Down by the Salley Gardens

Format: CD & Digital download
Label: Harmonia Mundi
Release date: September 2011
Catalogue no: HMC902093

In addition to The Horseman, the first of Berkeley's Five Songs (Walter de la Mare), this programme offers a vivid and varied cross-section of English song, ranging from the Edwardian aesthetic of Quilter and early Vaughan Williams to the intensely expressive style of Howells and Finzi. The Purcell realisations by Britten and Tippett, meanwhile, are products of two great 20th-century composers engaging with their musical heritage. In all these different styles, Bejun Mehta shows the same verbal and vocal mastery that won such acclaim for his debut Handel recital on harmonica mundi. (Synopsis by harmonica mundi)

• Five Songs (op. 26, Walter de la Mare)

Performed by Julius Drake (piano) & Bejun Mehta (counter-tenor)