Schubert So lasst mich scheinen (live, 2009)
Surely one of the most beautiful songs every written. But amazingly this was the first time either of us had ever performed it – in our 2009 Wigmore recital programme of songs by Schubert and Brahms. The programme was devised by Graham Johnson in his series “Brahms, His Friends, Rivals & Contemporaries” We’re sure you’ll […]
Brahms Meerfahrt (live, 2009)
More Brahms from our Wigmore Hall 2009 recital. This time, the text is by Heine (another of the featured poets in the programme). You can read the poem at the Lied and Art Song texts page. We both were struck by the stark drama in this piece and we loved the imagery of the Geisterinsel […]
Brahms Die Liebende schreibt (live, 2009)
We performed this in a recital at the Wigmore Hall in 2009 in a programme of Schubert and Brahms. In the programme was also Schubert’s setting of the same text, by Goethe (one of the featured poets in the programme). There are quite a few well-known settings of this song – our favourite is probably […]
Philips Verses in Solitude (live, 2000)
We premièred Julian Philips’ Verses in Solitude at the Bromsgrove Concerts’ Mixing Music series in 2000. It’s an extended piece for soprano, baritone and piano – hence why the voice is over on the left and not in the centre. Andrew Foster-Williams was the baritone. . . It narrates the correspondence between Emily Dickinson and […]
Philips The Humming Bird (live, 2000)
Back in 2000 we premièred Julian Philips’ Verses in Solitude at the Bromsgrove Concerts’ Mixing Music series. Verses in Solitude (sound clip here) is based on the life and letters of Emily Dickinson and in the first half we sang some of Julian’s An Amherst Bestiary – a set of songs on Dickinson poetry. An […]
Koechlin Le paysage dans le cadre (BBC R3, 1997)
We recorded this song (full title Le paysage dans le cadre des portières) and some others by Koechlin for BBC Radio 3’s Composer of the week. Several of the performances, including this one, were world première broadcasts. The song (words by Verlaine) evokes the furious, mechanical churning of a steam train, upon which the poet […]
Bizet Pastorale (live, 1996)
Here’s one of our earliest recordings together – Bizet’s Pastorale, recorded in the Duke’s Hall at the Royal Academy of Music, London, in 1996. This is a song we performed many times in those early days, and we revisited it early this year for a recital at The Forge, Camden. Here is the text – […]