Composer: Peter Warlock
Performer: Ben McAteer, Nadine Benjamin, BBC Singers
Orchestra: BBC Concert Orchestra
Conductor: David Hill
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: EM Records
Catalogue: EMRCD080
Release: 2023
Size: 333 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
01. As ever I saw
02. An Old Song
03. Mr Belloc’s Fancy
04. Captain Stratton’s Fancy
05. Serenade (to Frederick Delius on his sixtieth birthday)
06. Milkmaids
07. Adam lay ybounden
08. Little Trotty Wagtail
09. The Birds
10. The Countryman
11. Yarmouth Fair
12. Sorrow’s Lullaby
13. One More River
14. Maltworms
15. Capriol Suite
16. A Sad Song
17. Pretty Ring Time
18. The First Mercy
19. Fill The Cup, Philip
20. The Cricketers of Hambledon
21. The First Mercy
Three carols
22. No. 1, Tyrley, tyrlow
23. No. 2, Balulalow
24. No. 3, The Sycamore Tree
This important release by EM Records, including no fewer than seventeen world premiere recordings, contains all of Peter Warlock’s music which involves the use of an orchestra. Its title alludes to two of his compelling interests: beer, and the opposite sex. A third interest was the revival of old music, as characterised by his suiteCapriol, for which, alongside his beautiful carols and some of his solo songs, he is best known.
Essentially a miniaturist, Warlock used an orchestra for ten other short works and a brass band for two more, all but two of them with voices. In addition, Warlock’s various publishers authorised the issue of orchestral accompaniments for at least ten of his songs by other orchestrators, though all of these remained in manuscript until the recent research for this disc by the Peter Warlock Society has led to their emergence.
The works on this disc, largely composed in the 1920s, cover a wide range of moods, from the rumbustious tributes to drink inMr. Belloc’s FancyandCaptain Stratton’s Fancyto the sensibility ofThe First MercyandBalulalow. They illustrate Warlock’s links both with English folk song and with contemporary continental angular harmonic developments. Overall, the works of few twentieth century composers convey such a sense both of tenderness and of exuberant enjoyment.