Songs of Vain Glory - Wigmore Hall Live Sophie Bevan & Sebastian Wybrew

• Gerald Finzi (1901 - 1956): Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19:
• 1 No. 6, At a Lunar Eclipse 03:43
• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 4 "Moore’s Irish Melodies":
• 2 No. 10, O the Sight Entrancing 01:51
• Arthur Somervell (1863 - 1957): Three New Old Songs:
• 3 No. 1, "To Lucasta, On Going to the Wars" 01:15
• Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941):
• 4 ’Tis but a Week, H.146 01:44
• Charles Ives (1874 - 1954): 114 Songs:
• 5 No. 51, Tom Sails Away 03:04
• Ivor Gurney (1890 - 1937):
• 6 Most Holy Night 03:20
• Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 - 1924): A Sheaf of Songs from Leinster, Op. 140:
• 7 No. 3, A Soft Day 02:36
• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 3 "The British Isles":
• 8 No. 3, Sweet Polly Oliver 02:18
• Haydn Wood (1882 - 1959):
• 9 Roses of Picardy 04:42
• Robert Weston (1878 - 1936):
• 10 Goodbye-ee 02:45
• Nat D. Ayer (1887 - 1952):
• 11 If I were the Only Girl 02:32
• Ivor Novello (1893 - 1951):
• 12 We’ll Gather Lilacs 04:10
• Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809): 6 English Canzonettas, Hob.XXVIa:31-36:
• 13 No. 1, Sailor’s Song 02:11
• Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934): The Fringes of the Fleet:
• 14 No. 3, Submarines 02:01
• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): The Oddities:
• 15 Tom Bowling 04:38
• Ivor Gurney (1890 - 1937):
• 16 The Ship 02:38
• Benjamin Britten (1913 - 1976): Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 4 "Moore’s Irish Melodies":
• 17 No. 8, Oft in the Stilly Night 02:32
• John Ireland (1879 - 1962):
• 18 Spring Sorrow 01:49
• Liza Lehmann (1862 - 1918):
• 19 When I Am Dead, My Dearest 02:24
• Frank Bridge (1879 - 1941):
• 20 Come to Me in My Dreams, H.71 04:09
• Peter Warlock (1894 - 1930):
• 21 Three Belloc Songs: No. 3, My Own Country 02:03
• Gustav Holst (1874 - 1934): 12 Humbert Wolfe Songs, Op. 48:
• 22 No. 9, Journey’s End 02:16
• Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 - 1924):
• 23 Songs of the Sea, Op. 91: No. 4, Homeward Bound 06:29
• Ivor Novello (1893 - 1951):
• 24 We’ll Gather Lilacs (Reprise) 02:17
• Total Runtime 01:09:27

Info for Songs of Vain Glory - Wigmore Hall Live

With each season soprano Sophie Bevan grows in artistic stature and when taking breaks from her distinguished operatic career, she has always felt supremely comfortable performing songs. Her enduring partnership with Sebastian Wybrew began as students at the Royal College of Music and this, their debut release on Wigmore Hall Live, captures her beguiling artistry and astonishing vocal gifts.

A recital to commemorate the anniversary of the beginning of the First World War, Songs of Vain Glory draws from a wider range of songs in English depicting the excitement, disillusionment and peace of those who must leave to fight and the love, fear and loss of those left behind. From the timeless, astral perspective of Finzi's 'At a lunar eclipse' to the oceanic depths of Elgar's 'Submarines' and the cosy evergreen 'We'll gather lilacs'.

"This beautifully programmed recital will make you want to rush out and buy as many volumes of British songs as you can…the real showstoppers are the lovingly rendered wartime lollipops, steeped in nostalgia, underlaid with sorrow and loss…[Bevan’s] sound is glorious, perfectly matched by Sebastian Wybrew’s tremendous versatility and sense of colour." (BBC Music Magazine)

"Ivor Novello’s We’ll Gather Lilacs and Haydn Wood’s Roses of Picardy sound poignantly lovely, thanks to Bevan’s bright but soft-edged soprano and Wybrew’s understated decoration. The recording captures the rapt attention of the audience in the hall." (The Guardian)

Sophie Bevan, soprano
Sebastian Wybrew, piano

Sophie Bevan
Sophie Bevan graduated from the Benjamin Britten International Opera School in 2007 where she studied as a Countess of Munster Trust award holder, Karaviotis Scholar and MBF award holder with Lillian Watson. During her time there she performed the title role in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea' and Susanna in 'Le Nozze di Figaro'. As an undergraduate, Sophie studied at the Royal College of Music as a Foundation Scholar and during her time there was awarded an ABRSM scholarship, won the Junior Kathleen Ferrier competition, the RCM Concerto competition, a Miriam Licette award for French song and on leaving the RCM was awarded the Queen Mother Rose Bowl Award for excelling in music which was presented to her by his Royal Highness The Prince of Wales.

Sophie sings and records a wide range of concert repertoire both nationally and internationally and she has worked with conductors including Simon Halsey, Edward Gardner, Laurence Cummings, Paul McCreesh, Harry Christophers, Phillipe Herreweghe, Sir Neville Marriner and Sir Charles Mackerras. She is also passionate about her recital work most recently performing a programme of Schubert at the Concertgebouw Kleine Zaal with Malcom Martineau and making her Wigmore Hall recital debut with Sebastian Wybrew in January 2011 to general critical acclaim.

Operatic roles include Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Pamina (The Magic Flute), Mabel (The Pirates of Penzance), Cathleen (Riders to the Sea), Clorinda (La Cenerentola), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Costanza (Riccardo I) and the title role in Rodelinda. Her most recent operatic roles include Xenia in the new production of Boris Godunov, Despina (Cosi fan tutte) and soprano solos (Messiah) for English National Opera; Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro with Welsh National Opera; Alinda in Vivaldi's L'Incoronazione di Dario, Susanna (Le Nozze Di Figaro) for Garsington Opera, and Polissena (Radamisto) with the ENO and most recently Yum-Yum in Jonathan Miller's production of The MIkado also at ENO.

Amongst other engagements this year, Sophie will perform Pamina (The Magic Flute) at Garsington's new venue Wormsley; tour to Halle with Harry Picket and the English Concert in June and to Boston with Harry Christophers and the Handel and Haydn Society in December.

Sebastian Wybrew
was awarded a scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music with Andrew Ball, Nigel Clayton and John Blakely and has been described by the Telegraph as being "out of the top drawer of young musicians". Since attending the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme at Aldeburgh he has performed as part of the Britten-Pears Orchestra and has given Lieder recitals at the Aldeburgh, Petworth and Sherbourne festivals, the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Académie Européenne de Musique, Festival d'Orpheus et Bacchus in Bordeaux and the Victoria International Arts Festival in Gozo. He has given recitals throughout London and England with Dame Felicity Lott, most recently for the St Albans International Organ Festival. He has received plaudits from Classical Music Magazine for his recording of Geoffrey Grey's Partita with trumpeter Simon Cheney and was awarded the accompanist prize at the 2010 John Kerr English Song Competition.

His longstanding duo with soprano Sophie Bevan has led to recitals throughout the UK and Europe, their recent Wigmore Hall debut receiving critical acclaim. Most recently he gave the opening concert for the inaugural year of the Meads Music Festival with baritone Christopher Maltman and future engagements include the John Kerr Prizewinners' recital with soprano Susanna Hurrell.

This album contains no booklet.