Quilter:
Blow, blow, thou winter wind
Come away, death
Fear no more the heat o’ the sun
Orpheus with his lute
O mistress mine
Under the greenwood tree
The Fuchsia Tree
Go, lovely rose
A Last Year’s Rose
Now sleeps the crimson petal
To Daisies

Born in Sussex in 1877, Roger Quilter was a fellowstudent of Percy Grainger, Cyril Scott, and H. Balfour Gardiner at the Hoch Conservatory, in Frankfurt, where he studied for almost five years under the guidance of the German professor of composition Iwan Knorr. He is best known for his contribution to English art song, having composed around 150 songs, many of which remain regular recital favourites. For this album, the tenor James Gilchrist and pianist Anna Tilbrook explore his output from early works such as ‘Now sleeps the crimson petal’ through to late examples such as ‘The Ash Grove’. All of the songs are settings of English texts, with the exception of the Four Songs of Mirza Schaffy, which set German texts by Friedrich von Bodenstedt. The musicians have arranged their selection of twenty-seven songs into thematic groups – Shakespeare songs, songs about flowers, folksongs, songs of love etc. – which makes for a fascinating and rewarding programme.