Havergal Brian: Complete Choral Songs, Volume One
The reputation of Havergal Brian (1876–1972) as a late-blossoming symphonist obscures the fact that he was an early-blossoming composer of choral music for the huge market of amateur choirs thriving in Edwardian England. His choral songs range from simple unison settings for children’s or women’s voices to harmonically complex essays intended to tax the ability of groups taking part in the choral competitions once popular in many parts of Britain.
Joyful Company of Singers
Peter Broadbent, conductor
Finchley Children’s Music Group
Grace Rossiter, conductor
Listen To This Recording:
- Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day (2:24)
- Soul Star (3:41)
- Come o’er the sea (2:57)
- Lullaby of an Infant Chief (2:30)
- Ah! County Guy, Serenade for equal voices (2:39)
- Violets (2:28)
- Fair Pledges of a Fruitful Tree (2:06)
- Grace for a Child (1:07)
- A Song of the Willow (1:39)
- And will he not come again? (2:26)
- Ye spotted snakes (2:48)
- Fear no more the heat of the sun (2:56)
- Under the Greenwood tree (1:54)
- Full fathom five (1:44)
- Come away, death (2:24)
- The Blossom (0:51)
- The Fly (1:12)
- The Little Boy Lost (1:07)
- The Little Boy Found (1:05)
- Piping down the Valleys Wild (1:54)
- The Chimney Sweeper (2:56)
- The Little Black Boy (4:37)
Prometheus Unbound
- From Unremembered Ages (1:55)
- The Path (4:59)
- There the Voluptuous Nightingales (3:27)
- There those Enchanted Eddies (2:56)
- Spring – sound the flute (1:31)
- Summer has come, Little Children (2:33)
- Goodbye to Summer (2:19)
- Blow, Blow thou Winter Wind (1:52)
MusicWeb International :
‘This is an exemplary release by Toccata Classics. Well recorded, sensitively performed, superbly documented […], the listener is given mainly premiere recordings of unknown repertoire that throws a fascinating new light on the output of an intriguing and often elusive composer. […]
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day [is recommended by] Elgar for the 1905 Morecombe Festival and such was its success that it became the official test-piece for the following year. Pickard refers to this work’s “melodious freshness and harmonic unpredictability offering challenge and reward in equal measure”. That would be equally applicable to the majority of the songs here which sound grateful and rewarding to sing without insurmountable complexities. A significant part of the success of this disc is that three different but skilled choral groups have been used and the works have been cunningly ordered to provide variation in performance but continuity of theme or author. […]
The settings sung by the Finchley Children’s Music Group are genuinely delightful. They are clearly well-trained but they have a collectively fresh and unmannered quality that suits the style of Brian’s settings. […] As sung here there is touching beauty and lack of artifice in that simplicity [in Grace for a Child]. When Brian’s writing becomes more demanding […] [The Joyful Company of Singers] are clearly impressive. […] Credit to the Joyful Company that they succeed as well as they do. […]
The value of this collection is in emphasising the range and variety of Brian’s output. […] The production team of engineer/editor Adaq Khan and producer Micheal Ponder have done an excellent job of ensuring consistency of sound production across the different session dates and locations. Toccata Classics supported by the indefatigable Havergal Brian Society are to be warmly praised for great service provided by this excellent and illuminating collection. The expectation must be that volume two will be every bit as valuable and interesting.’
—Nick Barnard, MusicWeb International