Ian Venables' The Song Of The Severn is a cycle of songs in celebration of Worcestershire, scored for Baritone Voice, String Quartet and Piano.
“The Song of the Severn…clothespoems by Masefield, Housman, John Drinkwater and Philip Worner in sharply memorable music of bewitching lyricism, idiomatic grace and rapt instinct…No lover of the early-20th-century English art song or pastoral traditionshould fail to investigate this notable issue.” - Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone
“These five songs, for voice with piano and string quartet accompaniment, take the Severn River anditshistorical and natural associations as a common theme. They are absolutely stunning in their poignant beauty, their profoundly noble and moving sense of tragedy and desolation that never turns sentimental or lachrymose, andtheir perfect union of text and music to a level that rivals Schubert and Mahler.” - James A. Altena, Fanfare Magazine
