Composer: Constant Lambert, William Turner Walton
Performer: James Geer, Andrew West, Ronald Woodley
Audio CD
Number of Discs: 1
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: SOMM
Size: 0.99 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Lambert, Constant (1905-51):
3 Pièces nègres pour les touches blanches
01. No. 1, Aubade
02. No. 2, Siesta
03. No. 3, Nocturne
Walton, William Turner (1902-83):
4 Songs
04. No. 4, The Winds
3 Songs to Poems by Edith Sitwell
05. No. 1, Daphne
06. Tritons
Lambert, Constant (1905-51):
8 Poems of Li-Po
07. No. 1, A Summer Day
08. No. 2, Nocturne
09. No. 3, With a Man of Leisure
10. No. 4, Lines
Walton, William Turner (1902-83):
11. Siesta (Version for Piano 4 Hands)
12. Under the Greenwood Tree (From “As You Like It”)
13. Beatriz’s Song (From “Christopher Columbus”) [Arr. C. Palmer for Voice & Piano]
Lambert, Constant (1905-51):
8 Poems of Li-Po
14. No. 5, The Ruin of the Ku-Su Palace
15. No. 6, The Intruder
16. No. 7, On the City Street
17. No. 8, The Long-Departed Lover
Walton, William Turner (1902-83):
Façade Suite . No. 1 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands)
18. I. Polka
19. II. Valse
20. III. Swiss Jodelling Song
21. IV. Tango – Pasodoblé
22. V. Tarantella Sevillana
Façade Suite . No. 2 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands)
23. I. Fanfare
24. II. Scotch Rhapsody
25. III. Country Dance
26. IV. Noche Espagnola (Long Steel Glass)
27. V. Popular Song
28. VI. Fox-Trot (Old Sir Faulk)
SOMM Recordings explores one of the most significant partnerships in 20th-century British music with Façades, an album of piano-accompanied songs and music for four-hand piano by William Walton and Constant Lambert. Façades takes its title from Waltons era-defining entertainment, heard here in arrangements for four-hand piano of its two orchestral Suites by Lambert regarded by Walton as the definitive reciter of Edith Sitwells nonsense verses. Lamberts Trois pièces nègres pour les touches blanches for piano duet are a kaleidoscopic, jazz-accented tour de force exploration of the pianos white keys. Described by the composer as an idyll, Waltons Siesta (also for two-player piano) is, says Ronald Woodley in his entertaining and informative booklet notes, infused with the clear light and open charm of Italy. The eight song settings by Lambert of poems by the eighth-century Chinese poet Li Po are exquisitely crafted, restrained and often enigmatic miniatures [marked by an] elusive and allusive musical style. Completing the recital, a selection of songs by Walton range from Tudor pastiche (Under the Greenwood Tree) to the atonal-inflected Tritons and lyrically captivating Beatrizs Song. Making their SOMM debuts are tenor James Geer and his accompanist in the songs, pianist Ronald Woodley. The latter is joined at the keyboard in the four-hand piano arrangements by Andrew West whose previous SOMM recordings include three acclaimed volumes of Parrys English Lyrics.