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Track Listings
| 1. There is Sweet Music, Op. 53; |
| 2. Deep in my Soul |
| 3. O Wild West Wind; |
| 4. Owls (An Epitaph) |
| 5. As Torrents in Summer |
| 6. The Prince of Sleep |
| 7. The Shower |
| 8. The Fountain |
| 9. My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land |
| 10. Death on the Hills |
| 11. Love s Tempest |
| 12. Serenade |
| 13. Evening Scene |
| 14. Go, Song of Mine |
| 15. Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands |
Product Description
CD Description
When Elgar s popular part-song My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land was published in 1890, a ready market for such pieces had been established by the competition festival movement, itself fuelled by the enormous growth in the number of choirs. This wide-ranging selection features several of Elgar s finest songs, including his best-known work in the genre As Torrents in Summer, which boasts a memorable tune, the highly original and chromatic Owls, probably the strangest that Elgar ever set, and the ambitious and bitonal There is Sweet Music which the composer himself described as a clinker, and the best I have done .
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Elgar came of age musically at the precise moment that the English choral festival movement was at its height, and although most music-lovers don't associate his name with choral music when they first think of him, he wrote some exceedingly lovely things, twenty of which are collected here in fine performances by the Cambridge University Chamber Choir under the direction of Christopher Robinson. Nothing will ever replace one of my favorite choral CDs from The Cambridge Singers under John Rutter containing two of Elgar's best: 'There is Sweet Music' and 'My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land'. But this one goes deeper into the Elgar oeuvre and is very much worth hearing. Not only are there fine performances of the two part-songs mentioned above -- 'There is Sweet Music', that bitonal marvel, is given a slightly lighter, faster but altogether effective reading on this CD -- but there are marvelous performances of, for instance, Elgar's oddest song, the hyper-chromatic 'The Owl', the exuberant 'The Fountain', and the ecstatically melodic 'As Torrents in Summer' (from his cantata, 'The Saga of King Olaf', to words by Longfellow).
I had never heard some of these songs before and was particularly touched by 'Death on the Hills', a mystical Erlkönig-like evocation of the death-struggle, and by the utterly gorgeous harmonies of 'Love's Tempest' and 'Serenade'.
The six songs of 'Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands' was written to words by Elgar's wife, Alice, and inspired by an 1895 trip to Bavaria where the Elgars witnessed folk-dancing and -singing that delighted them. They are generally light-hearted and in triple time; not surprisingly they are reminiscent of Brahms's Liebeslieder Waltzes. All the songs here are a cappella with the exception of these latter settings which are sensitively accompanied by pianist Iain Farrington.
The booklet notes by Geoffrey Hodgkins are more than usually informative and full texts are provided. Sound is fine but not outstanding. Recommended for those interested to explore further Elgar's undoubted abilities to write memorable choral music.
Scott Morrison
I had never heard some of these songs before and was particularly touched by 'Death on the Hills', a mystical Erlkönig-like evocation of the death-struggle, and by the utterly gorgeous harmonies of 'Love's Tempest' and 'Serenade'.
The six songs of 'Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands' was written to words by Elgar's wife, Alice, and inspired by an 1895 trip to Bavaria where the Elgars witnessed folk-dancing and -singing that delighted them. They are generally light-hearted and in triple time; not surprisingly they are reminiscent of Brahms's Liebeslieder Waltzes. All the songs here are a cappella with the exception of these latter settings which are sensitively accompanied by pianist Iain Farrington.
The booklet notes by Geoffrey Hodgkins are more than usually informative and full texts are provided. Sound is fine but not outstanding. Recommended for those interested to explore further Elgar's undoubted abilities to write memorable choral music.
Scott Morrison
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This collection is beautifully and expressively sung by this choir. The diction is excellent and there are some real gems of songs here. This Naxos recording is also amazing value for money.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Donald Hunt and the late Vernon Handley both recorded most, if not all, of Elgar's wonderful Part-Songs. Here on Naxos, as on Paul Spicer's Chandos disc, we have a selection.
These choral songs cover virtually the whole of Elgar's career. He was not really at his best when writing songs for the solo voice, but in those for chorus his genius is revealed over and over again. Such pieces as "There is Sweet Music", "Deep in My Soul, "As Torrents in Summer" and "My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land" linger long in the memory, and "Go,Song of Mine" is without doubt one of this great composer's many masterpieces.
Also included on this very well recorded collection is "Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands", which is perhaps better known in its orchestral version. These are settings of poems by Lady Elgar and are a happy momento of several holidays which the Elgars spent in Bavaria in the 1890's. Happy music, full of good and memorable tunes.
As one would expect, Christopher Robinson secures superb singing from the Cambridge University Chamber Choir.
These choral songs cover virtually the whole of Elgar's career. He was not really at his best when writing songs for the solo voice, but in those for chorus his genius is revealed over and over again. Such pieces as "There is Sweet Music", "Deep in My Soul, "As Torrents in Summer" and "My Love Dwelt in a Northern Land" linger long in the memory, and "Go,Song of Mine" is without doubt one of this great composer's many masterpieces.
Also included on this very well recorded collection is "Scenes from the Bavarian Highlands", which is perhaps better known in its orchestral version. These are settings of poems by Lady Elgar and are a happy momento of several holidays which the Elgars spent in Bavaria in the 1890's. Happy music, full of good and memorable tunes.
As one would expect, Christopher Robinson secures superb singing from the Cambridge University Chamber Choir.
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