Proud Songsters: English Solo Song Chance, Mead, Zazzo, Bowen, Gilchrist, Staples, Finley, Riches, Stone & Simon Lepper

• William Denis Browne (1888 - 1915):
• 1 To Gratiana Dancing and Singing 03:54
• Traditional:
• 2 The Salley Gardens (Arr. Benjamin Britten) 02:38
• Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872 - 1958):
• 3 Linden Lea 02:34
• Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956):
• 4 A Young Man's Exhortation: VII. The Sigh 03:27
• Celia Harper:
• 5 My love gave me an apple 01:26
• Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953):
• 6 Five Shakespeare Songs, Op. 23: I. Fear no more the heat o' the sun 03:41
• Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941):
• 7 Come to me in my dreams 03:42
• Eric Thiman (1900 - 1975):
• 8 I wandered lonely as a cloud 03:06
• Jonathan Dove (b. 1959): All You Who Sleep Tonight:
• 9 All You Who Sleep Tonight: VII. God's love 00:48
• 10 All You Who Sleep Tonight: XII. Soon 02:33
• 11 All You Who Sleep Tonight: XIII. All you who sleep tonight 01:45
• Rebecca Clarke (1886 - 1979):
• 12 The Seal Man 05:28
• Ivor Gurney (1890 - 1937):
• 13 I will go with my father a-ploughing 02:26
• Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956):
• 14 Earth and Air and Rain: X. Proud Songsters 03:17
• Herbert Howells (1892 - 1983):
• 15 King David 04:32
• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976):
• 16 The Holy Sonnets of John Donne: VI. Since she whom I loved 03:29
• Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930):
• 17 Sleep 02:41
• Iain Bell (b. 1980):
• 18 These Motley Fools: II. Feste (Come away, death) 03:06
• Roger Quilter (1877 - 1953):
• 19 Five English Love Lyrics: III. Go, lovely rose 02:48
• Ralph Vaughan Williams:
• 20 The House of Life: II. Silent Noon 04:12
• Total Runtime 01:01:33

Info for Proud Songsters: English Solo Song

Proud Songsters is a journey through the distinctive musical genre of English Song. This collection of 20 songs – familiar and lesser known – are performed by some of the finest former members of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge with one of this generation’s most exceptional pianists.

Each of the nine alumni featured on this album sang as young adults at King’s, alongside pianist Simon Lepper, a graduate of King’s. The songs included on the album span settings of Shakespeare songs, those of prominent 20th Century composers Vaughan Williams, Britten, Finzi, Clarke and Howells through to contemporary works by Jonathan Dove, Iain Bell and Celia Harper. The album includes a specially-commissioned essay on the works by Stephen Banfield, and the CD includes a special bonus track sung by Gerald Finley and Christopher Keyte.

Gerald Finley, baritone
James Gilchrist, tenor
Michael Chance, countertenor
Lawrence Zazzo, countertenor
Tim Mead, countertenor
Ruairi Bowen, tenor
Andrew Staples, tenor
Ashley Riches, bass-baritone
Mark Stone, baritone
Simon Lepper, piano

Simon Lepper
read music at King’s College, Cambridge before studying piano accompaniment with Michael Dussek at the Royal Academy of Music and later with Ruben Lifschitz at the Fondation Royaumont. He is a currently professor of collaborative piano and a vocal repertoire coach at the Royal College of Music, London where he also in charge of the collaborative piano course. Since 2003 he has been an official accompanist for the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.

Performance highlights have included an invitation from the Wigmore Hall, London to present a three concert project on the songs of Joseph Marx; recital tours with Stéphane Degout which have included the Ravinia and Edinburgh Festivals and the opera houses of Bordeaux, Dijon, La Monnaie, Lausanne and Lyon; recitals at Carnegie Hall, New York with Karen Cargill and Sally Matthews and at the Frick Collection with Christopher Purves; performances of the Schubert song cycles with Mark Padmore including at the Schubertiade, Hohenhems, recitals with Christiane Karg at Frankfrut Opera and the Rheingau Fesitval and recitals with Angelika Kirchschlager in Verbier and at the Wigmore Hall.

He has presented an all Schubert programme with Ilker Arcayürek in Barcelona, Zürich, New York (Park Armory), San Francisco and at the Wigmore Hall where further appearances have included recitals with Dame Felicity Palmer, Karen Cargill, Sally Matthews and Mark Padmore. With Benjamin Appl he toured to India including recitals in Mumbai and Chennai and gave the opening performance for the highest concert hall in the wolrd in Shenzhen with Aida Garifulina. Future highlights include a European tour with Stéphane Degout, Hugo Wolf's Italian Song Book with Christiane Karg and Julien Van Mellaerts in Barcelona and a recital at the Hohenhems Schubertiade with Ilker Arcayürek.

His discography includes 2 volumes of Debussy Songs and a Strauss disc with Gillian Keith, a disc of Mahler songs with Karen Cargill, the complete songs of Jonathan Dove with Kitty Whately and a CD of contemporary violin works with Carolin Widmann which received a Diapason d’or. Recent releases include a song recital disc with Dame Felicity Palmer, a CD of Schubert songs with tenor Ilker Arcayürek a disc of Ballads with Stéphane Degout as well as recital disc “Poèmes d’un jour” which was a Gramophone magazine editor’s choice. Future CD releases include French Song with Karen Cargill, a second Schubert disc with Ilker Arcayürek and the songs of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor with Elizabeth Llewllyn.

Booklet for Proud Songsters: English Solo Song