The Shadow of the Glen

Richard Jackson (baritone), Igor Kennaway (piano), Della Jones (mezzo-soprano), Neil Mackie (tenor), John Gibbs (baritone), Paul Hudson (bass), Divertimenti Orchestra, Howard Williams (conductor)

Catalog #: TROY0418
Release Date: March 1, 2001
Format: Digital
Vocal

Although he was one of the most important British composers of the mid-20th century, during his lifetime Bernard Stevens attracted rather less attention than some of his contemporaries. He was a fine pianist; however composition became his preoccupation after study in the 1930s with E.J. Dent at Cambridge University and R.O. Morris at the Royal College of Music in London. Here Stevens gained the highest awards and later became a distinguished professor. Stevens was highly respected within the musical world. He composed steadily, and his works were performed; but it was more or less inevitable that his professed left-wing sympathies and intellectual and moral integrity sometimes brought him into conflict with the attitudes of the British musical establishment. Despite his solid academic record, Stevens was anything but academic in style, personality and convictions. The two works presented here are the final two vocal compositions that he composed. He adapted the libretto himself for The Shadow of the Glen, from the play by John Millington Synge.

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Track Listing

Title Composer Performer
The True Dark Bernard Stevens Richard Jackson, baritone; Igor Kennaway, piano
The Shadow of the Glen Bernard Stevens Della Jones; John Gibbs; Paul Hudson; Neil Mackie; Divertimenti Orchestra; Howard Williams, conductor

Reviews

  • "Although Stevens's opera has yet to receive its first staging, this excellent and vividly dramatic recording...provides eloquent testimony to the composer's fluid and highly expressive vocal writing..."

    – BBC Magazine

  • "A richly satisfying recording... These are hugely valuable accounts of first-rate British music that deserves to be much better known."

    – BBC Magazine

*Album cover provided for Editorial use only. ©Albany Records. The Albany Imprint is a registered trademark of PARMA Recordings LLC. The views and opinions expressed in this media are those of the artist and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views and opinions held by PARMA Recordings LLC and its label imprints, subsidiaries, and affiliates.