Composer: Thomas Adès, George Butterworth, William Croft, Herbert Norman Howells, Nico Muhly, Henry Purcell
Performer: Iestyn Davies, Joseph Middleton
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Signum
Catalogue: SIGCD725
Release: 2023
Size: 3.02 GB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
01. Purcell: Lord, what is man?, Z192
Purcell: Four Songs
02. No. 1, By Beauteous Softness
03. No. 2, Come Unto These Yellow Sands
04. No. 3, Full Fathom Five
05. No. 4, Evening Hymn
06. Croft: A Hymn on Divine Music
07. Muhly: New Made Tongue
08. Purcell: I’ll sail upon the dog-star (from A Fool’s Preferment or The Three Dukes of Dunstable, Z571)
09. Howells: King David
10. Muhly: Old Bones
Adès: The Lover in Winter
11. No. 1, Iam nocet frigus
12. No. 2, Nec Limpha caret
13. No. 3, Modo frigescit
14. No. 4, Nutritur ignis osculo
Butterworth: A Shropshire Lad – six songs
15. No. 1, Loveliest of Trees
16. No. 2, When I was One And Twenty
17. No. 3, Look Not in my Eyes
18. No. 4, Think No More Lad
19. No. 5, The Lads in their Hundreds
20. No. 6, Is My Team Ploughing?
Muhly: Traditional Songs
21. No. 1, A Brisk Young Lad
22. No. 2, Searching for Lambs
23. No. 3, The Cruel Mother
24. No. 4, The Bitter Withy
25. Adès: Coffee-Spoon Cavatina
“Inspirations and imaginings, evolving, changing English usage, landscapes, friendships and passings lie behind this album… Loosely, the songs we’ve selected embrace multiple interpre- tations and nuances of ‘divine’. As well as, I could argue, that sentiment of English song and English speaking composers embodying the [Blake/Parry] ‘Jerusalem-Builded-Here’ trope. The world I came from (singing in choir stalls), along with how countertenors are perceived generally, has been hard to escape. So here perhaps I’m taking on the challenge. As well as an opportunity to include songs written for me that for some while I’ve been needing to put down on disc.” – Iestyn Davies.
‘Divine Music’ marks Iestyn Davies’ third recital album on Signum Classics. The ‘Four Songs’ (Purcell/ Adès), Spoons Aria (Adès), Four Traditional Songs and Old Bones (Muhly) are world premiere recordings. Muhly’s Four Traditional Songs were also written dedicated to Iestyn Davies.