Ivor Gurney
was both a composer and a poet, and he understood fine shades of the relationship between music and text even though, curiously, he rarely set his own poetry. None of the ones where he did are included on this release by baritone
Marcus Farnsworth
and pianist
Eric McElroy
.
Gurney
served in World War I and was attacked by mustard gas. Either because of PTSD or due to syphilis infection, he suffered from mental illness after the war but continued to compose and write while hospitalized, and much of the material he produced has remained unpublished. The big news on this release, which made classical best-seller lists in the autumn of 2024, is that
Farnsworth
and
McElroy
perform 18 songs from the manuscript, and lovers of English song will be overjoyed to have them. Sample
's setting of
William Butler Yeats
'
The Lake Isle of Innisfree
, which does nothing fancy but makes a powerful effect. Many of
's songs have a combination of brevity and profundity, and he sometimes sets traditional ballad texts, not in a pastoral mood but with a sense of the bones of the words.
, the winner of the 2009 Wigmore Hall Song Competition, is an effective interpreter, with clear diction and an understated manner that serve the songs well. Highly recommended for those who may have neglected
in their explorations of English song. ~ James Manheim