James Geer, Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facades (2020) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

SOMM Recordings explores one of the most significant partnerships in 20th-century British music with Facades, an album of piano-accompanied songs and music for four-hand piano by William Walton and Constant Lambert. Facades takes its title from Walton’s era-defining “entertainment”, heard here in arrangements for four-hand piano of its two orchestral Suites by Lambert – regarded by Walton as the definitive reciter of Edith Sitwell’s nonsense verses. Lambert’s Trois pi`eces n`egres pour les touches blanches for piano duet are a kaleidoscopic, jazz-accented tour de force exploration of the piano’s white keys. Described by the composer as an “idyll”, Walton’s Siesta (also for two-player piano) is, says Ronald Woodley in his entertaining and informative booklet notes, “infused with the clear light and open charm of Italy”.

The eight song settings by Lambert of poems by the eighth-century Chinese poet Li Po are “exquisitely crafted, restrained and often enigmatic miniatures [marked by an] elusive and allusive musical style”. Completing the recital, a selection of songs by Walton range from Tudor pastiche (Under the Greenwood Tree) to the atonal-inflected Tritons and lyrically captivating Beatriz’s Song. Making their SOMM debuts are tenor James Geer and his accompanist in the songs, pianist Ronald Woodley. The latter is joined at the keyboard in the four-hand piano arrangements by Andrew West whose previous SOMM recordings include three acclaimed volumes of Parry’s English Lyrics.

Lambert’s Trois pi`eces n`egres pour les touches blanches for piano duet are a kaleidoscopic, jazz-accented tour de force exploration of the piano’s white keys. Described by the composer as an “idyll”, Walton’s Siesta (also for two-player piano) is, says Ronald Woodley in his entertaining and informative booklet notes, “infused with the clear light and open charm of Italy”. The eight-song settings by Lambert of poems by the eighth-century Chinese poet Li Po are “exquisitely crafted, restrained and often enigmatic miniatures [marked by an] elusive and allusive musical style”. Completing the recital, a selection of songs by Walton range from Tudor pastiche (Under the Greenwood Tree) to the atonal-inflected Tritons and lyrically captivating Beatriz’s Song.

Tracklist:
1. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – 3 Pi`eces n`egres pour les touches blanches: No. 1, Aubade (02:33)
2. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – 3 Pi`eces n`egres pour les touches blanches: No. 2, Siesta (03:06)
3. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – 3 Pi`eces n`egres pour les touches blanches: No. 3, Nocturne (03:05)
4. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 4 Songs: No. 4, The Winds (01:42)
5. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 3 Songs to Poems by Edith Sitwell: No. 1, Daphne (02:53)
6. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – Tritons (01:54)
7. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 8 Poems of Li-Po: No. 1, A Summer Day (01:54)
8. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 8 Poems of Li-Po: No. 2, Nocturne (01:54)
9. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 8 Poems of Li-Po: No. 3, With a Man of Leisure (01:10)
10. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 8 Poems of Li-Po: No. 4, Lines (03:00)
11. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Siesta (Version for Piano 4 Hands) (04:41)
12. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – Under the Greenwood Tree (From “As You Like It”) (01:49)
13. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – Beatriz’s Song (From “Christopher Columbus”) [Arr. C. Palmer for Voice & Piano] (02:47)
14. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 8 Poems of Li-Po: No. 5, The Ruin of the Ku-Su Palace (01:19)
15. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 8 Poems of Li-Po: No. 6, The Intruder (01:14)
16. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 8 Poems of Li-Po: No. 7, On the City Street (01:49)
17. James Geer & Ronald Woodley – 8 Poems of Li-Po: No. 8, The Long-Departed Lover (03:26)
18. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 1 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): I. Polka (01:24)
19. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 1 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): II. Valse (03:27)
20. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 1 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): III. Swiss Jodelling Song (02:32)
21. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 1 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): IV. Tango – Pasodobl’e (02:00)
22. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 1 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): V. Tarantella Sevillana (02:43)
23. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 2 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): I. Fanfare (00:39)
24. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 2 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): II. Scotch Rhapsody (01:20)
25. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 2 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): III. Country Dance (02:14)
26. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 2 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): IV. Noche Espagnola (Long Steel Glass) (02:50)
27. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 2 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): V. Popular Song (02:19)
28. Andrew West & Ronald Woodley – Facade Suite No. 2 (Arr. C. Lambert for Piano 4 Hands): VI. Fox-Trot (Old Sir Faulk) (01:57)

Download:

mqs.link_JamesGeerAndrewWestR0naldW00dleyFacades20202496.part1.rar
mqs.link_JamesGeerAndrewWestR0naldW00dleyFacades20202496.part2.rar

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