Musical Romanticism, explored by Pieter de Oude.
Bryn Terfel sings British songs by Vaughan Williams, Finzi, and Butterworth.
In this hour-long episode, we’ll enjoy the beautiful voice of Bryn Terfel. The baritone from Wales is masterfully accompanied by the Scotsman Malcolm Martineau. Together they recite a fantastic British repertoire. Nine songs with lyrics made by Robert Louis Stevenson make the Songs of Travel by Ralph Vaughan Williams, who always interspersed his compositions with English folk songs. Gerald Finzi chose poems made by Shakespeare, which he wraps in a late-Romantic musical context. Finally, we’ll listen to six songs made by George Butterworth. He brutally died on the Somme battlefield. We only know a few compositions made by him, but those we do know are strong and convincing. The simplicity and the poems by Housman have inspired a whole generation of English composers.
Playlist:
1. Ralph Vaughan Williams
Songs of Travel (Robert Louis Stevenson)
Bryn Terfel, baritone / Malcolm Martineau, piano
2. Gerald Finzi
Let Us Garland Bring (William Shakespeare)
Bryn Terfel, baritone / Malcolm Martineau, piano
3. George Butterworth (A.E. Housman)
Six Songs from “A Shropshire Lad”
Bryn Terfel, baritone / Malcolm Martineau, piano
