Excalibur Voices, Duncan Aspden, Anna Markland - And the Blackbird Sang (2025) [Hi-Res]

Tracklist

01. Song of Proserpine
02. The Scribe
03. Creep Afore Ye Gang
04. The Shadows
05. A Rose for Lidice
06. Magdalen at Michael's Gate
07. This Have I Done for My True Love, Op. 34 No. 1, H. 128
08. In the Wilderness
09. Abou Ben Adhem
10. In Youth Is Pleasure
11. 6 Choral Folk Songs, Op. 36b, H. 136: No. 5, I Love My Love
12. There Is a Garden in Her Face (Version for Choir & Piano)
13. May Flowers (Version for Choir & Piano)
14. In Summer Woods (Version for Choir & Piano)
15. Evening Song
16. Songs of Escape: No. 1, Hear, O God
17. Songs of Escape: No. 2, Helen of Kirconell
18. Songs of Escape: No. 3, The Spring of the Year
19. Songs of Escape: No. 4, Lord Let Me Know Mine End
20. Songs of Escape: No. 5, Port After Stormy Seas
21. 6 Choral Folk Songs, Op. 36b, H. 136: No. 3, Matthew, Mark, Luke & John

Em Records is proud to present world premiere recordings on their latest disc, including two songs by John Ireland, which contain all the hallmarks of that delightful melodist's charm, typically supported by characterful and idiomatic piano parts.

Edgar Bainton's In Youth Is Pleasure and Abou Ben Adhem are also world premiere recordings and they demonstrate that that Cathedral favourite And I Saw a New Heaven was no one-off; evoking colours and conveying narrative to the highest level, these are neglected treasures indeed.

Finally, Em Records are delighted also to be able to feature the world premiere recordings of Songs of Escape by Robin Milford--rhythmically strongly-defined songs crafted with judicious chromaticism, in which the texture uses the choir more orchestrally than most.

At the 2024 English Music Festival, the choral ensemble Excalibur Voices were welcomed to perform. The audience was astounded at the brilliance of the concert that this vocal group delivered: their programme was perfectly crafted and constructed, and the performance was superb.

Em Records are therefore delighted to announce a recording of choral works with the group, who, with their conductor, Duncan Aspden, are passionate about English choral song and combine rhythmic suppleness with an ear for choral colour and a musicianship embedded in poetry and story-telling.

The new disc includes three charming and beautiful part-songs by Gustav Holst, Five English Folk-songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, the beautiful Song of Proserpine by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, astounding Magdalen at Michael's Gate by Sir Henry Walford Davies and three songs by Herbert Howells, including the world premiere recording of Creep Afore Ye Gang. Also featured is Alan Rawsthorne's A Rose for Lidice - an intense, sparse lament in which fragmented phrases give voice to the tragedy of a Bohemian village razed by the Nazis in 1942, and to the rose garden planted there in memorial.

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