Scottish Folk Song Arrangements / English Songs

"'A Pageant of English Song' was Baker's first solo LP for EMI. Side 1, in which she's accompanied by Martin Isepp and Robert Spencer, is reissued on this CD. Side 2, with Gerald Moore at the piano, can be heard on a double CD on EMI. Dame Janet was at the beginning of the high summer of her career when this was recorded in 1967.
Every recital, concert appearance or opera role was an event. In the first song, Dowland's 'Come againe', each word is given the perfect weight, with beautiful touches on the repeated 'I sit, I sigh, I weep, I faint, I die'. The jolly 'Never love unlesse you can', the melancholy 'Oft have I sigh'd' and the coquettish 'Faine would I wed' each has its own 'face', Baker finding just the right expression in her voice. The Scottish songs arranged by Haydn, recorded eight years later, seem rather slight in comparison.
Nineteen of these arrangements one after another seem rather too much of a good thing.
The five Beethoven Scottish arrangements are the best part of the 1975 session. 'Fathfu' Johnnie' is a setting to place beside any great song of the same period. The recording seems to favour the instrumentalists somewhat, whereas in the 1967 selections, Baker's voice is always fresh and forward."
(Gramophone Classical Music Guide)