Bussey: A Brother Abroad Martin Bussey & Marcus Farnsworth

• Martin Bussey (b. 1958): A Brother Abroad:
• 1 Bussey: A Brother Abroad: I. My Lord Archbishop, Walter 04:29
• 2 Bussey: A Brother Abroad: II. Despite Such Violence 04:01
• 3 Bussey: A Brother Abroad: III. Here I Am Trusted 04:28
• 4 Bussey: A Brother Abroad: IV. The Lord Has Granted Me 05:43
• 5 Bussey: A Brother Abroad: V. An Now, As I Come to Pynnore 02:29
• 6 Bussey: A Brother Abroad: You Join in Our Procession Around the Church 03:05
• The Rites Observed:
• 7 Bussey: The Rites Observed 06:59
• La Rossa:
• 8 Bussey: La Rossa 08:36
• Children of Adam:
• 9 Bussey: Children of Adam: I. The Mystic Trumpeter 03:33
• 10 Bussey: Children of Adam: II. As Adam 01:31
• 11 Bussey: Children of Adam: III. We Two, How Long We Were Fooled 02:56
• 12 Bussey: Children of Adam: IV. When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed 02:40
• 13 Bussey: Children of Adam: V. Joy, shipmate, Joy! 01:29
• A Chainless Soul:
• 14 Bussey: A Chainless Soul: I. The Old Stoic 02:27
• 15 Bussey: A Chainless Soul: II. Methinks This Heart Should Rest Awhile 03:41
• 16 Bussey: A Chainless Soul: III. Fall, leaves fall 02:53
• 17 Bussey: A Chainless Soul: IV. No Coward Soul 05:59
• Total Runtime 01:06:59

Info for Bussey: A Brother Abroad

In A Brother Abroad, Martin Bussey’s rich compositional voice vividly brings to life the fascinating figure of Peter of Bologna, a fourteenth-century Franciscan bishop. This compelling new recording showcases baritone Marcus Farnsworth, soprano Alison Rose, and an ensemble led by pianist Libby Burgess, alongside Emma Halnan (flute), George Strivens (french horn), and Stephen Burke (percussion). The text, written by Anthony Pinching, draws on historical sources, and Bussey’s music deftly balances moments of spirituality, political intrigue, and celebration. This album also features songs cycles A Chainless Soul and Children of Adam with texts by Emily Brontë and Walt Whitman respectively, and highlights Bussey’s flair for dramatic storytelling and his deep connection to English song, cementing his reputation as a distinctive contemporary voice.

Marcus Farnsworth, baritone
Alison Rose, soprano
Libby Burgess, piano
Emma Halnan, flute & piccolo
George Strivens, french horn
Stephen Burke, percussion

Marcus Farnsworth
is a past first prize-winner of the Wigmore Hall/Kohn Foundation International Song Competition and has performed many times at Wigmore Hall. He has also appeared in recital at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and La Monnaie, Brussels with Julius Drake; on a UK tour of Schubert Winterreise with James Baillieu; for Leeds Lieder with Graham Johnson; at Snape Maltings with Malcolm Martineau and the Fundacion Juan March Madrid with Sholto Kynoch.

His regular appearances for English National Opera feature Guglielmo Così fan tutte, Bill Bobstay in HMS Pinafore, Strephon Iolanthe, and Noye Noye’s Fludde in a collaboration with Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Current and recent highlights include Uprising a new opera by Jonathan Dove performed at Saffron Hall and with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; The Traveller in Britten’s Curlew River at the Aldeburgh Festival staged by Deborah Warner and his Canticles in concert with Julius Drake and Dame Harriet Walter for Temple Music; his debut at Garsington Opera singing Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos; orchestrated Schubert songs with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; appearances at the Three Choirs Festival and European tours of Purcell King Arthur with the Gabrieli Consort and The Fairy Queen with Vox Luminis.

He has also sung Candide with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Marin Alsop; Maxwell Davies Eight Songs for a Mad King at the BBC Proms with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group conducted by Sian Edwards; HK Gruber’s Frankenstein!! with the Aurora Orchestra and Nicholas Collon in Cologne and roles in Kurt Weill Street Scene at Teatro Real Madrid.

Other previous operatic roles have included Eddy in Turnage Greek for Boston Lyric Opera; Sid in Britten’s Albert Herring with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and Ned Keene Peter Grimes at the Edinburgh International Festival with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Edward Gardner.

As well as many new works, including Colin Matthews The Great Journey; Turnage The Silver Tassie; Cheryl Hoad’s Last Man Standing and Hubbard in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic conducted by the composer with the BBC SO, Marcus’s expansive concert repertoire includes Britten War Requiem; Elgar The Apostles; Orff Carmina Burana; Berlioz L’enfance du Christ and the Brahms and Fauré Requiem with conductors including François-Xavier Roth, Paul McCreesh and Bernard Labadie.

He has also sung Bach St Matthew Passion and St John Passion (Christus and Arias) with many symphony and period orchestras, most recently with Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and the Gabrieli Consort.

Marcus is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Southwell Music Festival.

Alison Rose
is the winner of the 2015 Maggie Teyte Prize and a 2017 Leonard Ingrams Award. She is a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the National Opera Studio, and is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

Operatic roles include; Papagena, Die Zauberflöte (Glyndebourne Festival Opera); Barbarina, Le nozze di Figaro (Garsington Festival Opera & English National Opera); Governess,The Turn of the Screw (Bury Court Opera); Vixen, The Cunning Little Vixen (Grimeborn Festival / Arcola Theatre); Lady in Waiting, Gloriana (St Endellion Festival with Martyn Brabbins); Miranda, Arnold's The Dancing Master (GSMD); Bětuška, Dvořák’s The Cunning Peasant (GSMD); Servilia, La Clemenza di Tito (RNCM).

Concert highlights include Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music at the BBC Last Night of the Proms, Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall, Britten’s Les Illuminations at the Southwell Music Festival and solo recitals at the Oxford Lieder Festival and the Royal Opera House Crush Room.

Recent highlights include her debut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Papagena in Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Mahler’s Symphony no.4 at the Southwell Music Festival and Britten’s Les Illuminations with Sian Edwards for the Lewes Festival of Song. Further performances include her debut with Opera North on their Whistle Stop Opera tour, and a return to ENO for a Studio Live production of Judith Weir’s Blonde Eckbert.

Alison continues her studies in London with Gary Coward.

Booklet for Bussey: A Brother Abroad