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Special offer. Sir Arthur Sullivan: Songs

Mary Bevan (soprano), Ben Johnson (tenor), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone) & David Owen Norris (piano)

Although Sullivan always stands with one foot in the Victorian parlour, his songs have more to offer than the casual listener might expect. Mary Bevan and Ben Johnson are the appealing soprano...

Special offer. Sir Arthur Sullivan: Songs

Mary Bevan (soprano), Ben Johnson (tenor), Ashley Riches (bass-baritone) & David Owen Norris (piano)

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96 kHz, 24 bit, FLAC/ALAC/WAV

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This release includes a digital booklet

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Although Sullivan always stands with one foot in the Victorian parlour, his songs have more to offer than the casual listener might expect. Mary Bevan and Ben Johnson are the appealing soprano...

About

This exceptional recording gathers the finest young vocal talents in a unique programme of songs by Sullivan, many of them very rarely recorded.

Currently widely acclaimed for key operatic title roles in the UK and abroad, the ‘deeply touching, outstanding’ (The Guardian) soprano Mary Bevan, the ‘elegant yet intense, impeccable’ (The Guardian) tenor Ben Johnson, and the ‘increasingly impressive’ (The Financial Times) bass-baritone Ashley Riches – who here appears on Chandos for the first time – span fifty years of Arthur Sullivan’s large non-operatic vocal output. They are accompanied by the UK pianist David Owen Norris, who regularly appears in highly praised concerto performances at the BBC Proms.

This album continues to celebrate the Shakespeare anniversary but also presents a wide variety of poets, drawing on texts from a vast range of sources, through the voices of today’s greatest rising stars.

Contents and tracklist

III. Sign no more, Ladies
Track length2:39
I. Orpheus with his lute
Track length3:37
II. O mistress mine
Track length2:06
IV. The Willow Song
Track length2:55
V. Rosalind
Track length2:27
I. On the Hill
Track length3:30
II. At the Window
Track length2:55
III. Gone!
Track length2:15
IV. Winter
Track length1:51
V. Spring
Track length2:07
VI. The Letter
Track length2:44
VII. No Answer (The mist and the rain)
Track length3:00
VIII. No Answer (Winds are loud and you are dumb)
Track length2:29
IX. The Answer
Track length1:29
X. When?
Track length1:31
XI. Marriage Morning
Track length3:24

Awards and reviews

7th April 2017

Although Sullivan always stands with one foot in the Victorian parlour, his songs have more to offer than the casual listener might expect. Mary Bevan and Ben Johnson are the appealing soprano and tenor, Ashley Riches the outstanding bass-baritone. David Owen Norris accompanies with affection.

April 2017

Mary Bevan is in glorious voice throughout. 'Orpheus with his Lute' is particularly exquisite, and her sense of line and floated high pianissimos are ravishing in 'O Israel'.

12th March 2017

the powerful Tennyson cycle The Window, George Herbert’s Sweet Day and many others – thanks to Norris’s inspired direction — make you realise what a fine, underrated songwriter Sullivan was.
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