GRANVILLE BANTOCK (1868-1946)

Omar Khayyam

171:31

The Ruba'iyat according to Edward Fitzgerald set to Music

for Three Solo Voices, Chorus, and Orchestra in Three Parts

Principals:

The Beloved - Contralto

The Poet - Tenor

The Philosopher - Baritone

Chorus

Part I (beginning)

1

[Prelude -]

5:54

2

Chorus: 'Wake! For the Sun, who scattered into flight' -

2:08

3

Chorus: 'Before the phantom of false morning died' -

2:28

4

The Poet: 'And as the cock crew, those who stood before' -

2:20

5

The Poet: 'Now the new year reviving old desires' -

1:45

6

The Poet: 'Iram indeed is gone with all his rose' -

2:25

7

Chorus: 'Whether at Naishápúr or Babylon' -

2:14

8

The Beloved: 'Each morn a thousand roses brings, you say' -

1:34

9

The Poet: 'With me along the strip of herbage strown' -

6:49

10

Chorus: 'Some for the glories of this world; and some' -

2:06

11

The Beloved: 'Look to the blowing Rose about us - 'Lo''' -

1:32

12

Chorus: 'Think, in this battered caravanserai' -

2:09

13

The Poet: 'I sometimes think that never blows so red' -

1:59

14

The Poet: 'Ah, my Beloved, fill the cup that clears' -

1:55

15

Chorus: 'Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend' -

2:57

16

The Beloved: 'Alike for those who for To-day prepare' -

2:46

17

The Philosopher: 'Myself when young did eagerly frequent' -

2:33

18

Chorus: 'What, without asking, hither hurried Whence?' -

1:21

19

The Poet: 'Up from earth's centre through the seventh gate' -

2:51

20

Chorus: 'Earth could not answer; nor the seas that mourn' -

2:25

21

The Poet: 'Then of THEE IN ME who works behind' -

0:52

22

The Poet: 'Then to the lip of this poor earthen urn' -

2:34

23

The Philosopher: 'I think the vessel, that with fugitive'

2:23

Part I (conclusion)

24

The Beloved: 'As then the tulip for her morning sup' -

3:39

25

The Beloved: 'So when that Angel of the darker drink' -

2:18

26

Chorus: ''Tis but a tent where takes his one day's rest' -

2:32

27

The Beloved and the Poet: 'When you and I behind the veil are past' -

4:01

28

[Interlude:] The Desert -

1:35

29

The Caravan -

2:58

30

Chorus: 'A moment's halt - a momentary taste' -

3:35

31

The Philosopher: 'Would you that spangle of Existence spend' -

2:37

32

The Philosopher: 'A moment guessed - then back behind the fold' -

2:34

33

Chorus: 'Waste not your hour, nor in the vain pursuit' -

4:09

34

Chorus: 'Better be jocund with the fruitful grape'

2:59

Part II

35

The Philosopher: 'You know, my Friends, with what a brave carouse' -

2:11

36

The Philosopher: 'Ah, but my computations, people say' -

1:40

37

The Philosopher and Chorus: 'and 'twas - the Grape!' -

2:42

Chorus: 'The Grape that can with logic absolute' -

38

Chorus: 'The mighty Mahmúd, Allah-breathing Lord' -

3:38

39

The Philosopher: 'Why, be this Juice the growth of God, who dare' -

1:29

40

The Philosopher: 'I must abjure the Balm of Life, I must' -

1:42

41

Chorus: 'Oh threats of Hell and hopes of Paradise!' -

3:17

42

Chorus: 'The Revelation of devout and learn'd' -

1:47

43

Chorus: 'We are no other than a moving row' -

3:19

44

The Beloved: 'The Moving finger writes; and, having writ' -

1:41

45

The Beloved and the Poet: 'And that inverted bowl we call the sky' -

1:36

46

The Poet: 'With Earth's first clay they did the last man knead' -

2:10

47

The Philosopher: 'I tell you this - when, started from the goal' -

3:30

48

The Beloved, the Poet and the Philosopher: 'What! out of senseless Nothing to provoke' -

4:41

49

Chorus, the Beloved, the Poet and the Philosopher: 'Oh Thou, who didst with pitfall and with gin' -

1:46

50

Chorus, the Beloved, the Poet and the Philospher: 'Oh Thou, who Man of baser earth didst make'

2:36

Part III

51

Introduction 'The Fast of Ramazán' -

2:47

52

Worshippers in the Mosque -

4:10

53

The Philosopher: 'As under cover of departing day' -

1:00

54

Chorus: 'Shapes of all sorts and sizes, great and small' -

2:07

55

First Pot: 'Said one among them - 'Surely not in vain'' -

6:36

56

Chorus: 'So while the vessels one by one were speaking' -

1:55

57

The Philosopher: 'Ah, with the grape my fading life provide' -

2:26

58

The Philosopher: 'Indeed the idol I have loved so long' -

1:48

59

The Philosopher: 'And much as wine has play'd the infidel' -

2:14

60

The Poet: 'Yet ah, that Spring should vanish with the rose!' -

2:35

61

The Poet: 'Would but the desert of the fountain yield' -

6:34

62

Chorus, the Beloved, the Poet and the Philosopher: 'Yon rising moon that looks for us again' -

1:33

63

Chorus, the Beloved, the Poet and the Philosopher: 'And when like her, oh Sáki, you shall pass'

4:15

Also available as SACD CHSA 5051

Catherine Wyn-Rogers mezzo-soprano

Toby Spence tenor

Roderick Williams baritone

Olivia Robinson soprano (First Pot)

Siân Menna mezzo-soprano (Second Pot)

Edward Price bass (Sixth Pot)

Vernon Handley