Somm Recordings is delighted to present a revelatory collection of orchestral songs by Sir Edward Elgar performed by two of today's most exciting young singers - mezzo-soprano Kathryn Rudge and baritone Henk Neven - accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Barry Wordsworth. The Hills of Dreamland takes it's title from a line in Elgar's well-known setting, beautifully still and beseeching, of Arthur L Salmon's Pleading. Historically the least regarded part of Elgar's output, his songs contain a treasure-trove of vocal gems and here receive performances of insight, imagination and emotional directness. The Op.59 Song Cycle is an exemplary case in point, by turns quietly radiant, touchingly nostalgic and achingly melancholic. Two settings of poems by Elgar's wife - the richly orchestrated The Wind at Dawn and celebratory The King's Way- show Elgar at his most evocative and ebullient. Sombre and powerful, The Pipes of Pan boasts colorful imagery and driving rhythmic energy, The River and The Torch wholly Elgarian in their wonderful sonorities. A first recording of the orchestral version of the marching song Follow the Colours shows Elgar at his most patriotic. The complete incidental music for a 1901 staging of WB Yeats' Grania and Diarmid offers a rare opportunity to experience the full gamut of Elgar's moving and dramatic evocation of a timeless tale of love in the ancient Irish myth. A bonus album of recordings made under the auspices of the Elgar Society showcases soprano Nathalie de Montmollin and pianist Barry Collett in a collection of piano-accompanied songs. It includes first recordings of the piano version of 'Winter' from The Mill Wheel and the world-weary tread of Muleteer's Serenade, setting words from Cervantes' Don Quixote.

Tracklist:

Song Cycle, Op. 59: No. 1, O Soft Was The Song
Song Cycle, Op. 59: No. 2, Was It Some Golden Star?
Song Cycle, Op. 59: No. 3, Twilight
Song Cycle, Op. 59: No. 4, The Wind At Dawn
Song Cycle, Op. 59: No. 5, The Pipes Of Pan
2 Songs, Op. 60: No. 1, The Torch
2 Songs, Op. 60: No. 2, The River
Pleading, Op. 48
Follow The Colours
The King's Way (Version For Voice & Orchestra)
Grania & Diarmid, Op. 42: No. 1, Incidental Music
Grania & Diarmid, Op. 42: No. 2, Funeral March
Grania & Diarmid, Op. 42: No. 3, There Are Seven That Pull The Thread
Like To The Damask Rose
3 Songs, Op. 16: No. 1, The Shepherd's Song
Dry Those Fair, Those Crystal Eyes
The Millwheel (Winter)
Muleteers' Song
As I Laye A-Thynkynge
Queen Mary's Song
2 Songs, Op. 60: No. 1, The Torch
2 Songs, Op. 60: No. 2, The River
2 Songs, Op. 41: No. 1, In The Dawn
2 Songs, Op. 41: No. 2, Speak, Music

UPC: 748871227125
Label: Somm Recordings
Release Date: 9.21.18
Format: CD

Elgar / Rudge / Bbc Concert Orchestra - Hills of Dreamland (2 CD)