Who is Silvia - George Shearing, John Rutter, The Cambridge Singers

'Who is Silvia'
Songs and Sonnets from Shakespeare
From the album ‘Feel the Spirit’
Composer George Shearing
Conductor John Rutter
Choir The Cambridge Singers
Double Bass Malcolm Creese
Piano Wayne Marshall
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LYRICS:
Who is Silvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admired be.
Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness:
Love doth to her eyes repair,
To help him of his blindness;
And, being help’d, inhabits there.
Then to Silvia let us sing,
That Silvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring.
(Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 4, scene 2)
Songs and sonnets from Shakespeare
This second Shakespeare cycle, by George Shearing, was premièred in 1999 with the composer at the piano, Neil Swainson playing bass, and John Rutter guest-conducting. John instantly loved the music - 'so fresh and youthful, so witty, tender and varied' that he recorded it with the Cambridge Singers.
Feel the Spirit
Strong, stirring spirituals and tuneful, jazz-flavoured settings of Shakespeare’s timeless lyrics are the mouth-watering ingredients of the Cambridge Singers’ album Feel the Spirit. John Rutter has written vivid arrangements of seven well-loved American spirituals for choir, with soloist Melanie Marshall and the BBC Concert Orchestra joining together with the Cambridge Singers for this world première recording.
John Rutter, English composer and conductor, is associated with choral music throughout the world. His recordings with the Cambridge Singers (the professional chamber choir he set up in 1983) have reached a wide global audience, many of them featuring his own music in definitive versions. Among John’s best-known choral works are Gloria, Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, and Visions, together with many church anthems, choral songs and Christmas carols.
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[@valerieslater3029]

I do love this slow version, they do it beautifully...

[@VictoriaN72]

❤️

[@rattywoof5259]

Tempo a bit too slow for me, but the intonation is stunningly good. I know it's tantamount to heresy, but I prefer this setting to Schubert's!