Songs for Tenor and Guitar

"I love the symmetry of this disc, and how beautifully it has been programmed. Outstanding!"
(MusicWeb June 2005)

"This is rather special: one of the finest British tenors plus a guitarist who can obtain such a range of colour and expression from his instrument that 74 minutes doesn't seem a second too long. It's also a beautifully balanced concert programme…superb recordings too."
Five Stars (Choral & Song choice of the Month) BBC Music (July 05)

Following hot on the heels of his extraordinary performance as Aschenbach in Chandos' Death in Venice, Philip Langridge brings his rare musical and dramatic abilities to these songs by three British composers. There are parallels in the works that make up this intriguing programme. Britten was one of the first to schedule concert performances of lute songs, such as those by John Dowland, with the original lute accompaniment, rather than piano arrangement as had previously been standard practice. Britten was inspired by these songs to write new works for voice and guitar while Nicholas Maw, a composer of the next generation, has developed this lyrical intensity and poetic sensibility even further.

Contains the premiere recordings of Nicholas Maw's Six Interiors and Music of Memory.

Philip Langridge is joined on this disc by multi-award winning American guitarist Stephen Marchionda. In the early 1990s, Marchionda received lessons from Julian Bream, who described him as a 'strong, spirited performer'.