Sophie Bevan & Sebastian Wybrew – Songs of Vain Glory – Wigmore Hall Live (2018) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

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’.

Tracklist:
1. Sophie Bevan – Till Earth Outwears, Op. 19: No. 6, At a Lunar Eclipse (03:43)
2. Sophie Bevan – Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 4 “Moore’s Irish Melodies”: No. 10, O the Sight Entrancing (01:51)
3. Sophie Bevan – Three New Old Songs: No. 1, “To Lucasta, On Going to the Wars” (01:15)
4. Sophie Bevan – ’Tis but a Week, H.146 (01:44)
5. Sophie Bevan – 114 Songs: No. 51, Tom Sails Away (03:04)
6. Sophie Bevan – Most Holy Night (03:20)
7. Sophie Bevan – A Sheaf of Songs from Leinster, Op. 140: No. 3, A Soft Day (02:36)
8. Sophie Bevan – Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 3 “The British Isles”: No. 3, Sweet Polly Oliver (02:18)
9. Sophie Bevan – Roses of Picardy (04:42)
10. Sophie Bevan – Goodbye-ee (02:45)
11. Sophie Bevan – If I were the Only Girl (02:32)
12. Sophie Bevan – We’ll Gather Lilacs (04:10)
13. Sophie Bevan – 6 English Canzonettas, Hob.XXVIa:31-36: No. 1, Sailor’s Song (02:11)
14. Sophie Bevan – The Fringes of the Fleet: No. 3, Submarines (02:01)
15. Sophie Bevan – The Oddities: Tom Bowling (04:38)
16. Sophie Bevan – The Ship (02:38)
17. Sophie Bevan – Folk Song Arrangements, Vol. 4 “Moore’s Irish Melodies”: No. 8, Oft in the Stilly Night (02:32)
18. Sophie Bevan – Spring Sorrow (01:49)
19. Sophie Bevan – When I Am Dead, My Dearest (02:24)
20. Sophie Bevan – Come to Me in My Dreams, H.71 (04:09)
21. Sophie Bevan – Three Belloc Songs: No. 3, My Own Country (02:03)
22. Sophie Bevan – 12 Humbert Wolfe Songs, Op. 48: No. 9, Journey’s End (02:16)
23. Sophie Bevan – Songs of the Sea, Op. 91: No. 4, Homeward Bound (06:29)
24. Sophie Bevan – We’ll Gather Lilacs (Reprise) (02:17)