Kitty Whately, Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan - Stanford: Children's Songs (2022) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

SOMM Recordings continues its widely acclaimed championing of the music of Charles Villiers Stanford with a captivating collection of his Children’s Songs by mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and baritone Gareth Brynmor John, accompanied by pianist Susie Allan.

Including numerous first recordings and the first complete CD release of his setting of 14-year-old Helen Douglas Adam’s enchanting Songs from the Elfin Pedlar, it throws revealing new light on an important but largely overlooked aspect of Stanford’s output.

Stanford, as his biographer and British music authority Jeremy Dibble comments in his authoritative notes, “was very much alive to the importance of children’s participation in music” following the transformative introduction of signing to the school curriculum in 1870. This delightful compendium of songs intended for children reveals the composer to be as acutely sensitive to his eclectic choice of texts as to his intended audience.

It features premiere recordings of the early, Robert Louis Stevenson-set A Child’s Garland of Songs (Op.30), the mid-period Four Songs (Op.112) and later Six Songs (Op.175), together with seven other standalone songs, including the simple pastoral message of Summer’s Rain and Winter’s Snow and delightfully capricious Fairy Lures.

SOMM’s previous Stanford recordings include his String Quintets (SOMMCD 0623) and complete String Quartets (SOMMCD 0160, 0185, 0607) with the Dante Quartet, praised by Gramophone for their “ardent, alert and thoroughly lived-in performances”, and Partsongs with the Birmingham Conservatoire Chamber Choir led by Paul Spicer (SOMMCD 0128), which Limelight described as “excellent… beautifully sung”.

Tracklist:
1. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – A Child's Garland of Songs, Op. 30: No. 1, Bed in Summer (01:13)
2. Kitty Whately, Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – A Child's Garland of Songs, Op. 30: No. 2, Pirate Story (01:24)
3. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – A Child's Garland of Songs, Op. 30: No. 3, Foreign Lands (01:44)
4. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – A Child's Garland of Songs, Op. 30: No. 4, Windy Nights (00:54)
5. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – A Child's Garland of Songs, Op. 30: No. 5, Where Go the Boats? (01:58)
6. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – A Child's Garland of Songs, Op. 30: No. 6, My Shadow (02:32)
7. Kitty Whately, Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – A Child's Garland of Songs, Op. 30: No. 7, Marching Song (01:21)
8. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – A Child's Garland of Songs, Op. 30: No. 8, Foreign Children (02:30)
9. Kitty Whately, Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – A Child's Garland of Songs, Op. 30: No. 9, My Ship and Me (01:53)
10. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – 4 Songs, Op. 112: No. 1, Spring (01:50)
11. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – 4 Songs, Op. 112: No. 2, The Silence (02:59)
12. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – 4 Songs, Op. 112: No. 3, The City Child (01:33)
13. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – 4 Songs, Op. 112: No. 4, The Vision (03:26)
14. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – 6 Songs, Op. 175: No. 1, A Song of the Bow (01:26)
15. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – 6 Songs, Op. 175: No. 2, Drop Me a Flower (01:39)
16. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – 6 Songs, Op. 175: No. 3, The Winds of Bethlehem (03:55)
17. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – 6 Songs, Op. 175: No. 4, The Monkey's Carol (03:10)
18. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – 6 Songs, Op. 175: No. 5, Lullaby (03:37)
19. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – 6 Songs, Op. 175: No. 6, The Unknown Sea (02:43)
20. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 1: No. 1, Two Little Stars (01:52)
21. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 1: No. 2, The Pedlar (02:25)
22. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 1: No. 3, Little Snowdrop (00:57)
23. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 1: No. 4, The Piper of the Spring (01:49)
24. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 1: No. 5, Speedwell (01:42)
25. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 1: No. 6, The Dream Ship (01:30)
26. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 2: No. 1, Summer (01:08)
27. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 2: No. 2, What Do You See? (02:36)
28. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 2: No. 3, The Piper (02:47)
29. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 2: No. 4, The Secret Place (02:21)
30. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 2: No. 5, Night (01:34)
31. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – Songs from "The Elfin Pedlar", Book 2: No. 6, The Dust-Man (01:01)
32. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Witches' Charms (01:28)
33. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Summer's Rain and Winter's Snow (01:50)
34. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Fairy Lures (01:38)
35. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – The Hoofs of the Horses (01:47)
36. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – A Japanese Lullaby (02:28)
37. Kitty Whately & Susie Allan – Worship (02:59)
38. Gareth Brynmor John & Susie Allan – The King's Highway (02:23)


Thanks to the Original customer!