Huw Watkins’ song cycle Echo, composed for soprano Ruby Hughes and premiered in 2017 at Carnegie Hall, is at the centre of this artfully crafted recital. Setting texts by five different poets, the cycle is a work centred on melancholy – on transience, remembrance, and in the final song a numbed cry of inconceivable loss. As such it permeates the entire programme, adding a new and unexpected depth to that which precedes as well as follows.
Another strand of the recital is the idea of how composers across the ages have addressed and echoed one another lovingly in their music – often in the most nuanced and unconscious way. Bach’s solo keyboard works capture something of a sense of timelessness, or more accurately, inspire an emotional connection that transcends time. A similar affinity seems to inform Britten’s folksong arrangements and his realisations of Bach’s Geistliche Lieder as well as the Purcell realisations by Thomas Adès and Tippett. A different kind of echo is created by the inclusion of Britten’s version of Dafydd y Garreg Wen(David of the White Rock) – a nod to the performers’ shared Welsh heritage. Closing the disc, three songs by contemporary British composers admired by both Watkins and Hughes also resonate with the previous works, bringing the programme full circle.
Bach, Johann Sebastian
Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828: V. Sarabande
1 Partita No. 4 in D Major, BWV 828: V. Sarabande 03:24
Britten, Benjamin
5 Spiritual Songs: No. 1. Gedenke doch, mein Geist, zurücke (after J.S. Bach's BWV 509)
2 5 Spiritual Songs: No. 1. Gedenke doch, mein Geist, zurücke (after J.S. Bach's BWV 509) 01:30
Bach, Johann Sebastian
French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814: III. Sarabande
3 French Suite No. 3 in B Minor, BWV 814: III. Sarabande 01:44
Britten, Benjamin
5 Spiritual Songs: No. 4. Komm, süsser Tod (after J.S. Bach's BWV 478)
4 5 Spiritual Songs: No. 4. Komm, süsser Tod (after J.S. Bach's BWV 478) 03:05
Bach, Johann Sebastian
Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830: III. Corrente
5 Partita No. 6 in E Minor, BWV 830: III. Corrente 02:42
Britten, Benjamin
Weselovius, Christian - Lyricist
5 Spiritual Songs: No. 3. Liebster Herr Jesu (after J.S. Bach's BWV 484)
6 5 Spiritual Songs: No. 3. Liebster Herr Jesu (after J.S. Bach's BWV 484) 03:34
Watkins, Huw
Dickinson, Emily - Lyricist
Harsent, David - Lyricist
Rossetti, Christina - Lyricist
Larkin, Philip - Lyricist
Yeats, William Butler - Lyricist
Echo
7 No. 1. Echo 04:20
8 No. 2. For Each Ecstatic Instant 01:42
9 No. 3. If Grief Could Burn Out 03:29
10 No. 4. When You Are Old 02:19
11 No. 5. Baby Blue 03:08
Adès, Thomas
Shadwell, Thomas - Lyricist
4 Songs: No. 1. By Beauteous Softness (After H. Purcell)
12 4 Songs: No. 1. By Beauteous Softness (After H. Purcell) 04:41
Tippett, Michael
Bergmann, Walter
Dryden, John - Lyricist
7 Songs, Vol. 1: No. 5. Music for a While (After H. Purcell)
13 7 Songs, Vol. 1: No. 5. Music for a While (After H. Purcell) 04:09
Britten, Benjamin
Traditional - Lyricist
Tom Bowling and Other Song Arrangements: No. 6. I Wonder as I Wander
14 Tom Bowling and Other Song Arrangements: No. 6. I Wonder as I Wander 04:45
Britten, Benjamin
Matthews, Colin - Arranger
Traditional - Lyricist
8 Folk Song Arrangements: No. 6. Dafydd y Garreg Wen (David of the White Rock) (arr. C. Matthews for voice and piano)
15 8 Folk Song Arrangements: No. 6. Dafydd y Garreg Wen (David of the White Rock) (arr. C. Matthews for voice and piano) 03:38
Britten, Benjamin
Moore, Thomas - Lyricist
Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 4, "Moore's Irish Melodies": No. 3. How Sweet the Answer (The Wren)
16 Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 4, "Moore's Irish Melodies": No. 3. How Sweet the Answer (The Wren) 02:30
Pritchard, Deborah
Vaughan, Henry - Lyricist
The World
17 The World 04:07
Frances-Hoad, Cheryl
Motion, Andrew - Lyricist
Lament
18 Lament 03:23
Wallen, Errollyn
Wallen, Errollyn - Lyricist
The Errollyn Wallen Songbook: No. 12. Peace on Earth
19 The Errollyn Wallen Songbook: No. 12. Peace on Earth 03:08
Total Playing Time: 01:01:18
