English Song

Christopher Maltman (Performer), Neal Davies (Performer), Nik Hancock-Child (Performer), Simon Keenlyside (Performer), Ivan McCready (Performer), Arnold Bax (Composer), Lennox Berkeley (Composer), Lord Berners (Composer), Benjamin Britten (Composer), Eric Coates (Composer), Cecil Armstrong Gibbs (Composer), Gustav Holst (Composer), Liza Lehmann (Composer), Roger Quilter (Composer), Arthur Somervell (Composer), Charles Villiers Stanford (Composer), Ralph Vaughan Williams (Composer), William [composer] Walton (Composer), Peter Warlock (Composer), Duke Quartet (Performer)

Product Details

• Performer: Christopher Maltman, Neal Davies, Nik Hancock-Child, Simon Keenlyside, Ivan McCready, et al.
• Composer: Arnold Bax, Lennox Berkeley, Lord Berners, Benjamin Britten, Eric Coates, et al.
• Audio CD (March 22, 2005)
• SPARS Code: DDD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Naxos
• ASIN: B0002JEG6I
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #137,114 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #3 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( G ) > Gibbs, Cecil Armstrong
  #32 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( W ) > Warlock, Peter
  #58 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( W ) > Walton, Sir William

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Songs, February 13, 2008

By	A. Barnard (uk) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This CD is excellent for both listening and inspiration.I am an accompanist and my soloist and I find thse CD's very useful in our own interpretation.

9 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A century of British art songs to delight those who love them, June 26, 2006

By	Santa Fe listener - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

These 53 songs have been collected by Naxos from their extensive acquisitions from Collins Classics, and perhaps other British sources now out of business. There's a steady cottage industry, year after year, producing the typical English art song, which is usually based on folk songs, but even in more modern idioms is profuondly conservative and nostaligic. Half these songs, not to mention half the composers, are totally unknown to American audiences, but the familiar names of Vaughan Williams and Britten represent high quality, and the lesser lights, such as Warlock and Quilter, are mainstays in this repertoire.

I'd challenge all but the most addicted listener to make it through more than ten songs at a sitting, and many of these pieces are tepid, offering comfort rather than inspiration. The singers are among the best, but Graham Johnson and Steuart Beford, who do most of the accompaniments, are lackluster. I know that won't be a popular comment, yet if you compare any of these songs with rendiitons done by Janet Baker, John Shirley-Quirk, and most recently Bryn Terfel and Ian Bostridge, you immediately notice how much more intensity and drama is pesent than this colleciton reveals.