The English Song Series Volume 22 - Benjamin Britten - Naxos: 8572600 - CD or download

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Williams brings a gentler, more intimate touch to what Fischer-Dieskau called their 'enigmatic smile': Blake's Tyger burns bright but with less fierce teeth, and there is more melancholy than... — BBC Music Magazine, July 2012, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 30th Apr 2012
Catalogue No: 8572600
Label: Naxos
Series: English Song Series
Length: 59 minutes

Gramophone Awards

2012

Finalist - Solo Vocal
Gramophone Magazine

June 2012

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

Work length25:56

$14.00

$18.20

$24.50

Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Recorded: 4-6 January 2011
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk

I. Proverb I: The pride of the peacock

Track length1:18

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

II. London

Track length2:21

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

III. Proverb II: Prisons are built

Track length0:38

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

IV. The Chimney-Sweeper

Track length2:18

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

V. Proverb III: The bird a nest

Track length0:49

$1.00

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$1.75

VI. A Poison Tree

Track length4:33

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

VII. Proverb IV: Think in the morning

Track length0:45

$1.00

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$1.75

VIII. The Tyger

Track length1:54

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

IX. Proverb V: The tygers of wrath

Track length0:50

$1.00

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X. The Fly

Track length1:55

$1.00

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XI. Proverb VI: The hours of folly

Track length1:40

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

XII. Ah! Sun-flower!

Track length3:11

$1.00

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XIII. Proverb VII: To see a World

Track length0:48

$1.00

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XIV. Every Night and Every Morn

Track length2:56

$1.00

$1.30

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Britten: Tit for Tat

Work length8:32

$5.00

$6.50

$8.75

Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Recorded: 4-6 January 2011
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk

No. 1. A Song of enchantment

Track length2:31

$1.00

$1.30

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No. 2. Autumn

Track length1:17

$1.00

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No. 3. Silver

Track length1:31

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No. 4. Vigil

Track length1:34

$1.00

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No. 5. Tit for Tat

Track length1:39

$1.00

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Britten: Folksongs Volume 3: British Isles · Pray Goody

Work length3:43

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Recorded: 4-6 January 2011
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk

No. 1. The Plough Boy

Track length1:42

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 5. The Foggy, Foggy Dew

Track length2:01

$1.00

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Britten: Tom Bowling

Work length4:27

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Recorded: 4-6 January 2011
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk

Tom Bowling and Other Song Arrangements: No. 1. Tom Bowling

Track length4:27

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Britten: Folksongs Volume 3: British Isles · Pray Goody

Work length3:16

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Recorded: 4-6 January 2011
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk

Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 3, "British Isles": No. 6. O Waly, Waly

Track length3:16

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Britten: Folksongs Volume 1: British Isles · Folk Songs

Work length5:33

$3.00

$3.90

$5.25

Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Recorded: 4-6 January 2011
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk

No. 7. Oliver Cromwell

Track length0:43

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 6. The Ash Grove

Track length2:22

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

No. 1. The Salley Gardens

Track length2:28

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Britten: Folksongs Volume 3: British Isles · Pray Goody

Work length1:39

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Recorded: 4-6 January 2011
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk

Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 3, "British Isles": No. 2. There's none to soothe

Track length1:39

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Britten: Folksongs Volume 1: British Isles · Folk Songs

Work length2:42

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Recorded: 4-6 January 2011
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk

Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 1, "British Isles": No. 2. Little Sir William

Track length2:42

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Britten: Folksongs Volume 5: British Isles · Folk Songs

Work length4:10

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Recorded: 4-6 January 2011
Recording Venue: Potton Hall, Westleton, Suffolk

Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 5, "British Isles": No. 5. Ca' the yowes

Track length4:10

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

About
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About

Britten wrote his Songs and Proverbs of William Blake, Op. 74 for the German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau in 1965. The singer admired the ‘concentration and enigmatic smile’ of the settings, and Britten constructed, through alternation of proverbs with songs, and an intense contemplation on the human and the eternal, one of his greatest song cycles. By contrast Tit for Tat sees Britten revisiting youthful, light-spirited settings of the poet Walter de la Mare. The folk-song arrangements are amongst his most famous, and beloved.

Britten’s song cycles are some of the greatest produced in the twentieth century. This disc focuses on his Blake cycle, one of his deepest and most contemplative. It’s contrasted with a very different and youthful cycle of five called Tit for Tat, written when he was a teenager.

The baritone Roderick Williams encompasses a wide repertoire, from baroque to contemporary music, in the opera house, on the concert platform and in recital. His recital appearances have taken him to London’s Wigmore Hall and many European festivals. He has an extensive discography and his recordings of English song with Iain Burnside have received particular acclaim.

Reviews

July 2012

Williams brings a gentler, more intimate touch to what Fischer-Dieskau called their 'enigmatic smile': Blake's Tyger burns bright but with less fierce teeth, and there is more melancholy than menace in this performance's view of the human condition. Every beautifully placed word is matched by Iain Burnside's recreation of Britten's pianistic subtext, glinting with many a revealing musical gloss.

12th May 2012

this sombre, discomfiting song-cycle [the Blake settings] remains a strikingly modern-sounding work, thanks partly to Blake’s existential poetry and aphoristic proverbs. Williams illuminates the text, but it’s a relief to move on to Britten’s boyhood settings of Walter de la Mare

June 2012

Williams finds an ideal emotional stance - involved, totally word-conscious but never melodramatic...as a recorded recital, Williams - and Burnside, who is similarly colourful but keeps an interpretative distance from pumping up the text - have created an outstanding achievement.

July 2012

It would be easy to exaggerate the claims of these songs [Tit for Tat], but presented so cleanly and with such understanding as do Williams and his superb pianist, Iain Burnside, they make just the effect the mature composer surely intended.

24th May 2012

Williams's voice is lighter than Fischer-Dieskau's, but his response to the texts is so intense, so well judged that there is never a lack of authority. The juvenile Walter De la Mare settings of Tit for Tat provide the perfect foil, followed by some of Britten's best-known folksong arrangements, all beautifully delivered without a trace of archness.

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