‘Wales is rich in folk songs and the art of singing these songs is very much alive today,’ writes Osian Ellis in the original note (reprinted in the CD booklet) accompanying this L’Oiseau-Lyre LP. Renowned for his harpistry and to many through his recordings of music by Benjamin Britten (with whom he worked closely), this extremely rare recording, made for L’Oiseau-Lyre in 1961, here receives its first release on CD. What makes it even more of a collector’s item is the fact that Ellis is both singer and harpist on this recording. It ranges from Baroque songs to music from the nineteenth century (Boughton’s once-popular Faery Song) to folk songs from Wales and includes a composition (‘O mistress mine’) by Ellis himself.
TRADITIONAL
Song of the Birds (Rew di Ranno)
A B C
Song of the Miller (Cân y Melinydd)
Longing (Hiraeth)
The Loom (Y Gwŷdd)
Song of Gwenny (Gwenni aeth i Ffair Bwllheli)
By the Seashore (Ar lan y mor)
Where are you going to, my pretty maid?
Morning Song (Y bore glas)
Where is my love? (Pa le mae nghariad?)
As I walked out (Pan oeddwn ar ddydd yn cyd-rodio)
The Old Man’s Ballad (Pan oeddwn i gynt yn fachgen)
The Slumber Song (Cysga Di)
Gee up, little horse (Gee ceffyl bach)
PHILIP ROSSETER: What then is love but mourning
JOHN DOWLAND: Sweet, stay awhile
THOMAS CAMPION: There is a garden in her face
FRANCIS PILKINGTON: Rest sweet Nymphs
ROBERT JONES: Sweet Kate
THOMAS ARNE: Come away, death
OSIAN ELLIS: O Mistress Mine
ANONYMOUS Blackbird, wilt thou go? (Ei di’ir deryn dur?
Penillion Songs – Settings by Ellis
Song of the Sea Captain (Cywydd Tomos Prys)
Invitation to Dyddgu (I wahodd Dyddgu)
A Sunset Poem
HENRY DAVID LESLIE: Annabelle Lee
RUTLAND BOUGHTON: Faery Song (The Immortal Hour)
Osian Ellis, harp & voice
FIRST RELEASE ON CD
Recording: 1961
‘[the songs are] launched and sustained with arresting expressiveness. … The whole gamut of moods in the Welsh songs is found to be more artfully arranged when one has played it through several times. I found many of the songs, unfamiliar at first, growing on me as I repeated them. … I found the recording easy and realistic … and enjoyable.’ Gramophone