Smyth / Stevens / Martinez: Songs & Ballads
Smyth / Stevens / Martinez: Songs & Ballads
Format: CD
Wanting to order from us over the holiday period but need some more information. We are here to help! Please see our Christmas Shipping page for more information.
On average, orders containing available-to-ship items are processed and dispatched within 1-2 business days, although this is not guaranteed.
Orders containing preorder items will ship as 1 fulfillment once all items in the order are available to ship.
Please note, Tower Records Merchandise and Exclusives are dispatched separately. On average, these items take 3-4 business days to dispatch, although this is not guaranteed.
The estimated shipping times that are displayed at checkout are from the point of dispatch.
See our shipping policy for more information.
We have a 30-day return policy, which means you have 30 days after receiving your item(s) to make a return.
For orders created between November 20th 2024 and December 31st 2024, we have extended our normal return period. For orders made between this period, customers have up to 60 days from the receipt of goods to return an item. Please see our Christmas Returns page for more information.
To be eligible for a return of an unwanted item, your item must be in the same condition that you received it and in its original packaging.
In the unfortunate situation that a product is damaged/faulty/incorrect, let us know and we will endeavor to correct any issue as soon as possible.
Please see our refund policy for more information.
Artist: Smyth / Stevens / Martinez
Label: Somm Recordings
Product Type: COMPACT DISCS
UPC: 748871061125
Genre: Classical
SOMM Recordings continues it's acclaimed championing of neglected British composers with Dame Ethel Smyth: Songs and Ballads - 17 vocal works with piano and chamber orchestra accompaniment composed between 1886 and 1913. Contralto Lucy Stevens has a long relationship with Smyth, portraying the composer, political activist and writer in her widely admired stage show Ethel Smyth: Grasp the Nettle. She is joined by her long-time stage companion, pianist Elizabeth Marcus, and Odaline de la Martinez conducting the Berkeley Ensemble. All four are making their debuts on SOMM. Published in 1886 and receiving their first recordings in English are the five Op.3 Songs and Ballads. Dedicated to Livia Frege, the singer to whom Mendelsohn and Schumann dedicated some of their finest songs, they blend images of the natural world with themes of lost love to reveal Smyth as a songwriter of already considerable gifts. Dedicated to Smyth's mother and exploring themes of motherhood while shot through with images drawn from troublesome dreams, the five Op.4 Lieder, settings of German texts, exalt in an emotional palette that ranges from tenderness to trenchant emotion. Three Songs from 1913, composed during the period of Smyth's suffragette activity - which saw her jailed for two months for throwing a stone through a cabinet minister's window - deftly combine the political and personal. With lyrics by the suffragist Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, Possession is dedicated to Emmeline Pankhurst, On the Road: a marching tune to Pankhurst's daughter, Christabel. The Clown sets a text by Maurice Baring, whose biography Smyth wrote in 1938. Written for voice and chamber orchestra, the Four Songs from 1908 boast exquisite orchestrations that revel in Smyth's associations with artistic circles in France and were hailed by Debussy as "tout à fait remarquables". Stevens, who devised the album's programme, Martinez and Christopher Wiley provide informative booklet notes.
Tracks:
Audio Sample:
All soundclips are provided by Tidal and are for illustrative purposes only. For some releases, the tracks listed may not accurately represent the tracks on the physical release.
