British Music Society

This generous 2 CD collection represents twelve British composers, the majority of them still living. Of particular interest are the first seven tracks devoted to unpublished songs by Ivor Gurney, the fruit of research by the current chair Richard Carder of The English Poetry & Song Society (EPPS) who have realised the project. Soprano Sarah Leonard who performs these, is assured in her sense of pitch but the voice is not always at ease in the higher register and the tone tends to be a little too one-coloured for my liking.

She shares the disc with the baritone Johnny Herford, a promising young singer with clear diction who responds to the texts with warmth and intelligence, and they are both accompanied by the clean lines of Nigel Foster’s playing with impeccable ensemble.
Other composers represented alongside Gurney are William Carnell, Michael Watts, Dennis Wicken, Simon Willink, David Crocker, Sulyen Caradon, Brian Daubney (whose songs the BMS has recorded previously), Graham Garton, Frank Harvey, Robert Hugill and Janet Oates. Many of the texts will be familiar as they are the work of celebrated English poets whose words have been set many times before.

The songs are well crafted in most cases and although there is nothing strikingly original, they are pleasant to listen to. Of particular note was Sea and Sky, the only song presented here by Simon Willink (1929–2015) who set his own words; the result is quite beautiful and is composed in a tender lyrical vein with honesty and simplicity. The English Poetry & Song Society is to be commended for producing a booklet that contains all the song lyrics, an increasingly rare occurrence, and for making this compilation of songs available to the wider public.

—Wendy Hiscocks