Notes and Editorial Reviews
STANLEY WILSON: Art Songs of the British Romantics
•
Stanley Wilson (ten); Malcolm Halliday (pn)
•
MSR (54:00
Text and Translation)
BRIDGE
Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind. Adoration. The Last Invocation. Love Went A-Riding.
ELGAR
Is She Not Passing Fair? Rondel. The Poet’s Life. The Wind at Dawn.
QUILTER
Go, Lovely Rose. Now Sleeps the
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Crimson Petal. Love’s Philosophy.
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Songs of Travel
Although Stanley Wilson’s voice is rather on the dry side, and his top notes can be a bit tight (the high A at the end of Quilter’s
Love’s Philosophy
has a sense of strain about it), in the end this is a highly satisfying disc. Wilson, an American, has absorbed the style of these quintessential British composers, his English diction is crisp and clear, and he gets deeply inside each song and its texts. You might find richer vocalism in the recordings of Vaughan Williams’s
Songs of Travel
from Benjamin Luxon (Chandos) or Anthony Rolfe-Johnson (EMI and Imp Classics), but you will not find Wilson yielding to either of those in shaping the music and conveying its beauties. What makes the disc is the intelligent program. We don’t hear songs of Frank Bridge or Edward Elgar very often, and they are wonderful examples of songwriting. Every single selection here is worth knowing, and they are also assembled in a way that makes for a very musical flow.
Malcolm Halliday is a true collaborative pianist (a term I prefer to “accompanist”). He and Wilson match their inflections, their dynamics, and their tempo adjustments perfectly. The recorded sound is natural and well balanced, and MSR provides the texts, something it does not do with the Wolf disc I review elsewhere in this
Fanfare
. This is a real gem.
FANFARE: Henry Fogel
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Works on This Recording
1.
Blow, blow thou winter wind, H 33 by Frank Bridge
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1903; England
2.
Adoration, H 57 by Frank Bridge
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1905; England
3.
The Last Invocation, H 136 by Frank Bridge
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1918-1919; England
4.
Love went a-riding, H 114 by Frank Bridge
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1914; England
5.
Is she not Passing Fair? by Sir Edward Elgar
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1886; England
6.
Rondel, Op. 16 no 3 by Sir Edward Elgar
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1894; England
7.
The Poet's Life by Sir Edward Elgar
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1892; England
8.
The Wind at Dawn by Sir Edward Elgar
Performer:
Malcolm Halliday (Piano),
Stanley Wilson (Tenor)
Period: Romantic
Written: 1888; England
9.
English Love Lyrics (5), Op. 24: no 3, Go, lovely rose by Roger Quilter
Performer:
Malcolm Halliday (Piano),
Stanley Wilson (Tenor)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1922; England
10.
Songs (3), Op. 3: no 2, Now sleeps the crimson petal by Roger Quilter
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1904; England
11.
Songs (3), Op. 3: no 1, Love's Philosophy by Roger Quilter
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1905; England
12.
Songs of travel: no 1, The vagabond by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Malcolm Halliday (Piano),
Stanley Wilson (Tenor)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901-1904; England
13.
Songs of travel: no 2, Let beauty awake by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Malcolm Halliday (Piano),
Stanley Wilson (Tenor)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901-1904; England
14.
Songs of travel: no 3, The roadside fire by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901-1904; England
15.
Songs of travel: no 4, Youth and love by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Malcolm Halliday (Piano),
Stanley Wilson (Tenor)
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
16.
Songs of travel: no 5, In dreams by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Malcolm Halliday (Piano),
Stanley Wilson (Tenor)
17.
Songs of travel: no 6, The infinite shining Heavens by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Stanley Wilson (Tenor),
Malcolm Halliday (Piano)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901-1904; England
18.
Whither Must I Wander? by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Malcolm Halliday (Piano),
Stanley Wilson (Tenor)
Period: 20th Century
Written: England
19.
Songs of travel: no 8, Bright is the ring of words by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Malcolm Halliday (Piano),
Stanley Wilson (Tenor)
Period: 20th Century
Written: 1901-1904; England
20.
Songs of travel: no 9, I have trod the upward and the downward slope by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Performer:
Malcolm Halliday (Piano),
Stanley Wilson (Tenor)
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