Little Wanderer

‘Little Wanderer’, from William Blake’s dream world, seemed the perfect title for an album in which we are surrounded by myriad landscapes in songs by Benjamin Britten, Imogen Holst and Daniel Kidane. Since meeting on our first day at the Royal College of Music, we have long enjoyed programming Britten’s masterful folk song reimaginings, and we adore the texts and music in his powerful Hardy cycle, Winter Words. It has been a joy to discover songs by Imogen Holst, Britten’s close friend and assistant, and we are proud to be able to make the first recording of Dan’s Songs of Illumination, commissioned for us by Leeds Lieder in 2018. For over a decade, song in English has played a major part in our musical lives and performing relationship, and we are delighted to present this programme together.

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Winter Words, Op. 52
No. 1, At Day-Close in November
 
01:37
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Winter Words, Op. 52
No. 2, Midnight on the Great Western
 
04:41
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Winter Words, Op. 52
No. 3, Wagtail and Baby
 
02:07
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Winter Words, Op. 52
No. 4, The Little Old Table
 
01:31
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Winter Words, Op. 52
No. 5, The Choirmaster's Burial
 
04:03
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Winter Words, Op. 52
No. 6, Proud Songsters
 
01:12
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Winter Words, Op. 52
No. 7, At the Railway Station, Upway
 
02:54
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Winter Words, Op. 52
No. 8, Before Life and After
 
03:18
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4 Songs
No. 1, Brittle Beauty
 
01:08
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4 Songs
No. 2, Why fearest thou thy outward foe?
 
02:01
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4 Songs
No. 3, Shall I thus ever long?
 
02:10
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4 Songs
No. 4, As lawrell leaves
 
01:43
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Little think’st thou
 
01:16
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Weathers
 
02:07
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Songs of Illumination
No. 1, A Dream
 
04:34
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Songs of Illumination
No. 2, The Land of Dreams
 
04:13
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Songs of Illumination
No. 3, The Little Black Boy
 
04:47
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Sally in our Alley
 
04:01
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The Ploughboy
 
01:52
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The Last Rose of Summer
 
03:36
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How Sweet the Answer
 
02:12
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Ca’ the Yowes
 
04:15
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Oliver Cromwell
 
00:49