Susan Gritton, James Gilchrist, Roderick Williams & Andrew West - Parry: 12 Sets of English Lyrics, Vol. 1 (2016)

Tracklist
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01. English Lyrics, Set 1: No. 1, My True Love Hath My Heart
02. English Lyrics, Set 1: No. 2, Good Night
03. English Lyrics, Set 1: No. 3, Where Shall the Lover Rest
04. English Lyrics, Set 1: No. 4, Willow Song
05. English Lyrics, Set 2: No. 1, O Mistress Mine
06. English Lyrics, Set 2: No. 2, Take, O Take Those Lips Away
07. English Lyrics, Set 2: No. 3, No Longer Mourn for Me
08. English Lyrics, Set 2: No. 4, Blow, Blow Thou Winter Wind
09. English Lyrics, Set 2: No. 5, When Icicles Hang by the Wall
10. English Lyrics, Set 3: No. 1, To Lucas on Going to the Wars
11. English Lyrics, Set 3: No. 3, To Althea from Prison
12. English Lyrics, Set 3: No. 4, Why So Pale and Wan
13. English Lyrics, Set 4: No. 4, Weep You No More, Sad Fountains
14. English Lyrics, Set 3: No. 6, Of All the Torments
15. English Lyrics, Set 5: No. 4, Lay a Garland on My Hearse
16. English Lyrics, Set 11: No. 7, Why Art Thou Slow
17. English Lyrics, Set 7: No. 1, On a Time the Amorous Silvy
18. English Lyrics, Set 7: No. 2, Follow a Shadow
19. English Lyrics, Set 7: No. 3, Ye Little Birds That Sit and Sing
20. English Lyrics, Set 7: No. 4, O Never Say That I Was False of Heart
21. English Lyrics, Set 7: No. 5, Julia
22. English Lyrics, Set 10: No. 6, One Silent Night of Late
23. English Lyrics, Set 12: No. 2, To Blossoms
24. English Lyrics, Set 12: No. 3, Rosaline
25. English Lyrics, Set 5: No. 3, Crabbed Age and Youth
26. English Lyrics, Set 6: No. 6, Under the Greenwood Tree
27. Sonnet 32 "If Thou Survive My Well-Contended Day"
28. 4 Sonnets: No. 1, Sonnet 29 "When in Disgrace" (Sung in German)
29. 4 Sonnets: No. 2, Sonnet 87 "Farewell, Though Art Too Dear" (Sung in German)
30. 4 Sonnets: No. 3, Sonnet 18 "Shall I Compare Thee" (Sung in German)
31. 4 Sonnets: No. 4, Sonnet 30 "When to the Sessions" (Sung in German)


This month's new release from SOMM brings exciting news for all lovers of English Song! At long last, Hubert Parry's complete Twelve Sets of English Lyrics are now available, beginning with Volume I. The twelve sets, which also include other songs by Parry, are spread over three volumes which will be released at six-monthly intervals. This has been a close and enjoyable collaboration between SOMM, the excellent pianist Andrew West and Susan Gritton, James Gilchrist and Roderick Williams, three charismatic singers at the top of their profession, all sharing the same fondness for the expressive lyricism and eloquence inherent in Parry's songs. Susan Gritton's preface to Professor Jeremy Dibble's booklet notes in Volume I encapsulates the essence of Sir Hubert Parry, both as a musician and a man of great intelligence and sensibility: Since the idea of recording the Complete 12 Sets of Parry's English Lyrics with SOMM emerged earlier this year, it has become our mission to make people aware of their power, depth and sheer lyricism. For us, it has been an extraordinary voyage through this treasury of English song which has been too long neglected. In fact, this is the first ever complete recording of these songs. The English Lyrics lie at the heart of Parry's output. Through these recordings we aim to re-frame Parry the musician and private man among the world of pre-Raphaelites and the contemporary movements of his time (his wife was a suffragette and Parry wrote "Jerusalem" for a meeting in 1916 of 'Fight for Right', the movement for the emancipation of women) thus, banishing the widely held notion that Parry was an institutional Victorian with a narrow musical vision. From the hand of the composer who gave us, for instance, the soaring vocal lines of "I was glad", here we encounter song writing with piano accompaniments that owe more to the world of Brahms and Wagner than trifles from a Victorian sitting room. His music is complex, it goes well beyond "Jerusalem" and "Blest Pair of Sirens" and is hugely rewarding when studied more closely. Parry was also an inspired teacher whose illuminating influence was beneficial to many of the next generation of British composers, not least to Vaughan Williams one of Parry's students at RCM who, through Parry's teaching, widened his own musical horizons and became aware of the greatness of the English choral tradition. I think back now with a tinge of regret that I did not think to question my grandfather and renowned accompanist, Eric Gritton (1889 -1983), friend of Vaughan Williams, who had known Parry personally at the Royal College of Music, London. How interesting and useful his insight and knowledge would have been!

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