SOMM Recordings continues its acclaimed championing of neglected British composers with Dame Ethel Smyth: Songs and Ballads 17 vocal works with piano and chamber orchestra accompaniment composed between 1886 and 1913. Contralto Lucy Stevens has a long relationship with Smyth, portraying the composer, political activist and writer in her widely admired stage show Ethel Smyth: Grasp the Nettle. She is joined by her long-time stage companion, pianist Elizabeth Marcus, and Odaline de la Martinez conducting the Berkeley Ensemble. All four are making their debuts on SOMM. Published in 1886 and receiving their first recordings in English are the five Op.3 Songs and Ballads. Dedicated to Livia Frege, the singer to whom Mendelsohn and Schumann dedicated some of their finest songs, they blend images of the natural world with themes of lost love to reveal Smyth as a songwriter of already considerable gifts. Dedicated to Smyths mother and exploring themes of motherhood while shot through with images drawn from troublesome dreams, the five Op.4 Lieder, settings of German texts, exalt in an emotional palette that ranges from tenderness to trenchant emotion.
Tracklist:
01. 4 Songs (Sung in English): No. 1, Odelette
02. 4 Songs (Sung in English): No. 2, The Dance
03. 4 Songs (Sung in English): No. 3, Chrysilla
04. 4 Songs (Sung in English): No. 4, Anacreontic Ode
05. 5 Songs & Ballads, Op. 3 (Sung in English): No. 1, On the Hill
06. 5 Songs & Ballads, Op. 3 (Sung in English): No. 2, The Lost Hunter
07. 5 Songs & Ballads, Op. 3 (Sung in English): No. 3, Near the Linden Tree
08. 5 Songs & Ballads, Op. 3 (Sung in English): No. 4, It Changes What We’re Seeing
09. 5 Songs & Ballads, Op. 3 (Sung in English): No. 5, Fair Rohtraut
10. Lieder, Op. 4: No. 1, Tanzlied
11. Lieder, Op. 4: No. 2, Schlummerlied
12. Lieder, Op. 4: No. 3, Mittagsruh
13. Lieder, Op. 4: No. 4, Nachtreiter
14. Lieder, Op. 4: No. 5, Nachtgedanken
15. 3 Songs: No. 1, The Clown
16. 3 Songs: No. 2, Possession
17. 3 Songs: No. 3, On the Road
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