Special offer. Heart & Hereafter
Collected songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Elizabeth Llewellyn (soprano), Simon Lepper (piano)
Awards:
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Presto Editor's Choice, May 2021
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
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Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2021, World Premiere Recording of the Year (Rediscovery)
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BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Newcomer
She’s a persuasive advocate for this largely unknown repertoire. Llewellyn has extensive operatic experience...and it shows in the Six Sorrow Songs that open the recital...Llewellyn leaves no...
Special offer. Heart & Hereafter
Collected songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Elizabeth Llewellyn (soprano), Simon Lepper (piano)
Purchase product
Awards:
-
Presto Editor's Choice, May 2021
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Finalist 2021
-
Presto Recordings of the Year, Winner 2021, World Premiere Recording of the Year (Rediscovery)
-
BBC Music Magazine Awards, 2022, Shortlisted - Newcomer
She’s a persuasive advocate for this largely unknown repertoire. Llewellyn has extensive operatic experience...and it shows in the Six Sorrow Songs that open the recital...Llewellyn leaves no...
About
Known for her vivid portrayals and full, distinctive voice, Elizabeth Llewellyn has established herself internationally as a dramatic and vocal artist of distinction. She has chosen to offer listeners something new by devoting her debut disc to the music of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, much of it never recorded before. Elizabeth Llewellyn is joined by pianist Simon Lepper, with whom she has collaborated closely in the development of this unique project. To poetry by Christina Rossetti, Coleridge-Taylor’s Six Sorrow Songs and A Lament are almost all world-premiere recordings. The Southern Love Songs evoke styles including Latin music and flamenco, and the African Romances, never recorded until now, are to words by African-American writer Paul Laurence Dunbar. Big Lady Moon is to poetry by West African polymath Kathleen Mary Easmon, and the sensuous Three Songs of Sun and Shade are followed by more previously-unreleased songs: A king there lived in Thule, Canoe Song and You’ll Love Me Yet. The recital ends with Life and Death, in which Coleridge-Taylor anticipates styles that would become popular two decades after his death. This was a composer ahead of his time who, at last, is starting to receive the recognition he deserves.
Contents and tracklist
Spotlight on this release
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Elizabeth Llewellyn on Heart and Hereafter
3rd Jun 2021
The soprano talks to Katherine about her album of songs by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with pianist Simon Lepper, released last week on Orchid Classics.
Awards and reviews
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Presto Editor's ChoiceMay 2021
-
Presto Recordings of the YearFinalist 2021
August 2021
She’s a persuasive advocate for this largely unknown repertoire. Llewellyn has extensive operatic experience...and it shows in the Six Sorrow Songs that open the recital...Llewellyn leaves no doubt in turbulent passages that she has power aplenty to reckon with.
September 2021
An irresistible anthology, in sum, and there’s lots more by this remarkable figure for Llewellyn and Lepper to explore should the opportunity arise.
May 2021
Llewellyn’s debut recording has been well worth the wait, both in terms of programming and execution: her big, richly-coloured lyric soprano and mature artistry do full justice to this glorious programme of songs by the Anglo-African composer, from the casual, cabaretesque charm of ‘Big Lady Moon’ to the expansive intensity of ‘Thou art risen, my beloved’. The folk-inspired African Romances are also beautifully done, illustrating why Coleridge-Taylor was compared to Mahler in contemporary reviews.
20th June 2021
Llewellyn’s rich soprano suggests the sensuality of Big Lady Moon, a sort of secular spiritual composed in 1909 to words by the west African performer Kathleen Mary Easmon Simango. Llewellyn’s well-researched booklet notes are a bonus.
27th May 2021
His songs show a melodic instinct to make Sullivan (another fan) jealous, and an independent spirit in their choice of poetry...Llewellyn soars through them, Lepper skilfully catching each song’s character; it’s not surprise that her voice is on the big side for some, but when the music requires poised stillness she is especially captivating.
