At the Open Door: Songs by Warlock, Blyton, Bax, Moeran, Thompson & Mitchell Lorna Windsor & William Hancox

• Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930): The wind from the West:
• 1 Warlock: The wind from the West 02:13
• The jolly Shepherd:
• 2 Warlock: The jolly Shepherd 02:49
• Mourn no moe:
• 3 Warlock: Mourn no moe 01:33
• Late Summer:
• 4 Warlock: Late Summer 01:59
• Autumn twilight:
• 5 Warlock: Autumn twilight 02:29
• Sleep:
• 6 Warlock: Sleep 02:22
• Mockery:
• 7 Warlock: Mockery 01:09
• Jillian of Berry:
• 8 Warlock: Jillian of Berry 00:47
• Carey Blyton (1932 - 2002): Lachrymae (in memoriam John Dowland), Op. 23:
• 9 Blyton: Lachrymae (in memoriam John Dowland), Op. 23: I. Madrigal 01:39
• 10 Blyton: Lachrymae (in memoriam John Dowland), Op. 23: II. To the moon 01:46
• 11 Blyton: Lachrymae (in memoriam John Dowland), Op. 23: III. The open door 01:24
• 12 Blyton: Lachrymae (in memoriam John Dowland), Op. 23: IV. The sick rose 01:33
• 13 Blyton: Lachrymae (in memoriam John Dowland), Op. 23: V. Sonnet 02:42
• Peter Thompson (b. 1955): A red, red rose:
• 14 Thompson: A red, red rose 02:41
• A Match:
• 15 Thompson: A Match 01:33
• Arnold Bax (1883 - 1953): Welcome, Somer:
• 16 Bax: Welcome, Somer 02:48
• Carey Blyton: Lyrics from the East, Op. 109:
• 17 Blyton: Lyrics from the East, Op. 109: I. The Blast of Love 00:48
• 18 Blyton: Lyrics from the East, Op. 109: II. Paradise 01:07
• 19 Blyton: Lyrics from the East, Op. 109: III. Evening 00:59
• 20 Blyton: Lyrics from the East, Op. 109: IV. Night 01:33
• 21 Blyton: Lyrics from the East, Op. 109: V. Puty-fish 00:50
• John Mitchell (1913 - 1988): Bright Clouds:
• 22 Mitchell: Bright Clouds: I. Pyrgo and Lapwater 02:06
• 23 Mitchell: Bright Clouds: II. Farmyard Nettles 01:42
• 24 Mitchell: Bright Clouds: III. Rooks View 00:45
• 25 Mitchell: Bright Clouds: IV. Falling May 02:06
• Carey Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16:
• 26 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: I. Prelude 01:23
• 27 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: II. Song 1. Aubade 02:20
• 28 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: III. Song 2. Drinking song 00:37
• 29 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: IV. Song 3. Song against the Duke Seuen 01:09
• 30 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: V. Song 4. Serenade 04:21
• 31 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: VI. Interlude 01:27
• 32 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: VII. Song 5. Flower song 01:22
• 33 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: VIII. Song 6. Sacrificial song 00:45
• 34 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: IX. Song 7. Nocturne 02:12
• 35 Blyton: Lyrics from the Chinese, Op. 16: X. Postlude 01:28
• Ernest John Moeran (1894 - 1950): Seven Poems of James Joyce:
• 36 Moeran: Seven Poems of James Joyce: I. Strings in the earth and air 01:34
• 37 Moeran: Seven Poems of James Joyce: II. The merry green wood 01:24
• 38 Moeran: Seven Poems of James Joyce: III. Bright cap and streamers 00:54
• 39 Moeran: Seven Poems of James Joyce: IV. The pleasant valley 01:09
• 40 Moeran: Seven Poems of James Joyce: V. O it was down in Donnycarney 01:19
• 41 Moeran: Seven Poems of James Joyce: VI. Rain has fallen 01:19
• 42 Moeran: Seven Poems of James Joyce: VII. Now, O now, in This brown land 03:27
• Total Runtime 01:11:33

Info for At the Open Door: Songs by Warlock, Blyton, Bax, Moeran, Thompson & Mitchell

In Lorna Windsor and William Hancox's inspiring new collection of English Songs, the many gems include well-loved songs and poems alternated with premiere recordings (in their voice and piano guise) of two song cycles by Carey Blyton, and a third late group. In the cycle of songs Lachrymae (in memoriam John Dowland), and in the two groups of Lyrics - settings of poems from ancient eastern worlds from Greece to China - Windsor and Hancox explore Blyton's expressive contrasts and idiomatic subtleties, hitherto little known by audiences. Peter Warlock's songs enigmatically pass from sentiment to expressive beauty, to wit and drollery, whilst Arnold Bax's one song is a joyful hymn to the long- awaited return of summer, to words by Chaucer. Then E.J. Moeran's choice of poems by James Joyce so perfectly express the charm, magic and sorrow of young love within the natural cycle of the seasons, and John Mitchell's Bright Clouds set verses by the war poet Edward Thomas, which here deal with observations of nature and rural life. Peter Thompson's is a new setting of Robert Burns' famous love poem A red, red rose, and alongside this comes a song utilising lines from that half-playful, half-bitter Swinburne poem, A Match. In this album by composers of the recent past and of the present day, it is significantly apparent that all the music is tonal and resisted the periods of experimentation by various schools and tendencies, surviving these trends, whilst always seeking variety within the tonal system, chromaticism and even bitonality. Through traditionally idiomatic folk or Elizabethan harmonisation, or more recent hues of late nineteenth or early twentieth century, even impressionistic colourisation, woven into and enriching the musical language of these composers, the tradition of English Song lives on and flourishes to the delight of performers and listeners.

Lorna Windsor, soprano
William Hancox, piano

Lorna Windsor
Once a piano and viola student, then trained at the Guildhall School, London, as a Lieder and opera singer, Lorna Windsor has performed in many major theatres and festivals. She has sung Salieri with Frans Bruggen, and Bach directed by Gustav Leonhardt, and has recorded Les Motets de Versailles by Blanchard.

She performed Monteverdi in Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Mantova, and the title rôle in Peri’s Euridice at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris; her Mozart rôles include those of Venus in Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba, Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at Glyndebourne, Despina in Così fan tutte directed by Claudio Abbado, and in the Strehler production (Piccolo Teatro di Milano) performed in Rome, Beijing, St Petersburg and Moscow.

Her Lieder repertoire, following the tradition of her teacher, Hans Hotter, is vast and varied, and she is a well-known interpreter in the field of experimental contemporary music and theatre, the recipient of frequent dedications from today’s composers, combining theatrical experience and poetical insight with vocal and technical versatility.

Booklet for At the Open Door: Songs by Warlock, Blyton, Bax, Moeran, Thompson & Mitchell