SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce a musical journey around the four nations of the United Kingdom with Folk Songs of the British Isles.
Celebrating the “living, breathing heritage of British and Irish folksong down the ages”, the 27-track recital features soprano Janis Kelly, mezzos Yvonne Howard and Maria Jagusz, tenors Nicky Spence and Wynne Evans, baritone Mark Llewelyn Evans, jazz doyenne Elaine Delmar and actor- singer Kevin Whately.
Fiona Kelly (flute), Jean Kelly (harp) and pianists Michael Pollock and John Wilson provide instrumental contributions with singer Caroline McCausland accompanying herself on guitar.
Much-loved songs include She Moved Through the Fair, The Last Rose of Summer, The Foggy, Foggy Dew and Down by the Salley Gardens.
Local colour is provided by songs such as Blaydon Races, Skye Boat Song, Sosban Fach and The Oak and the Ash while the entirely new Song for Gwyn (words by Christopher Morley, music by John Wilson) tributes Gwyn Williams, former Principal Viola with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which he joined in 1965 and where he played for conductors Hugo Rignold, Louis Frémaux and Sir Simon Rattle.
Royalties will be donated to the Gwyn Williams Bursary Fund which supports young violists at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and endows three viola chairs in the CBSO Youth Orchestra.
SOMM’s long commitment to British vocal music includes the acclaimed three-volume One Hundred Years of British Song by James Gilchrist and Nathan Williamson (SOMMCD 0621, 0636, 0646), two discs of Parry’s English Lyrics (SOMMCD 257, 270), volumes by Eric Coates (SOMMCD 0192), Ethel Smyth (SOMMCD 0611) and a British song recital by Kathleen Ferrier (ARIADNE 5010).
Recent releases include a first volume of songs by Stephen Dodgson (The Peasant Poet, SOMMCD 0659) and Robert Matthew-Walker’s A Bad Night in Los Angeles (SOMMCD 0662), hailed by MusicWeb International as “individual and accessible but with a sophistication and craft that repays attentive listening”.
On This Recording
- She Moved Through the Fair
- The Lark in the Clear Air
- By the Short Cut to the Rosses
- Si Bheag Si Mor
- Give Me Your Hand
- Irish The Last Rose of Summer
- Down by the Salley Gardens
- Can Ye Sew Cushions
- My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose
- Skye Boat Song
- Ye Banks and Braes
- The Rowan Tree
- Dance te Thi Daddy
- Blaydon Races
- Blow the Wind Southerly
- Sweet Polly Oliver
- Oliver Cromwell
- English Folk Song
- Can yr Arad Goch
- Myfanwy
- The Foyy, Foggy Dew
- Bugail Aberdyfi
- My Little Welsh Home
- Sospan Fach
- Drink to Me Only
- The Oak and the Ash
- Song for Gwyn
Traditional
Caroline McCausland
Traditional
Fiona Kelly, Jean Kelly
Norah Hopper Chesson
Caroline McCausland ( with guitar acc.)
Irish Traditional
Fiona Kelly, Jean Kelly
Irish Traditional
Fiona Kelly, Jean Kelly
Traditional
Caroline McCausland ( with guitar acc.)
Traditional arr. by Benjamin Britten
Nicky Spence, John Wilson
Traditional arr. by Benjamin Britten
Nicky Spence, John Wilson
Scottish Traditional
Nicky Spence, John Wilson
Scottish Traditional
Janis Kelly
Scottish Traditional
Janis Kelly, John Wilson
Scottish Traditional
Janis Kelly, John Wilson
Northumbrian Traditional
Kevin Whately, John Wilson
Northumbrian Traditional
Kevin Whately, John Wilson
Northumbrian Traditional
Yvonne Howard, John Wilson
Traditional arr. by Benjamin Britten
Yvonne Howard, John Wilson
Traditional arr. by Benjamin Britten
Yvonne Howard, John Wilson
Duncan Lamont
Elaine Delmar
Idris Lewis
Mark Llewelyn Evans, Michael Pollock
Joseph Parry arr. John Quirk
Mark Llewelyn Evans, Michael Pollock
Traditional arr. by Benjamin Britten
Wynne Evans, Michael Pollock
Welsh Traditional
Wynne Evans, Michael Pollock
William Sydney Gwynn Williams
Mark Llewelyn Evans, Michael Pollock
Traditional arr. John Quirk
Wynne Evans, Mark Llewelyn Evans, Michael Pollock
John Wall Callcott
Maria Jagusz, John Wilson
Northumbrian Traditional
Maria Jagusz
John Wilson
Maria Jagusz, John Wilson
