Edmund Rubbra - Songs (Various Artists)

Information

Composer: Edmund Rubbra

1. Rosa mundi, Op. 2
2. Cradle Song, Op. 8 No. 1
3. Nod
4. Orpheus with his Lute, Op. 8 No. 2
5. Who is Silvia?, Op. 8 No. 3
6. Out in the dark, Op. 13 No. 1
7. It was a lover, Op. 13 No. 3
8. The Night, Op. 14
9. Rune of Hospitality, Op. 15
10. A Duan of Barra, Op. 20
11. A Widow Bird Sate Mourning, Op. 28
12. A Prayer, Op. 17 No. 1
13. Two Songs, Op. 22: No. 1, Take, O take those lips away
14. Two Songs, Op. 22: No. 2, Why so pale and wan?
15. In Dark Weather, Op. 33
16. Invocation to Spring, Op. 17 No. 2
17. Two Sonnets by William Alabaster, Op. 87: I. Upon the Crucifix
18. Two Sonnets by William Alabaster, Op. 87: II. On the Reed of Our Lord's Passion
19. Two Songs, Op. 4: No. 1, The Mystery
20. Two Songs, Op. 4: No. 2, Jesukin
21. A Hymn to the Virgin, Op. 13 No. 2
22. The Jade Mountain, Op. 116: I. A Night Thought on Terrace Tower
23. The Jade Mountain, Op. 116: II. On Hearing Her Play the Harp
24. The Jade Mountain, Op. 116: III. An Autumn Night Message
25. The Jade Mountain, Op. 116: IV. A Song on the Southern River
26. The Jade Mountain, Op. 116: V. Farewell to a Japanese Buddhist Priest bound Homeward
27. Nocturne, Op. 54
28. Salve, Regina, Op. 119
29. No Swan So Fine, Op. 91
30. Fly Envious Time, Op. 148
31. Three Psalms, Op. 61: No. 1, Psalm 6
32. Three Psalms, Op. 61: No. 2, Psalm 23
33. Three Psalms, Op. 61: No. 3, Psalm 150
34. Dear Liza, Op. 7

Lucy Crowe, soprano

Claire Barnett-Jones, mezzo-soprano

Marcus Farnsworth, baritone

Timothy Ridout, viola

Catrin Finch, harp

Iain Burnside, piano

Date: 2023

Label: Chandos

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%2020182

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Review

Rubbra liked varying the accompaniments he wrote for his songs, and some of them require a string quartet or orchestra. This excellent new recital collects those where a piano or harp accompanies – 34 songs in total.

‘Nod’ is the earliest, written in 1921 when Rubbra was just 20, and in no sense a beginner’s effort. Pianist Iain Burnside and baritone Marcus Farnsworth catch evocatively its misty vision of an ageing shepherd’s weary tread toward ‘the quiet steps of dreamland, the waters of no-more-pain’.

The five-song cycle The Jade Mountain dates from four decades later, and is central to the recital. Chinese poetry provides the texts, and Catrin Finch’s harp brings a sense of ethereality and exoticism to the accompaniments. Soprano Lucy Crowe is a touch effortful by comparison, the high notes in ‘A Night Thought on Terrace Tower’ revealing an element of strain. Both the unaccompanied ‘The Mystery’ and ‘Jesukin’ from Two Songs, Op. 4 reveal Crowe’s sensitive artistry better, as does Rubbra’s last song ‘Fly, Envious Time’.

Other highlights are mezzo-soprano Claire Barnett-Jones’s injection of dramatic point and immediacy to the first of the ThreePsalms, Op. 61, an austere setting which can easily meander. She is joined by Marcus Farnsworth for Rubbra’s duet setting of the traditional ‘Dear Liza’ – a welcome injection of jollity at the end of a generally contemplative recital.

Full texts and an informative essay by Jonathan Clinch are provided, further enhancing the attractions of this valuable issue.

-- Terry Blain, BBC Music Magazine

More reviews:
https://musicwebinternational.com/2023/02/rubbra-the-jade-mountain-chandos/

https://musicwebinternational.com/2023/03/rubbra-the-jade-mountain-chandos-2/

https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/2023/04/rubbra.htm

https://www.allmusic.com/album/the-jade-mountain-songs-by-edmund-rubbra-mw0003919996

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Edmund Rubbra (23 May 1901 – 14 February 1986) was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. Rubbra was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The best known of his pieces are his eleven symphonies. Although he was active at a time when many people wrote twelve-tone music, he decided not to write in this idiom; instead, he devised his own distinctive style. Rubbra's output as a whole is less celebrated today than would have been expected from its early popularity.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Rubbra

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