Fearful Symmetry: Songs and Piano Music By John Sykes

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Release Date: 3rd Apr 2020
Catalogue No: ALBCD040
Label: Albion Records
Length: 82 minutes

Usually despatched in 3 - 4 working days

Sykes, J: Piping Down the Valleys Wild

Work length1:58

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Rowan Pierce (soprano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: Hear the Voice of the Bard

Work length4:21

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: Earth's Answer

Work length5:28

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Echoing Green

Work length1:57

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Rowan Pierce (soprano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Garden of Love

Work length2:04

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: Holy Thursday (Innocence)

Work length2:26

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Rowan Pierce (soprano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: Holy Thursday (Experience)

Work length2:07

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Divine Image

Work length2:49

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Rowan Pierce (soprano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Human Abstract

Work length2:27

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Lamb

Work length2:50

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Rowan Pierce (soprano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Tyger

Work length1:56

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: Infant Joy

Work length1:35

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Rowan Pierce (soprano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: Infant Sorrow

Work length2:32

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Clod and the Pebble

Work length2:12

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Blossom

Work length0:38

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Rowan Pierce (soprano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: A Poison Tree

Work length1:28

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Sick Rose

Work length1:46

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Fly

Work length0:49

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: On Another's Sorrow

Work length3:47

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Rowan Pierce (soprano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Schoolboy

Work length3:36

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Shepherd

Work length1:45

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Rowan Pierce (soprano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: The Voice of the Ancient Bard

Work length2:39

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: Polonaise (Version for Piano Duo)

Work length5:26

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Iain Farrington (piano), William Vann (piano)

Sykes, J: Homage to John Dowland

Work length4:52

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

No. 1, Jean with Her Golden Grace

Track length2:18

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No. 2, My Mistress Played

Track length2:34

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Sykes, J: Toccata

Work length8:17

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Iain Farrington (piano)

Sykes, J: Paean

Work length4:04

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Iain Farrington (piano)

Sykes, J: The Keel Row

Work length2:52

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Iain Farrington (piano)

Sykes, J: London

Work length3:32

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Gareth Brynmor John (baritone), William Vann (piano)

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About

This recording is of songs, solo piano works and a piano duo by John Sykes. The songs are largely settings from William Blake's poems of Innocence and Experience, but there are also settings of poems by Sykes's friend and contemporary, Randall Swingler.

John Sykes (1909-1962) was a pianist, composer and schoolteacher. He gained his FRCO as a schoolboy and became Organ Scholar at Balliol College Oxford. Later, he studied with both Ralph Vaughan Williams and Gordon Jacob. Albion Records is the recording arm of The Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, so it is Sykes's association as a pupil that inspires this release.

Sykes spent most of his career teaching music at Kingswood School, Bath. He left behind a good deal of music, with just a handful of published works. Most of his manuscripts remain in the school archives.

Rowan Pierce was presented with the President's Award by HRH Prince of Wales at the Royal College of Music in 2017. She won both the Song Prize and First Prize at the inaugural Grange Festival International Singing Competition, the Van Someren-Godfrey Prize at the Royal College of Music and the first Schubert Society Singer Prize in 2014. She has many recordings to her credit.

Gareth Brynmor John has been a winner of the Kathleen Ferrier Award, and the Royal Academy of Music Patrons' Award. He has performed in operas and song recitals all over the UK and internationally.

Iain Farrington is a pianist, organist, composer and arranger. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music, London and at Cambridge University. He has performed at all the major UK venues, as well as in the USA, Japan, South Africa, Malaysia, Hong Kong and all across Europe. Iain has composed several orchestral works for the BBC Proms.

William Vann is a multiple-prize winning accompanist and conductor. He is the Director of Music at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, and the founder and Artistic Director of the London English Song Festival. In April 2019 he conducted Hubert Parry's long-neglected oratorio Judith in the Royal Festival Hall, which he has also recorded for Chandos Records.

Fearful Symmetry: Songs and Piano Music By John Sykes

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