2:59]
11. Hospital
Grapes [2:54]
12. Young Friend [3:00]
13. The Singer [2:40]
14. I
must go and sleep [2:37]
15. Absence [3:06]
16. Dirge for a
Lady [2:58]
17. John Anderson, my Jo [1:44]
18. Wantage Bells
[1:57]
19. Shed No Tear [2:55]
20. Natura Naturans [1:37]
21. The
Storm [2:01]
22. The Lake Isle of Innisfree [3:19]
23. The
Folly of Being Comforted [2:57]
24. The Sigh [4:33]
25. Lyonnesse
[3:08]
26. The Fiddler of Dooney [1:35]
27. On the Death of
Anne Brontė [4:05]
28. The Cloths of Heaven [1:39]
29. October
Roses [1:26]
30. Resurrection Spiritual [2:58]
Anna Dennis (soprano: 5-9, 15-20,
27-30); William Berger (baritone: 1-4, 10-14,
21-26)
John
Talbot (piano)
rec. Music Hall of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, May-June
2006 BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY BMS433CD [79:00]
What
a welcome issue this is from the enterprising British Music
Society. Brian Blyth Daubney’s long career as a music teacher,
music editor, and producer of musicals and operas, has been
paralleled by that of composer of choral and theatre music,
but more especially, of songs. A lovely selection of these
appears on this disc, most hailing from the last fifteen
years or so, and only two, “She hath an Art” and “John Anderson,
my Jo” dating from the late fifties.
Outstanding
here are the settings of British poet, John Alan Davis. “I
must go and sleep” has the simple inevitability of a good
folksong, and “Hospital Grapes” shows Daubney at this most
skilful: an experienced accompanist himself, the composer
knows to keep the textures of the piano part sparse so that
the text of this superb poem is crystal clear. William Berger’s
performance also ensures this, relishing lines like “Your
veined voluptuousness” and catching the somewhat more serious
mood of the last section perfectly. “Mother Redcap” too
shows an inventive response to another resonant poem by Davis.
Throughout
these songs and indeed throughout this disc, John Talbot
articulates the piano parts with unerring sensitivity, gauging
precisely when restraint is appropriate as in the Davis songs,
and when assertion is demanded as in “The Fiddler of Dooney”. In
his choice of texts, Daubney responds particularly to the
nostalgic melancholy of the Hardy poems. “The Sigh” seems
to me the most distinguished song on this disc and “Lyonnesse” not
far behind, Berger’s baritone ringing out thrillingly in
the climactic final verse of this song as the mood changes
from “lonesomeness” to exultation. Similar in their sensitive
rapport with the nostalgic mood of poems by Keats, Yeats,
and Charlotte Brontė, are “Shed no Tear”, the feeling nicely
caught by Anna Dennis (how beautiful the piano part is here,
relished and beautifully realized by John Talbot), “The Folly
of Being Comforted”, and “On the Death of Anne Brontė” where
Dennis again faithfully creates, with her rather plangent
tone, Charlotte’s feeling of loss at the death of her sister. It
is in his response to the mood of these sombre poems that
Daubney is most successful, I think, rather than to the jolly,
quirky texts of two other poems by John Allan Davis, “October
Roses” and “Resurrection Spiritual”. But I’ll have to confess
that this comment probably says more about the preferences
of this reviewer than the quality of these two songs, objectively
considered. Certainly Daubney’s version of a spiritual makes
a rousing ending for this excellent disc.
Throughout,
the balance between singer and piano is ideal, a tribute
to the collaborative work of the artists and the work of
the sound engineers. In the accompanying booklet, full texts
are supplied, together with informative material on composer
and artists.
(First
published English Poetry and Song Society Newsletter 34,
March 2007. Appearing here by permission)
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