To Gratiana dancing and singing | Ashley Riches | Proud Songsters

Stream or buy the new album Proud Songsters: smarturl.it/Pr...
To Gratiana dancing and singing, by William Denis Browne, performed by Simon Lepper and Ashley Riches, alumni of King's College.
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Words Richard Lovelace (1617-57).
See! With what constant motion
Even, and glorious, as the sun,
Gratiana steers that noble frame,
Soft as her breast, sweet as her voice
That gave each winding law and poise,
And swifter than the wings of Fame.
Each step trod out a lover’s thought
And the ambitious hopes he brought,
Chain’d to her brave feet with such arts;
Such sweet command, and gentle awe,
As when she ceas’d, we sighing saw
The floor lay pav’d with broken hearts.
So did she move; so did she sing
Like the harmonious spheres that bring
Unto their rounds their music’s aid;
Which she performed such a way,
As all th’enamoured world will say:
The Graces danced, and Apollo play’d.
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Proud Songsters is a journey through the distinctive musical genre of English Song. This collection of 20 songs - familiar and lesser known - are performed by some of the finest former members of the Choir of King’s College, Cambridge with one of this generation’s most exceptional pianists.
Each of the nine alumni featured on this album sang as young adults at King’s, alongside pianist Simon Lepper, a graduate of King’s. The songs included on the album span settings of Shakespeare songs, those of prominent 20th Century composers Vaughan Williams, Britten, Finzi, Clarke and Howells through to contemporary works by Jonathan Dove, Iain Bell and Celia Harper. The album includes a specially-commissioned essay on the works by Stephen Banfield, and the CD includes a special bonus track sung by Gerald Finley and Christopher Keyte.
www.kingscollegerecordings.com

[@R_Jackson]

A favourite of mine - a beautiful interpretation. 👏

[@jonathangoodman2636]

I teach an Art Song course on Long Island, and it's always tough to condense the riches of English song, even from that fertile first two decades after 1900. Naxos seems to have covered most of it, but anyone interested in creme de la creme should seek out William Denis Browne, another composer lost in the Great War. He is likely left off here due to his small output, but his late songs "Arabia" and " To Gratiana Dancing and Singing" are masterworks of no equal in England.

[@mousefoot]

Ivor Gurney too!

[@janepeckham9089]

Such a gorgeous song, beautifully played and sung.

[@bryanoneil7647]

Absolutely stunning. Thank you

[@yuehchopin]

elegant

[@litoboy5]

COOL

[@marinapegrisch1305]

😇🤗👏👏👏