Vaughan Williams  Along the Field

Vaughan Williams is not remembered for his songs, but he wrote over 80 for solo voice, and most are of high quality. This set consists of eight songs, all settings of text by A.E. Housman (1859 - 1936). Originally there were nine, but when Vaughan Williams revised the collection in 1954 he destroyed the manuscript of one entitled The Soldier. The composer scored the songs for the somewhat unusual combination of voice and violin, thereby giving each song a second singing line.

Gurney String Quartet in A major

The Adagio, C major slow movement of the Quartet in A major was composed in March 1919 in High Wycombe, where Gurney held the post of organist at one of the local churches. Only the first movement of the quartet is otherwise extant, dated January of that year. The quartet may be that begun in late
November 1918, when Gurney wrote, ' A Quartett [sic] [is] on the stocks, all about Gloucester, that fair city; gloomy today, but glorious enough on Thursday, when St Nicholas Tower shone white in a pearly sort of fashion lovely to see.'

Venables Two Songs Op 28

Written in 1997 for solo voice and piano,  the two songs are examples of Ian Venables' ultra-refined sensibility, contrasting the harmonic subtleties and ambiguities of his setting of Robert Graves' poem 'Flying Crooked' with the dream-like atmosphere of one of Edna St.Vincent Millay's many sonnets 'At Midnight'.

'Flying Crooked' is a witty interpretation of a poem that describes the haphazard flight patterns of the most ubiquitous of butterflies, the cabbage-white. Lasting just over a minute, its pointillistic and harmonically ambiguous piano writing contrasts the effortless diatonicism of the vocal line, creating a whimsical, if not irreverent setting. The poem was sent to the composer by Lady Bliss, to whom the song is dedicated and at whose home it received its first private performance.

The American poet Edna St. Vincent Millay won the Pultizer Prize in 1923 for her third volume of poety, 'The Harp-Weaver and Other Poems'. This collection exhibits her mature style, and shows a mastery of her use of traditional verse form; in particular the sonnet. Although her untitled poem from this volume, given the title 'At Midnight' by the composer, is an early work, it is a poignant description of one woman's reminiscences on past loves. Its timeless, dream-like quality is created by an insistent rocking figure and a rich and sensuous harmonic language which heighten Millay's emotionally charged writing. 'At Midnight' was written in America after Venables was given the poem by Joanne Azarnoff at the end of a concert of his music in San Francisco.

Vaughan Williams Quartet no 2

Written between 1942 and 1944 'for Jean, on her birthday'.

Venables Invite, to Eternity

The song cycle Invite, to Eternity found its inspiration in the works of the Northamptonshire-born poet John Clare (1793-1864). Written in 1997, it departs from the composer's preferred medium by using the string quartet in place of the piano and is set to the poetry of John Clare.

i Born Upon An Angel's Breast 
ii An Invite, to Eternity
iii Evening Bells
iv I am