And the Blackbird Sang Excalibur Voices, Duncan Aspden, Anna Markland

• Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912): Song of Proserpine:
• 1 Coleridge-Taylor: Song of Proserpine 02:29
• Herbert Howells (1892 - 1983): The Scribe:
• 2 Howells: The Scribe 04:04
• Creep Afore Ye Gang:
• 3 Howells: Creep Afore Ye Gang 03:10
• The Shadows:
• 4 Howells: The Shadows 03:02
• Alan Rawsthorne (1905 - 1971): A Rose for Lidice:
• 5 Rawsthorne: A Rose for Lidice 04:53
• Sir Henry Walford Davies (1869 - 1941): Magdalen at Michael’s Gate:
• 6 Davies: Magdalen at Michael’s Gate 05:12
• Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934): This Have I Done For My True Love:
• 7 Holst: This Have I Done For My True Love 06:02
• Edgar Bainton (1880 - 1956): In the Wilderness:
• 8 Bainton: In the Wilderness 04:00
• Abou Ben Adhem:
• 9 Bainton: Abou Ben Adhem 03:44
• In Youth is Pleasure:
• 10 Bainton: In Youth is Pleasure 02:27
• Gustav Holst: I Love My Love:
• 11 Holst: I Love My Love 04:35
• John Ireland (1914 - 1992): There is a Garden in Her Face:
• 12 Ireland: There is a Garden in Her Face 03:18
• May Flowers:
• 13 Ireland: May Flowers 02:07
• In Summer Woods:
• 14 Ireland: In Summer Woods 01:24
• Evening Song:
• 15 Ireland: Evening Song 03:19
• Robin Milford (1903 - 1959): Songs of Escape:
• 16 Milford: Songs of Escape: Hear, O God 03:52
• 17 Milford: Songs of Escape: Helen of Kirconnell 02:53
• 18 Milford: Songs of Escape: The Spring of the Year 01:54
• 19 Milford: Songs of Escape: Lord, Let Me Know Mine End 03:23
• 20 Milford: Songs of Escape: Port After Stormy Seas 01:40
• Gustav Holst: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John:
• 21 Holst: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John 02:39
• Total Runtime 01:10:07

Info for And the Blackbird Sang

Em Records is proud to present world premiere recordings on their latest album, including two songs by John Ireland, which contain all the hallmarks of that delightful melodist's charm, typically supported by characterful and idiomatic piano parts.

Edgar Bainton's In Youth Is Pleasure and Abou Ben Adhem are also world premiere recordings and they demonstrate that that Cathedral favourite And I Saw a New Heaven was no one-off; evoking colours and conveying narrative to the highest level, these are neglected treasures indeed.

Finally, Em Records are delighted also to be able to feature the world premiere recordings of Songs of Escape by Robin Milford--rhythmically strongly-defined songs crafted with judicious chromaticism, in which the texture uses the choir more "orchestrally" than most.

At the 2024 English Music Festival, the choral ensemble Excalibur Voices were welcomed to perform. The audience was astounded at the brilliance of the concert that this vocal group delivered: their programme was perfectly crafted and constructed, and the performance was superb.

Em Records are therefore delighted to announce a recording of choral works with the group, who, with their conductor, Duncan Aspden, are passionate about English choral song and combine rhythmic suppleness with an ear for choral colour and a musicianship embedded in poetry and story-telling.

The new album includes three charming and beautiful part-songs by Gustav Holst, Five English Folk-songs by Ralph Vaughan Williams, the beautiful Song of Proserpine by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, astounding Magdalen at Michael's Gate by Sir Henry Walford Davies and three songs by Herbert Howells, including the world premiere recording of Creep Afore Ye Gang. Also featured is Alan Rawsthorne's A Rose for Lidice - an intense, sparse lament in which fragmented phrases give voice to the tragedy of a Bohemian village razed by the Nazis in 1942, and to the rose garden planted there in memorial.

"An invigorating issue of fascinating material, Excalibur Voices are a well-balanced ensemble whose phrasing, if not always the tidiest, is natural and musical. They are blessed with good low basses, the occasional step-out solos are acceptably done, and all tempi are well-chosen and convincing.

The 10 first recordings comprise Creep afore ye gang (Howells), Abou Ben Adhem and In youth is pleasure (Bainton), May Flowers, and Evening Song (Ireland), plus all five of Milford’s Songs of Escape from 1935. This final set is a real discovery. The deeply-felt emotions of its two anguished settings from the Psalms are most movingly expressed, and support the ongoing reassessment of the composer. Lord, let me know mine end opens arrestingly with a flexible entreaty, crying to heaven in unison; while Hear my prayer, O God includes the familiar line ‘O that I had wings like a dove’ but for bass voice. The fifth is a thankful chorale to a poem by Spenser, Port after stormy seas, charmingly done.

These would be most suitable additions for cathedral choirs, as would Bainton’s Lenten motet Christ in the Wilderness, a setting of a poem by Robert Graves that has been undeservedly eclipsed by his much better-known anthem And I saw a new heaven.

Bainton’s visionary tale of Abou Ben Adhem, to words by Leigh Hunt, not only falls between the sacred and secular but is perhaps problematic to programme in this sensitive age and is therefore doubly welcome here. Surely few aficionados of this repertoire would identify Walford Davies as the composer of the remarkable Magdalen at Michael’s Gate for SATB and piano, depicting the penitent at the gate of Paradise, supported by the pleading blackbird.

The album opens with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s limpidly Elgarian Song of Proserpine, a pastoral theme continued in Bainton’s In youth is pleasure, and four slight but attractive songs for upper voices and piano by Ireland. In addition to those already mentioned, There is a garden in her face and In summer woods display Ireland’s familiar and lightly-worn craftsmanship.

In more serious vein, it is good to have Rawsthorne’s powerful A Rose for Lidice, a setting of Swingler’s elegy for the Czech town razed by the Nazis. Leavening is provided by Holst’s more familiar three settings, This have I done for my true love, Matthew Mark, Luke and John and I love my love, turned with style and commendable assurance.

The recording benefits from the acoustic of St John the Evangelist, Oxford, and the booklet is well up to EMR’s excellent standards, with copious notes, composer biographies, and all texts included." (Andrew Plant)

Excalibur Voices
Anna Markland, piano
Duncan Aspden, director

Excalibur Voices
was formed in 2012; its members include former choral scholars from Oxford and Cambridge Universities, experienced singers from many concert choirs, and former cathedral musicians, coming together to rehearse from a wide geographical area. Conductor Duncan Aspden is Associate Director of Music at the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mayfair. He is also Director of Music of the City of Oxford Choir and Musical Director of Thame Chamber Choir.

Anna Markland
was educated at Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester and Worcester College, Oxford. In 1982 she won the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition, leading to many concerto and recital performances. During her time at Oxford, she became a founder member of the now internationally recognised vocal ensemble I Fagiolini, thus beginning her singing career as Anna Crookes.

Duncan Aspden
is one of the UK's busier choral conductors. He studied at Jesus College Cambridge and at the Royal Academy of Music. Starting out as an organist, he has held posts at four of England’s cathedrals, and is now Associate Director of Music at Farm Street Church in Mayfair, regularly directing and accompanying one of London’s leading professional church choirs.

Duncan is also Director of Music of the City of Oxford Choir and Musical Director of Thame Chamber Choir and TCC2, their children’s choir. With these and many other ensembles he performs a wide repertoire from unaccompanied miniatures to major oratorios with leading soloists and orchestras.

As a conductor and continuo player, Duncan has performed for BBC Radio and Television, and can be heard on numerous recordings. He has directed ensembles including I Fagiolini, the London Mozart Players and The English Cornett and Sackbutt Ensemble, while his own period instrument ensemble Interplay has given many concerts in and around London.

This album contains no booklet.