John Pickard: Songs for Voice and Piano
The English composer John Pickard (b. 1963) is best known for a series of powerful orchestral works, five symphonies among them. But this album of songs – his complete output for voice and piano to date – demonstrates that he can generate drama on a smaller scale, too. These settings – of two less familiar poets of the First World War, often exploring man’s relationship with nature, and a translation of a ninth-century Anglo-Saxon phantasmagorical allegory – encompass a wide range of moods, requiring soaring vocal lines, declamatory authority and the gentlest intimacy, supported by piano textures that can are up in freewheeling virtuosity.
Roderick Williams, baritone (Tracks 1-5, 7-15)
Eve Daniell, soprano (Track 6)
Simon Lepper, piano
Listen To This Recording:
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Binyon Songs (2010–12)
- Binyon Songs: I Nature
- Binyon Songs: II Sowing Seed
- Binyon Songs: III Autumn Song
- Binyon Songs: IV When all the world is hidden
- Binyon Songs: V The Burning of the Leaves
- The Phoenix
- The Borders of Sleep: I Tall Nettles
- The Borders of Sleep: II The Trumpet
- The Borders of Sleep: III The Mill-Water
- The Borders of Sleep: IV Out in the Dark
- The Borders of Sleep: V The Gallows
- The Borders of Sleep: VI Rain
- The Borders of Sleep: VII No One Cares Less Than I
- The Borders of Sleep: VIII Last Poem (The Sorrow of True Love)
- The Borders of Sleep: IX Lights Out
The Phoenix (1992)
The Borders of Sleep (2000–1)
FIRST RECORDINGS
MusicWeb International :
‘Pickard brings a sense of aching beauty to his setting of these words, matched by the emotionally charged singing of Roderick Williams and the plangent playing of Simon Lepper. […]
The recorded sound too is excellent and atmospheric, and this CD should be snapped up by all those who have an interest in the evolution of English song in the post-Britten era.’
—Paul Corfield Godfrey, MusicWeb International
Classical Net :
‘John Pickard (born in 1963) is one of those composers with a distinct and very effective style who does not yet get the attention which he deserves. […] Toccata has recently released what amounts to a survey of his complete output for voice and piano. For all their small scale, they exemplify the range and impact of Pickard’s writing. […]
Composing very much in the English tradition (Pickard was General Editor of the Elgar Complete Edition from 2004 to 2017), his music is characterized by a restrained but always justified declamatory force refreshed and strengthened by an equally rational yet wholesome intimacy. […]
[Binyon Songs] a gently compelling work excellently and sensitively performed here. Like the other works, this is its only available recording. […]
He is interested in the way in which both Binyon and Thomas seem to refer obliquely to war; there is a notable lack of metaphor. At times, though, the words do paint actual events around the poets, as in “Rain” [tr.12], for example. Pickard exploits the gap left by such an “offset” between the language of poetry which we know to be referring to horrors, poignancy and negativity, and those events and attributes themselves. It takes a special performing sensitivity to understand and respond to this. Williams and Lepper, by taking their time and really reflecting on what Pickard has written, offer such sensitivity. […]
Typical of the composer, these songs have a directness which should evoke a satisfied response from listeners who understand Pickard’s idiom, and Binyon’s. […] As in The Borders of Sleep Roderick Williams clear baritone voice effortlessly employs an intonation and articulation which convey every nuance of melody, text and texture. […]
The writing – like the singing and playing – is fluid, precise and falls on the ear with a certain inevitability about it. […]
Simon Lepper’s pianism is excellent throughout. His sensitivity not to the singer, nor to the text, but to the ways in which the two interrelate is what counts. This awareness does such strong service to these precisely-conceived and meticulously-prepared performances. Virtuosity is not lacking in Pickard’s writing on this scale. But it’s never gratuitous. Lepper understands the dangers of the former and the extent to which his color and tone can aid our enjoyment and appreciation of the songs without suspecting impetuosity or a hint of waywardness. This is completely in line with Pickard’s insistence that his music be received without irony, subterfuge and with complete sincerity.
The CD was recorded in St George’s, Bristol, whose acoustic has just the right amount of resonance to support the weight of these three settings. […] If you’re new to Pickard, this is a good place to start because the works here distill the essence of Pickard’s philosophy and considerable skills. If you’re already a “follower”, you will want such largely excellent accounts of an area of writing to which, let’s hope, Pickard will turn his attention again soon.’
—Mark Sealey, Classical Net
Gramophone :
‘[Binyon Songs is] a model of word-setting in their clarity of focus, the music truly interpreting and providing context for Binyon’s poems. […]
[The Borders of Sleep] and the Binyon Songs are beautifully sung by Roderick Williams, who inhabits the tonal and expressive worlds of each number with tremendous conviction. […]
Simon Lepper accompanies both singers in exemplary fashion. Beautifully recorded, highly recommended.’
—Guy Rickards, Gramophone
Art Music Lounge :
Pickard has chosen to take an almost Ralph Vaughan Williams approach to song writing: good, well-constructed music but largely lyrical and tonal.
But I hope I have made clear that “largely lyrical and tonal” does not mean uninteresting. I think Pickard is constitutionally incapable of writing poorly constructed or formulaic music, and these songs—any one of which would serve a singer well in a vocal recital—are consistently fine as well as emotionally powerful statements. Of course, it helps that they are presented here not only by Roderick Williams, a British baritone with an incipient flutter in the voice but a really lovely tone, great interpretive skills and crystal-clear diction (thank God for once!), but also the really outstanding pianist Simon Lepper. This duo clearly worked hard and long on honing every phrase of each song to communicative perfection. They surely did not intend this to just be a “read-through” of these obviously superior examples of modern British song writing. Indeed, the aforementioned “Burning of the Leaves” is almost a vocal tone poem in and of itself, magnificent and compelling from start to finish. […]
Overall, then, a decidedly worthwhile disc to acquire.’
—Lynn René Bayley, Art Music Lounge
Arcana.FM :
‘Does it all work?
Very much so – not least when the performances are so attuned to the spirit and sensibility of Pickard’s music. A stalwart of English-song repertoire, Roderick Williams invests the Binyon and Thomas settings with unsparing emotional acuity, and if Eve Daniell experiences passing difficulty with pitching and intonation, her command of high-flown rhetoric in The Phoenix leaves no doubt as to her identity with this piece. Simon Lepper’s accompaniment is of the highest order, while recorded sound judges balance between voice and piano to perfection.
Is it recommended?
Indeed, and Pickard will hopefully add to his output for voice and piano in due course.’
—Richard Whitehouse, Arcana.FM