Stanford: Orchestral Songs Sharon Carty & Morgan Pearse

• Charles Villiers Stanford (1852 - 1924): An Irish Idyll in Six Miniatures, Op. 77:
• 1 Stanford: An Irish Idyll in Six Miniatures, Op. 77 (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 2, A Fairy Lough 03:43
• The Clown's Songs from "Twelfth Night", Op. 65:
• 2 Stanford: The Clown's Songs from "Twelfth Night", Op. 65 (Version for Voice & Orchestra): II. Come Away Death 03:34
• Is it the Wind of the Dawn:
• 3 Stanford: Is it the Wind of the Dawn (Version for Voices & Orchestra) 02:42
• La Belle Dame sans merci:
• 4 Stanford: La Belle Dame sans merci (Arr. for Voice & Orchestra by Jeremy Dibble) 06:46
• 5 Sonnets from "The Triumph of Love", Op. 82:
• 5 Stanford: 5 Sonnets from "The Triumph of Love", Op. 82 (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 4, I Think that We Were Children 03:32
• 6 Stanford: 5 Sonnets from "The Triumph of Love", Op. 82 (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 3, When in Solemn Stillness 03:53
• 7 Stanford: 5 Sonnets from "The Triumph of Love", Op. 82 (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 5, O Flames of Passion 02:29
• Three Cavalier Songs, Op. 17:
• 8 Stanford: Three Cavalier Songs, Op. 17 (Version for Mezzo-Soprano): I. Marching Along 02:32
• 9 Stanford: Three Cavalier Songs, Op. 17 (Version for Mezzo-Soprano): II. King Charles 02:00
• 10 Stanford: Three Cavalier Songs, Op. 17 (Version for Mezzo-Soprano): III. Boot, Saddle, To Horse 01:56
• Songs of Faith, Op. 97, Set 2:
• 11 Stanford: Songs of Faith, Op. 97, Set 2 (Arr. for Voice & Orchestra by Jeremy Dibble): I. To the Soul 03:31
• 12 Stanford: Songs of Faith, Op. 97, Set 2 (Arr. for Voice & Orchestra by Jeremy Dibble): II. Tears! tears! tears 04:41
• 13 Stanford: Songs of Faith, Op. 97, Set 2 (Arr. for Voice & Orchestra by Jeremy Dibble): III. Joy, Shipmate, Joy! 01:50
• Irish Songs and Ballads:
• 14 Stanford: Irish Songs and Ballads (Version for Voice & Orchestra): Chieftain of Tyrconnell 03:22
• Songs of Old Ireland:
• 15 Stanford: Songs of Old Ireland (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 34, The Foggy Dew 02:40
• Songs of Old Ireland:
• 16 Stanford: Songs of Old Ireland (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 42, When She Answered Me 01:47
• O Ye Dead:
• 17 Stanford: O Ye Dead (Version for Voice & Orchestra) 04:00
• Songs of Old Ireland:
• 18 Stanford: Songs of Old Ireland (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 6, Battle Hymn 01:21
• 19 Stanford: Songs of Old Ireland (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 22, Lament for O R O’Neill 03:35
• 20 Stanford: Songs of Old Ireland (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 2, Emer’s Farewell to Cucullain 04:16
• Songs of Erin, Op. 76:
• 21 Stanford: Songs of Erin, Op. 76 (Version for Voice & Orchestra): No. 22, The Alarm 01:34
• Bible Songs, Op. 113:
• 22 Stanford: Bible Songs, Op. 113 (Version for Voice & Orchestra): III. A Song of Hope 07:03
• Total Runtime 01:12:47

Info for Stanford: Orchestral Songs

Charles Villiers Stanford felt a special affinity for the orchestral song, an idiom which began to establish itself as a distinct art form in its own right at the end of the nineteenth century with composers such as Mahler, Richard Strauss, Elgar and Bantock.

This recording, released to mark the composer’s centenary year, features a wide selection of colourful and inventive orchestrations he made of his own songs and arrangements of Irish folk melodies for the concert hall, many of which were made for the leading soloists of the days such as Harry Plunket Greene, David Bispham, Marie Brema and Olga Michailoff (the wife of Henry Wood).

Sharon Carty, mezzo-soprano
Morgan Pearse, baritone
BBC Concert Orchestra
BBC Singers
John Andrews, conductor

Sharon Carty
Irish mezzo-soprano Sharon Carty is a singer who has firmly established a reputation as a respected interpreter of both early and contemporary works, alongside maintaining a busy schedule in mainstream opera and concert repertoire. She is an alumna of the RIAM Dublin, MDW Vienna, and Oper Frankfurt Young Artist Programme, and is currently an Artistic Partner to Irish National Opera as well as the Artist in Association to the Irish Chamber Orchestra for the 2023-2024 season Regularly praised for her musicality and intelligence, her integrity as an artist and the warmth, clarity and agility of her voice, her opera repertoire includes many of the important lyric and coloratura mezzo-soprano roles, such as Hänsel, Dido, Ruggiero, Dorabella, Cherubino, Ariodante, Orfeo and Sesto. On the concert platform her repertoire spans most of the major sacred concert works, including all the principal works by J. S .Bach as well as Messiah, Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor and a broad song repertoire in addition to numerous chamber music works. She is also a dedicated song recitalist, most recently appearing in performances with pianists Finghin Collins, Jonathan Ware and Graham Johnson.

Career highlights to date include her London and Amsterdam opera debuts with The Second Violinist at the Barbican Theatre, and the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam, her Wexford Festival Opera debut as Lucy Talbot in the European première of William Bolcom’s Dinner at Eight, the title role in Irish National Opera’s critically-acclaimed Orfeo ed Euridice and her debut at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy, where she premiered a new opera, Proserpine by Silvia Colasanti, to critical acclaim.

Current and recent projects include Dorabella for Irish National Opera, Sesto (Handel) for Blackwater opera, as well as song, oratorio and chamber music concerts in Ireland, France, Germany and Switzerland.

A regular collaborator with orchestras across Europe, her discography includes La Traviata on Naxos DVD with the NDR Radiophilharmonie alongside Thomas Hampson and Marina Rebeka as well as The Mountebanks (Gilbert/Cellier) on CD with the BBC Concert Orchestra, as well as a critically-acclaimed disc of Schubert songs with pianist Jonathan Ware, was released in May 2020. 2024 will see the release of two discs of the songs of C.V.Stanford to commemorate the centenary of the composer.

Morgan Pearse
As one of the truly versatile and fearless baritones of his generation, Morgan Pearse has appeared on many of the world’s finest opera and concert stages in a career already filled with countless highlights. ​

These have included débuts in numerous title roles, such as the critically praised new production of Le Nozze di Figaro at Opernhaus Zürich, The Barber of Seville at English National Opera and Don Giovanni at the Verbier Festival. In past seasons, Morgan has enjoyed great success with performances of Theodora (Valens) and Tolomeo (Araspe) at the Karlsruhe Händelfestpiele, Le Nozze di Figaro (Figaro) and Die Zauberflöte (Papageno) at the Badisches Staatstheater, Don Giovanni (Masetto) and L’Elisir d’Amore (Belcore) for NZ Opera, the title role in Billy Budd for the Bolshoi Theatre, as well as Nero in Kaiser's Octavia and Almiro in Pasquini’s Idalma, both for the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music. ​

Equally at home in concert repertoire, Morgan’s engagements have included appearances with ensembles including the Academy of Ancient Music, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, King’s College Choir Cambridge, The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, The Philharmonia Orchestra, CBSO, English Chamber Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, Australian String Quartet, the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, RTVE Madrid, Russian National Orchestra, as well as La Scintilla and the Philharmonia Orchestra of Opernhaus Zürich. ​

His engagements have also led him to prestigious international venues such as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Sydney Opera House, and Wigmore Hall, Palau de la Música Catalana Barcelona, Konserthuset Copenhagen, Melbourne Recital Centre, Hamer Hall, St John’s Smith Square, among many others. ​

An active recording artist, Morgan Pearse appears on several recent recordings, including the Gramophone Award-winning Dussek Messe Sollemnelle and Händel’s Brockes Passion, both with the Academy of Ancient Music on the ensemble’s own AAM label. Other recordings include the critically acclaimed performance of Pasquini’s Idalma (from the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music) on the CPO label, and the world premiere recording of Eleanor Alberga’s The Soul’s Expression for Lyrita with the BBC NOW. Most recently, he has recorded the world premiere of Dame Ethyl Smyth’s Der Wald with the BBC Concert Orchestra and the BBC Singers

First prize winner of the prestigious Cesti Competition in 2016, Morgan Pearse is also the recipient of the Lies Askonas Prize from the Royal College of Music, and the Gold Medal of the Royal Overseas League’s Music Competition.

Booklet for Stanford: Orchestral Songs