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Special offer. Hugh Wood: Wild Cyclamen
Clare McCaldin (mezzo-soprano), James Gilchrist (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano), Simon Lepper (piano)
Wood is nothing if not a craftsman, and his vocal lines are always skilful amplifications of the text while his idiomatically written piano parts set the voice off to its best advantage
Special offer. Hugh Wood: Wild Cyclamen
Clare McCaldin (mezzo-soprano), James Gilchrist (tenor), Roderick Williams (baritone), Iain Burnside (piano), Simon Lepper (piano)
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Wood is nothing if not a craftsman, and his vocal lines are always skilful amplifications of the text while his idiomatically written piano parts set the voice off to its best advantage
About
Composer Hugh Wood is known for his powerfully communicative and lyrical music and this latest release presents a selection of songs spanning his career. They are set to poems by DH Lawrence, Robert Graves, Laurie Lee and Lawrence Durrell, exploring themes of youth, love, lust and longing.
Wild Cyclamen (2006) – a song-cycle from twelve individual, unrelated poems by Robert Graves – depicts the rise and fall of a love affair. Hugh Wood explains: “Graves wrote no such cycle but I’ve dared to construct one. It doesn’t achieve too strong a story-line, but the songs are meant to be sung in a fixed order”.
The DH Lawrence settings (1998) include three poems Lawrence wrote about his days with Frieda in Bavaria and the Isles of Greece (2007) is a compilation of poems celebrating various aspects of Greek life and its people.
The earliest works on this recording are the Laurie Lee Songs (1956-58) written when Hugh was in his mid-twenties.
Contents and tracklist
- Clare McCaldin, Iain Burnside
- Recorded: 17 June 2014
- James Gilchrist, Simon Lepper
- Recorded: 17-18 November 2014
Spotlight on this release
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Awards and reviews
July 2015
Wood is nothing if not a craftsman, and his vocal lines are always skilful amplifications of the text while his idiomatically written piano parts set the voice off to its best advantage
12th April 2015
Wood has produced more than a dozen voice-and-piano works, and here are four: three collections and a song cycle proper. The five Laurie Lee Songs, dating back to 1958, come over with a post-Brittenish freshness.
