Richard Rodney Bennett: ‘Songs Before Sleep’ - Sophie Daneman soprano, Susan Bickley mezzo-soprano, Benjamin Hulett tenor, Roderick Williams baritone, Oliver Coates cello, Iain Burnside piano
This new recording spans five decades of Bennett's song-writing. It couples some of his most accessible and lyrical pieces - including the melodic Songs Before Sleep, performed by Roderick Williams and the 1920s dance rhythms of A History of the Thé Dansant - with the dramatic and rarely-performed Tom O'Bedlam's Song for tenor and cello, written for Peter Pears. The disc is completed with the enchanting A Garland for Marjory Fleming, setting the poems of an 8-year old Scottish girl writing in 1811.
This new recording spans five decades of Bennett’s song-writing. It couples some of his most accessible and lyrical pieces - including the melodic Songs Before Sleep, performed by Roderick Williams and the 1920s dance rhythms of A History of the Thé Dansant - with the dramatic and rarely-performed Tom O’Bedlam’s Song for tenor and cello, written for Peter Pears. The disc is completed with the enchanting A Garland for Marjory Fleming, setting the poems of an 8-year old Scottish girl writing in 1811.
"A delightful collection of songs ... The common denominator in all of the readings is pianist Iain Burnside, who plays beautifully." Barry Kilpatrick - American Record Guide March/April 2011
Gramophone Recommends
"RRB on NMC makes for a truly delectable voyage of discovery." "What a treat this is! "...Performances throughout are without blemish - and a special word of praise for the supple and intuitive accompaniments by Iain Burnside ....Another NMC gem to snap up without any further ado."
Andrew Achenbach
’This is the kind of relaxed, accessible yet sophisticated music that gives Richard Rodney Bennett such broad appeal’
’Roderick Williams infuses Songs Before Sleep with just the right dark warmth’
"Performances are uniformly excellent; this is a beautifully judged and planned disc, an undiluted pleasure." *****
