Stephen Dodgson: The Peasant Poet - Songs, Volume 1 - Somm: SOMMCD0659 - CD or download

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Pianist Christopher Glynn adroitly elicits the diverse character of each song...Some of the songs themselves might draw more from the texts, but these approachable, sometimes quirky vignettes... — BBC Music Magazine, February 2023, 4 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 18th Nov 2022
Catalogue No: SOMMCD0659
Label: Somm
Length: 63 minutes

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Dodgson: Poems (4) of John Clare

Work length10:48

$4.00

$5.20

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James Gilchrist, Mark Eden

No. 1, Trotty Wagtail

Track length2:34

$1.00

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No. 2, The Peasant Poet

Track length2:50

$1.00

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No. 3, Turkeys

Track length1:58

$1.00

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$1.75

No. 4, The Fox

Track length3:26

$1.00

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$1.75

Dodgson: Mrs. Hen

Work length1:21

$1.00

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$1.75

Katie Bray, Christopher Glynn

Dodgson: Heaven-Haven

Work length2:03

$1.00

$1.30

$1.75

Roderick Williams, Christopher Glynn

Dodgson: Five Eyes

Work length1:18

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Katie Bray, Christopher Glynn

Dodgson: The Monk and his Cat

Work length3:50

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Ailish Tynan, Christopher Glynn, Ian Wilson

Dodgson: Bush Ballads (Second Series)

Work length17:12

$6.00

$7.80

$10.50

Roderick Williams, Christopher Glynn

No. 1, Meet Me in Botany Bay

Track length2:57

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No. 2, The Sick Stockrider

Track length3:21

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No. 3, Holy Dan

Track length3:40

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No. 4, The Style in Which It's Done

Track length1:13

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No. 5, Old Harry

Track length3:10

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No. 6, The Parson and the Prelate

Track length2:51

$1.00

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Dodgson: Fanciful Pieces (8)

Work length4:53

$2.00

$2.60

$3.50

Christopher Glynn

No. 1, A Leaf in the River

Track length2:12

$1.00

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No. 2, Shrovetide Procession

Track length2:41

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Dodgson: Irishry

Work length6:23

$4.00

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Ailish Tynan, Christopher Glynn

No. 1, Tinkers

Track length1:42

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No. 2, The Midwife

Track length1:58

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No. 3, The Mill Girl

Track length1:36

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No. 4, Rags and Bones

Track length1:07

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Dodgson: Tideways

Work length11:04

$4.00

$5.20

$7.00

James Gilchrist, Ailish Tynan, Christopher Glynn

No. 1, Psyche

Track length3:15

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No. 2, The Needle

Track length4:02

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No. 3, The Gypsy

Track length1:26

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No. 4, Doria

Track length2:21

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Dodgson: Inversnaid

Work length2:06

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James Gilchrist, Christopher Glynn

Dodgson: Slow, Slow Fresh Fount

Work length3:03

$1.00

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$1.75

James Gilchrist, Christopher Glynn

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SOMM Recordings announces the launch of a major three-volume series devoted to the rich and varied songs of Stephen Dodgson on the eve of the 10th anniversary of his death in 2013, aged 89. Volume 1, The Peasant Poet, features tenor James Gilchrist, baritone Roderick Williams, soprano Ailish Tynan and mezzo-soprano Katie Bray, accompanied by Christopher Glynn (piano), Mark Eden (guitar) and Ian Wilson (recorder).

Son of the Symbolist painter John Arthur Dodgson and a distant cousin of Lewis Carroll, Stephen Dodgson was a prolific composer with a notable focus on works for guitar, harpsichord and recorder. Although neglected, his more than 100 songs are a substantial and defining part of his output.

Composed in 1961, ‘The Peasant Poet’ from Four Poems of John Clare, settings of the troubled and travailed poet, gives Volume 1 its title. Contrastingly, 1950’s Tideways sets four poems by the idiosyncratic Ezra Pound.

The six songs from Dodgson’s 1998 Second Series of Australian Bush Ballads “makes use of his own melodic style, graceful, elegant or sharply original and witty… with expressive accompaniments, sometimes simple, sometimes richly chromatic”, as John Warrack comments in his booklet notes, supplemented by Robert Matthew-Walker’s informative note on Dodgson’s style.

Writing in his native Gaelige, Irish playwright and political activist Joseph Campbell prompted 1949’s Irishry, the late The Monk and his Cat from 2004 returning to Ireland to animatedly set a playful ninth-century text.

Seven other songs, drawn from a variety of sources and voiced with appropriate individuality, complete a recital that eloquently argues for Dodgson’s place amongst the best of modern British art-song composers.

SOMM’s championing of British song includes Stanford’s Children’s Songs (SOMMCD0655), “fairly and squarely in the great English song tradition” (MusicWeb International), and Roderick Williams and Susie Allan’s Celebrating English Song (SOMMCD0177), hailed by Gramophone as “a treat”.

Reviews

February 2023

Pianist Christopher Glynn adroitly elicits the diverse character of each song...Some of the songs themselves might draw more from the texts, but these approachable, sometimes quirky vignettes could hardly have better advocates.

July/August 2023

the quality and poise of the singing, and the accompaniment from Christopher Glynn, certainly make this a pleasure...The sound is crystal clear as ever from this source, with voice and piano in perfect harmony. This is a triumph for Somm and, for all those who wish to seek out of the way English song, this is for you.

British Music Society Journal

In all there are 26 songs here and that includes five cycles and these are, attractively, divided between the voices… All highly original in concept and execution and eclectic in style as the texts require.

Offer,Stephen Dodgson: The Peasant Poet - Songs, Volume 1

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