Antonín Dvořák - Cypresses (Timothy Robinson; Graham Johnson; Delmé Quartet)

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Composer: Antonín Dvořák

1. Cypresses: No. 1. Sing fervent songs
2. Cypresses: No. 2. When thy sweet glances
3. Cypresses: No. 3. Death reigns
4. Cypresses: No. 4. Thou only dear one
5. Cypresses: No. 5. Oh, it was a lovely golden dream
6. Cypresses: No. 6. I know that on my love
7. Cypresses: No. 7. O charming golden rose
8. Cypresses: No. 8. Never will love lead us
9. Cypresses: No. 9. I wander oft
10. Cypresses: No. 10. Tormented oft by doubt
11. Cypresses: No. 11. Downcast am I
12. Cypresses: No. 12. Here gaze I
13. Cypresses: No. 13. Everything's still
14. Cypresses: No. 14. In deepest forest glade
15. Cypresses: No. 15. Painful emotions pierce my soul
16. Cypresses: No. 16. There stands an ancient rock
17. Cypresses: No. 17. Nature lies peaceful
18. Cypresses: No. 18. You are asking why
19. Echo of Songs: No. 1. I know that on my love
20. Echo of Songs: No. 2. Death reigns
21. Echo of Songs: No. 3. When thy sweet glances
22. Echo of Songs: No. 4. Never will love lead us
23. Echo of Songs: No. 5. Here gaze I
24. Echo of Songs: No. 6. O charming golden rose
25. Echo of Songs: No. 7. I wander oft
26. Echo of Songs: No. 8. In deepest forest glade
27. Echo of Songs: No. 9. Thou only dear one
28. Echo of Songs: No. 10. There stands an ancient rock
29. Echo of Songs: No. 11. Nature lies peaceful
30. Echo of Songs: No. 12. You are asking why

Timothy Robinson, tenor

Graham Johnson, piano

Delmé Quartet

Galina Solodchin & John Trusler, violins

John Underwood, viola

Jonathan Williams, cello

Date: 2023

Label: SOMM

https://somm-recordings.com/recording/dvorak-cyprise-cypresses/

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Review

Brilliant idea, coupling Dvorák's Cypresses, the song cycle, with Dvorák's Cypresses, the string quartet transcription. This way, the listener gets the full Cypresses treatment: melodies of unbearable tenderness set to harmonies of ineffable beauty in both their original intimately emotional vocal version and in their equally blissfully sentimental transcription. Tenor Timothy Robinson has an impiously ardent way with Dvorák's melodies and pianist Graham Johnson supplies his usual simple, subtle, and sublime accompaniment. The Delme Quartet has a passionately sensuous way with Dvorák's shapes and forms, and its re-creation of the Cypresses in chamber music form is in its way just as effective as the original.

Somm's recordings are distinctly different. The Delme Quartet was recorded in Leiston Abbey, Suffolk, in 2002 and its acoustic is close, warm, and real. Robinson and Johnson were recorded in Champs Hill, West Sussex, in 2004 and their acoustic is thin, dry, and honest.

-- James Leonard, AllMusic

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Antonín Dvořák (September 8, 1841 – May 1, 1904) was a Czech composer. He was the second Czech composer to achieve worldwide recognition, after Bedřich Smetana. Following Smetana's nationalist example, many of Dvořák's works show the influence of Czech folk music, such as his  two sets of Slavonic Dances, the Symphonic Variations, and the overwhelming majority of his songs. Dvořák wrote in a variety of forms: nine symphonies, ten operas, three concertos, several symphonic poems, serenades for string orchestra and wind ensemble, more than 40 works of chamber music, and piano music.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonín Dvořák

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Timothy Robinson (born October 21, 1958) is an English tenor.

https://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Robinson-Timothy.htm

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Graham Johnson (born 10 July 1950) is a British classical pianist and Lieder accompanist.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Johnson_(musician)

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The Delmé Quartet was conceived in a taxi travelling over London Bridge in 1962 by Granville Delmé Jones and Jurgen Hess (violins), John Underwood (viola) and Joy Hall (cello). Galina Solodchin joined the quartet in the late 1960s after the death of Granville Jones. John Trusler and Jonathan Williams joined the quartet in the mid-’70s. John Underwood is therefore the sole remaining foundermember. Over the past four decades the Delmé has appeared at most major European festivals. The quartet’s collaboration with a number of notable composers is well known, particularly that with the late Robert Simpson.
http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/a.asp?a=A102

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