Mark Padmore, Roger Vignoles - Britten, Finzi & Tippett: Songs (2005)

Tracklist

01. Boyhood's End: No. 1, What, Then, Did I Want?
02. Boyhood's End: No. 2, To Climb Trees
03. Boyhood's End: No. 3, To Ride at Noon
04. Boyhood's End: No. 4, To Lie on My Back
05. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 1, A Young Man's Exhortation
06. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 2, Ditty
07. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 3, Budmouth Dears
08. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 4, Her Temple
09. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 5, The Comet at Yell'ham
10. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 6, Shortening Days
11. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 7, The Sigh
12. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 8, Former Beauties
13. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 9, Transformations
14. A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14: No. 10, The Dance Continued
15. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 1, A Riddle (The Earth)
16. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 2, A Laddie's Sang
17. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 3, Nightmare
18. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 4, Black Day
19. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 5, Bed-time
20. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 6, Slaughter
21. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 7, Riddle (The Child You Were)
22. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 8, The Larky Lad
23. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 9, Who Are These Children?
24. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 10, Supper
25. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 11, The Children
26. Who Are These Children?, Op. 84: No. 12, The Auld Aik
27. 6 Hölderlin-Fragmente: No. 1, Menschenbeifall
28. 6 Hölderlin-Fragmente: No. 2, Die Heimat
29. 6 Hölderlin-Fragmente: No. 3, Sokrates und Alcibiades
30. 6 Hölderlin-Fragmente: No. 4, Die Jugend
31. 6 Hölderlin-Fragmente: No. 5, Hälfte des Lebens
32. 6 Hölderlin-Fragmente: No. 6, Die Linien des Lebens
33. Um Mitternacht

This enthralling new recording from Mark Padmore and Roger Vignoles finds its emotional heart in the theme of youth, and in particular the passage of time inherent in this all-too-transient phase of human existence.

Opening with Boyhood’s End by Sir Michael Tippett (whose centenary falls in 2005), we are transported through Gerald Finzi’s wondrous A Young Man’s Exhortation—to the poetry of Thomas Hardy—to three rarely performed works by Benjamin Britten. Who are these children?, twelve songs to words by William Soutar, is a fascinating response to the themes of innocent childhood (the ‘Scottish’ songs) and the tragic loss of this childhood (the ‘English’ songs—written as a reaction to war-time photographs published in 1941).

The Sechs Hölderlin-Fragemente have been neglected on the concert platform, not least because they are rare in Britten’s song output as being in German. The music owes something to its composer’s love of the lieder of Hugo Wolf. Um Mitternacht is Britten’s only setting of Goethe. There is some evidence that a cycle was planned, but in the event this single song had to wait till 1994 before it was published as part of the collection A Red Cockatoo & other songs.

Roger Vignoles sensitively brings life to the piano accompaniments beneath the ardent tenor of Mark Padmore, as performances and programme combine to create a most satisfying recital.

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