Roderick Williams, baritone & Iain Burnside, piano
From the Forest of Dean to the Appalachians:Songs by Ina Boyle,
Ivor Gurney, John Ireland, Elaine Hugh-Jones, Herbert Howells, Michael
Head, Douglas Weiland, Anthony Payne, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav
Holst, Charles Villiers Stanford, Arthur Bliss and African American
Spirituals (arr. Roderick Williams)
Roddy and Iain have
devised a wonderful programme that transports us across land, seas and
time, shining a reflective light on an age before and after the turn of
the 20th century. Their prime focus is on the ‘Dymock Poets’, a group of
friends – including Edward Thomas and Rupert Brooke – who lived near the
Gloucestershire village in the years leading up to the First World War and
who welcomed the great American poet Robert Frost into their midst during
his extended trip to England. It is his work that provides the bridge to
American forebears and contemporaries Walt Whitman and Edna St Vincent
Millay.
There is much beauty in evocative poems of rural life, but
the shadows of injustice, war and servitude are never far away. It is no
wonder that so many great composers have been moved to write songs to the
arresting words of these poets, and this programme offers a compelling
sequence that gives a vision of life 100 years ago that nevertheless still
has resonances in our modern, contrary world.
"a perceptive and
highly skilled partnership” MusicWeb International
Tickets:
£34/£27 (concessions £19/£16)
OFFER: Free entry
to Saturday morning Masterclass when booked at the same time (discount
applied at checkout).
-
£34.00 -
24 July 2026 -
120 minutes -
19:30 -
Paxton House
