Ana Beard Fernández, Roderick Williams, The Endellion Cellists, William Vann - Habanera (2025)

Multi-part music for the same instrument, dating back to Elizabethan consorts of viols, remains outside the typical orchestral repertoire nowadays, but as ever, SOMM remains true to it's stellar reputation for presenting rare and singular releases. Habanera, Music for Eight Cellos and Voice is a joyous recording that grew out of a collaboration between baritone Roderick Williams and cellist Joely Koos, joint Artistic Directors at the 2023 Endellion Summer Music Festival. The camaraderie enjoyed by the artists and the Endellion Cellists was particularly strong, and a special concert was devised for cello ensemble and voice featuring British-Spanish soprano Ana Beard Fernandez. Now, SOMM presents the formidable Endellion Cellists, soprano Ana Beard Fernandez, and baritone Roderick Williams in a recording of these two artists' uniquely colourful arrangements. The musicians are led by award-winning choral, orchestral, and operatic conductor William Vann. As an added bonus, Roderick Williams plays eighth cello, and recorder-player Iain Hall joins the artists for this recital of shared pleasure and a sense of fun that is palpable.The programme opens with the most famous original composition for cello ensemble: Bachianas Brasilieras No. 5 for soprano solo and eight cellos. From the set of nine Bach-inspired Brazilian pieces by Heitor Villa-Lobos, it's two movements are a haunting A´ria and a Danc¸a inspired by a Brazilian saudades song.When the Spanish composer and pianist Manuel de Falla was asked by a soprano for his advice about Spanish songs, he was inspired to arrange some himself. The result was Siete Canciones Populares based on seven folksongs from different parts of Spain, for which he composed wholly original accompaniment, here transcribed for eight cellos. The best-known works by Spanish composer Xavier Montsalvatge are born of his fascination for the music of the Antilles and West Indian music. His Cinco canciones Negras came out of this aesthetic, and are among the finest examples of late twentieth-century Spanish art-song. The individual songs that make up the second half of this recital include the haunting Vocalise-etude en forme de Habanera by Maurice Ravel, who was born in Basque country near the Spanish border. Three varied songs collected as Tres Canciones include I am madness by the seventeenth-century French composer Henri du Bailly; an anonymous song, So the Oak; and Black Shadow from Six Galician Ballads by the nineteenth-century Spanish composer Xoan Montes.Two twentieth-century Russian songs are the much-transcribed Vocalise by Sergei Rachmaninoff from his Melodies; and a relatively unknown gem by Dmitri Shostakovich, Farewell, Granada, from Six Traditional Spanish Folksongs. By way of a rambunctious encore, the recital closes with the duet, Forêts paisibles (Peaceful forests) by the eighteenth-century French master Jean Philippe Rameau from his opera-ballet Les Indes Galantes.

TRACKLIST

1. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - Bachianas brasileiras No. 5, W389: No. 1, Ária
2. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - Bachianas brasileiras No. 5, W389: No. 2, Dança
3. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 7 Canciones populares españolas (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 1, El paño moruno
4. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 7 Canciones populares españolas (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 2, Seguidilla murciana
5. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 7 Canciones populares españolas (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 3, Asturiana
6. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 7 Canciones populares españolas (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 4, Jota
7. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 7 Canciones populares españolas (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 5, Nana
8. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 7 Canciones populares españolas (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 6, Canción
9. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 7 Canciones populares españolas (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 7, Polo
10. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 5 Canciones negras (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 1, Cuba dentro de un piano
11. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 5 Canciones negras (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 2, Punto de habanera
12. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 5 Canciones negras (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 3, Chévere
13. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 5 Canciones negras (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 4, Canción de cuna para dormir un negrito
14. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 5 Canciones negras (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams): No. 5, Canto negro
15. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - Vocalise-étude en forme de habanera, M. 51 (Arr. for Soprano & Cello Ensemble by Roderick Williams)
16. Roderick Williams;William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - Yo soy la locura (Arr. for 2 Voices & Chamber Ensemble by Ana Beard Fernández)
17. Roderick Williams;William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - So el encina (Arr. for 2 Voices & Chamber Ensemble by Ana Beard Fernández)
18. Roderick Williams;William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;Iain Hall;The Endellion Cellists - Negra sombra (Arr. for 2 Voices, Recorder & Chamber Ensemble by Ana Beard Fernández)
19. William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;The Endellion Cellists - 14 Romances, Op. 34: No. 14, Vocalise (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Roderick Williams)
20. Roderick Williams;William Vann;The Endellion Cellists - 6 Spanish Songs, Op. 100: No. 1, Proshchai, Grenada! (Arr. for Voice & Chamber Ensemble by Ana Beard Fernández)
21. Roderick Williams;William Vann;Ana Beard Fernández;Iain Hall;The Endellion Cellists - Les Indes galantes, RCT 44: Forêts paisibles (Arr. for 2 Voices, Recorder & Chamber Ensemble by Ana Beard Fernández)