Britten: Songs & Proverbs of William Blake: and other songs

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[Finley] just seems to be singing naturally, but at the same time he colors and inflects with astonishing specificity. He manages to vary the repeats in those folk-song settings where verses... — Fanfare, 26th October 2010 More…

Release Date: 1st Jun 2010
Catalogue No: CDA67778
Label: Hyperion
Length: 74 minutes

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anon.: Lemady

Work length1:21

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

anon.: She's like the swallow

Work length2:43

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

anon.: I wonder as I wander

Work length3:29

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

Dibdin: The Oddities

Work length5:39

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

Song. Tom Bowling

Track length5:39

$1.10

$1.50

Britten: Songs and Proverbs of William Blake, Op. 74

Work length25:39

$15.40

$21.00

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

I. Proverb I

Track length1:05

$1.10

$1.50

II. London

Track length2:04

$1.10

$1.50

III. Proverb II

Track length0:33

$1.10

$1.50

IV. The Chimney-Sweeper

Track length2:14

$1.10

$1.50

V. Proverb III

Track length0:42

$1.10

$1.50

VI. A Poison Tree

Track length4:52

$1.10

$1.50

VII. Proverb IV

Track length0:57

$1.10

$1.50

VIII. The Tyger

Track length2:00

$1.10

$1.50

IX. Proverb V

Track length0:51

$1.10

$1.50

X. The Fly

Track length1:57

$1.10

$1.50

XI. Proverb VI

Track length1:30

$1.10

$1.50

XII. Ah, Sun-flower

Track length2:56

$1.10

$1.50

XIII. Proverb VII

Track length0:44

$1.10

$1.50

XIV. Every Night and every Morn

Track length3:14

$1.10

$1.50

Britten: Tit for Tat

Work length10:05

$5.50

$7.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

I. A Song of Enchantment

Track length2:41

$1.10

$1.50

II. Autumn

Track length1:09

$1.10

$1.50

III. Silver

Track length2:02

$1.10

$1.50

IV. Vigil

Track length1:58

$1.10

$1.50

V. Tit for Tat

Track length2:15

$1.10

$1.50

Britten: Um Mitternacht

Work length3:41

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

Britten: A Poison Tree

Work length3:06

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

Britten: This way to the tomb

Work length4:44

$3.30

$4.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

I. Evening

Track length1:45

$1.10

$1.50

II. Morning

Track length1:06

$1.10

$1.50

III. Night

Track length1:53

$1.10

$1.50

Owen, D: David of the White Rock

Work length3:33

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

anon.: Greensleeves

Work length2:11

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

anon.: The Crocodile

Work length5:21

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

anon.: The Deaf Woman's Courtship

Work length1:31

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

anon.: Bird Scarer's Song

Work length1:02

$1.10

$1.50

Gerald Finley (baritone), Julius Drake (piano)

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The unbeatable, multi-award-winning partnership of Gerald Finley and Julius Drake turn to the composer Benjamin Britten for their latest Hyperion release.

Although Britten is particularly celebrated for the substantial body of music he composed for the tenor voice, the composer also left an important legacy of music for baritone. Characteristically, Britten’s output for low voice was also inspired by the talents of specific performers with whom he was closely associated, among them Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and John Shirley-Quirk. In addition to song-cycles, individual songs and folksong arrangements, Britten wrote challenging baritone roles in operas as diverse as Billy Budd (1951), Owen Wingrave (1970) and Death in Venice (1972)—the title role of the second of these made very much Gerald Finley’s own in his magnificent interpretation in Margaret Williams’s 2001 television film of the opera.

This disc contains Britten’s two important song cycles for baritone: Tit for Tat, setting the poems of Walter de la Mare, and the more substantial and challenging Songs and Proverbs of William Blake. The latter was written for Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau; designed to showcase his unique blend of intense lyricism and dramatic characterization, qualities which are undoubtedly also exhibited by Gerald Finley.

Also included are some of Britten’s popular folksong settings, and a selection of later songs, which received exposure and publication only after the composer’s death in December 1976.

Reviews

26th October 2010

[Finley] just seems to be singing naturally, but at the same time he colors and inflects with astonishing specificity. He manages to vary the repeats in those folk-song settings where verses are repeated...His diction is crisp and clear, which adds to the dramatic impact of his singing.

July 2010

Finley as ever acquits himself as a fine singer, a conscientious artist and a thoroughly reliable musician....In all (including the Blake) Julius Drake is the superb pianist.

13th June 2010

Finley’s watchwords are directness and clarity, both of which come across to splendid effect in the folk-song arrangements and the comic duet The Deaf Woman’s Courtship, in which he performs both parts. Drake is his admirable partner in this outstanding enterprise.

3rd June 2010

Gerald Finley sings them all with such an unwaveringly beautiful tone and attention to every syllable, and pianist Julian Drake is so wonderfully attuned to the baritone's inflections...Finley comes into his own in the final Every Night and Every Morn, and Drake's handling of the powerfully wrought accompaniments is superb.

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