Hebrides Ensemble "John Bevan Baker Songs of Courtship" HDCD

This disc affords the listener a unique opportunity to explore fascinating and uncharted waters of twentieth-century British music. The majority of works date from the 1980s and early 90s, and were written during the time the composer spent in Fortrose, on the Black Isle in northern Scotland.

 'Certainly worth knowing.' Classic FM Magazine

Songs of Courtship were set to music by Bevan Baker in 1992 for the Black Isle Singers. The poems, written by Mao Shih in the 7th century BC, were translated from the Ancient Chinese in 1946 by Arthur Waley. John loved them and maintained that they had ‘a simple directness which could have been written Yesterday'.

The courtship songs, richly imaginative, vary greatly in metre and in their treatment of the enigmatic oriental lyrics, some being lightfooted, some more robust, always rhythmically challenging. The ‘Wedding Song' is a triumphant, rejoicing finale.

Tracklisting

1. Songs of Courtship: No. 1, Out in the Bushlands
2. Songs of Courtship: No. 2, In the Lowlands
3. Songs of Courtship: No. 3, Plop Fall the Plums
4. Songs of Courtship: No. 4, A Very Handsome Gentleman
5. Songs of Courtship: No. 5, Of Fair Girls the Loveliest
6. Songs of Courtship: No. 6, The Cock Has Crowed
7. Songs of Courtship: No. 7, Shu Is Away
8. Songs of Courtship: No. 8, A Moon Rising
9. Songs of Courtship: No. 9, Outside the Eastern Gate
10. Songs of Courtship: No. 10, If Along the Highroad
11. Songs of Courtship: No. 11, By the Willows of the Eastern Gate
12. Songs of Courtship: No. 12, I Brought My Great Carriage
13. Songs of Courtship: No. 13, Wedding Song. My Lord Is All Aglow
14. Duo for Oboe and Cello
15. Piano Suite: I. March
16. Piano Suite: II. Jig
17. Piano Suite: III. Intermezzo
18. Piano Suite: IV. Berceuse
19. Piano Suite: V. Finale
20. Spring
21. Triptych
22. A Song for Kate
23. Eclogue
24. Rorate coeli desuper