The Songs Of Roger Quilter, Vol. 3

Description

The songs on this disc, Roger Quilter Volume 3, span more than 50 years and show Quilter in all his moods – light, exuberant, ephemeral, narrative, pensive, but always melodic. Few composers – especially song composers – can claim to have written works that have remained in print since they were first published more than a hundred years ago. Roger Quilter is one such, though the number of his songs still in print is regrettably small. The songs presented here range from one written in 1897 (though not published until 1904, after substantial revision) to one published in 1952, the year before he died. Six songs date from the 1920s, by which time Quilter’s style was mature and confident: the richly coloured harmonies of ‘The Time of Roses’ mark a gem too seldom sung. ‘In the Highlands’ is similarly wistful, with hints of birdsong, a setting of R.L. Stevenson in reflective mood; it is pentatonic at times, and Quilter speeds up the harmonic rhythm at points of urgency, the song contrasting with the light and dainty ‘In the Bud of the Morning-O’, to words by the Irishman James Stephens.