Rowan Pierce, Julien Van Mellaerts & Lucy Colquhoun – Songs of the Night (2023)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 01:10:35 minutes | 1,19 GB | Genre: Classical
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Champs Hill Records
Soprano Rowan Pierce, baritone Julien Van Mellaerts and pianist Lucy Colquhoun present Songs of the Night: a collection of works exploring the night in all its guises, from roaring storms and peaceful sunsets to magical forests and nocturnal travellers. The journey begins in the depths of a dark German forest with Schubert’s Friedrich Schlegel’s Waldesnacht. Goethe’s iconic Wandrers Nachtlied is heard in Schubert’s famous setting and Schumann’s less familiar edition, creating a fascinating chance to compare two composers’ thoughts about the same text. There are also two gems by Hans Pfitzner, plus settings by Hugo Wolf and Clara Schumann. The set ends with Felix Mendelssohn’s delectable Maiglöckchen und die Blümelein, in which lilies-of-the-valley urge all the other Spring flowers to join in a miniature round dance. Lucy Colquhoun comments: “All of the songs here have been performed and recorded before, yet much of this repertoire still deserves greater exposure. My hope is that as many listeners as possible will come to love them as much as I do.” Lucy Colquhoun is much in demand as a song pianist, performing widely as a recitalist throughout the UK including at the Purcell Room Southbank, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Oxford Lieder Festival, and at London’s Wigmore Hall, where she has played for multiple singers in the Ferrier Awards finals (2019–2022), including all prizewinners. Soprano Rowan Pierce was awarded the President’s Award by HRH Prince of Wales at the Royal College of Music and won both the Song and First Prizes at the inaugural Grange Festival International Singing Competition in 2017. She was a Britten Pears Young Artist, a Rising Star of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and a Harewood Artist at ENO. Julien Van Mellaerts represented New Zealand at Cardiff Singer of the World 2019. He is the winner of the Wigmore Hall / Kohn Foundation International Song Competition and the Kathleen Ferrier Awards. Recital engagements have included At The World’s Edge Festival; Chamber Music New Zealand; London’s Wigmore Hall; and Berlin’s Pierre Boulez Saal. His debut recital album, Songs of Travel and Home, was released on Champs Hill Records in 2021.
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