Peter Barrett - Summer Night (2019)
Peter Barrett - Summer Night (2019)
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 215 MB | Tracks: 28 | 65:55 min
Style: Classical | Label: Centrediscs
WEB FLAC (tracks) - 215 MB | Tracks: 28 | 65:55 min
Style: Classical | Label: Centrediscs
Summer Night is a CD of songs by Healey Willan produced by the Canadian Art Song project and due to be released on the Centrediscs label. Willan is best known as a composer of church and choral music but he also wrote over 100 songs and song arrangements, many of which have not been published, let alone recorded. There are 28 songs on the CD ranging in composition date from 1899 to the late 1920s. Most are original settings of the text though a few are arrangements of existing songs; either traditional or by Burns.
The music is very much in the early 20th century English Romantic tradition. There’s nothing terribly experimental and I’m not sure any of the songs reach the heights of, say, Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel. That said, they are never less than competently workmanlike and often rather better than that. I liked the Three Little Songs (1899-1902) which are pleasingly straightforward short love songs. There’s a robust setting of Tennyson’s The Tourney (1904) which is rather fun. Yeats’ Lake Isle of Innisfree will never be my favourite Yeats poem but I enjoyed Willans evocative setting. The two Burns settings are rather good too. I do think maybe this is an album to dip into rather than play end to end but I’m very glad that it exists.
The performances are really good. The songs are shared between baritone Peter Barrett, soprano Martha Guth and mezzo Allyson McHardy. They make a nicely contrasted trio. Barrett is muscular but musical. Guth has a clean bright sound which is very different from McHardy’s dark, smokey tones. Excellent accompaniment is provided throughout by Helen Becqué on piano.
The recordings were made at Grace Church on the Hill in 2016 and 2018 and sound really good. The ambience is appropriate for art song and everything is quite clear. The booklet includes a useful essay on Willan’s songs as well as full texts.
It’s a worthwhile disk and well worth hearing for anybody interested in Canadian art song or “the other side” of Willans.
Tracklist:
01. Drakes Drum
02. To Music: No. 1, A Song
03. To Music: No. 2, To Becalm His Fever
04. To Music: No. 3, To Becalm a Sweet Sick Youth
05. 3 Little Songs: No. 1, Rondel
06. 3 Little Songs: No. 2, Love's Geography
07. 3 Little Songs: No. 3, Love and a Day
08. Sonnet (To Sleep)
09. Eve
10. Dreams
11. Dawn
12. O Littlest Hands and Dearest
13. The Tourney
14. 3 Songs: No. 1, Red Rose of Love
15. 3 Songs: No. 2, Rest
16. 3 Songs: No. 3, To You
17. Tears, Idle Tears
18. Absence
19. Summer Night
20. Music, When Soft Voices Die
21. Dedication
22. Bonnie Mary
23. Shamrocks
24. The Angel's Whisper
25. Barbara Allen
26. Cashel of Muster
27. The Lake Isle of Innisfree
28. Ae Fond Kiss
FILE: 01. Drakes Drum.flac
Size: 10442062 Hash: 09840154BF9A858DB896CE428A08391F Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: E7B2E7CA36A2B2CAF580B8A85D2920998837CD2F
FILE: 02. To Music_ No. 1, A Song.flac
Size: 7102172 Hash: 46C04B4063981DA7444B9213EEDA8858 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 03. To Music_ No. 2, To Becalm His Fever.flac
Size: 10306401 Hash: 769DF7883871CEDA4E6B1F4716C1BBB2 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 04. To Music_ No. 3, To Becalm a Sweet Sick Youth.flac
Size: 6678100 Hash: 66C1FC79883DFFDD08C9D41E32E9BABD Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 05. 3 Little Songs_ No. 1, Rondel.flac
Size: 6194641 Hash: 7E16CF97A6DB6BACC1A0D6DD988D9CD2 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 06. 3 Little Songs_ No. 2, Love's Geography.flac
Size: 4314664 Hash: 14CEED690719AC3380C425F57C575FFD Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 07. 3 Little Songs_ No. 3, Love and a Day.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 08. Sonnet (To Sleep).flac
Size: 10268955 Hash: EAB6C3148736C4AD65ED5D204A1D5CDD Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 09. Eve.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 10. Dreams.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 11. Dawn.flac
Size: 9674727 Hash: 6B8B5A45EDB1975FF8DE03DE35AD0071 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 12. O Littlest Hands and Dearest.flac
Size: 8387270 Hash: 820308E8780278272F24A50D8502738C Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 13. The Tourney.flac
Size: 6891909 Hash: 3425B768876F128D4FF52308F2333D87 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 14. 3 Songs_ No. 1, Red Rose of Love.flac
Size: 4733037 Hash: 849CB7B21436F8E1411DC6078F4CC816 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 99%
Signature: CF4CCE594880D9E5CE2CF10FCD729E9486C71C1A
FILE: 15. 3 Songs_ No. 2, Rest.flac
Size: 5631189 Hash: 38B9E67B41D6056B635C080343C2981E Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 16. 3 Songs_ No. 3, To You.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 17. Tears, Idle Tears.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 18. Absence.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 19. Summer Night.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 20. Music, When Soft Voices Die.flac
Size: 7605793 Hash: 6D962DFF6D1E12F0A4DC5CE32917A096 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 21. Dedication.flac
Size: 9066977 Hash: 118C775D7B802ACA89894AA1F9EAD0ED Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: B7A332173474BDF7ECA9C73C70D584555C78862C
FILE: 22. Bonnie Mary.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 23. Shamrocks.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
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FILE: 24. The Angel's Whisper.flac
Size: 8965171 Hash: D299810BB389B36F2861CEA9B095B2B3 Accuracy: -m0
Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: 27A23FF39996AEED41515CC4A474465B384D92D2
FILE: 25. Barbara Allen.flac
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Conclusion: CDDA 100%
Signature: AED4E766969D02F9514E2A93D7C3B5AD6C7FF8BA