Each of these song settings is more beautiful than the last......and Robert Lewis Stephenson's poems are so poignant and touching......I have been a Vaughan Williams freak since my teenage years....and have had the opportunity to perform many of his works over the years.....as an American, no mean feat.....
May I ask if I could use this audio for score video? This is the only recording I can find so far with the original Violin + Piano combination already...
to the heart of youth (youth and love) Far on the level land.I lived in the haunted woods in Cumbria in a stick hut.I became The Claife Crier for a short period of time. this album is beautiful.
I loved this rendition of the beloved, if not overperformed Rafe Vaughn Williams' song cycle... My faves that I myself sang: The Roadside Fire, and Whither Must I Wander. This singer shows real Dramatic Baritone promise and potential.
Thank you so much for this. Wonderful interpretations, confident, well articulated and with a lovely personal touch. Both moving and technically well sung. I am a voice teacher and retired opera singer and I am very choosy but this perfromance really touched me. Thank you again
I am a singer and I have long loved art song most of all. I developed amnesia during the pandemic and contend with uncertainty daily about what I've forgotten. I remember the basics about who I am and my children and close friends. I also remember much of the repertoire I've learned. In reviewing my music today I found a copy of Songs of Travel. I leafed through them and couldn't recall having sung them or even recognize them. At the same time, the songs tugged at my memory and I was convinced that I have heard them, and more than once. I found a version of them and listened through them from start to finish. I fell in love with them at once - perhaps that was how I felt the first time I heard them. I was completely in their spell and over and over my eyes filled with tears at the beauty of music and words. When I got to "Whither Must I Wander" i recognized it immediately and I knew that I had surely heard it before, and I realized that I had been given a rare gift. How many times have we wished we could once again hear a beloved work of music as if for the first time? I have been granted that wish, and I am grateful beyond words.
All poems by Robert Louis Stevenson 0:00 The vagabond Give to me the life I love, Let the lave go by me, Give the jolly heaven above, And the byway nigh me. Bed in the bush with stars to see, Bread I dip in the river- There’s the life for a man like me, There’s the life for ever. Let the blow fall soon or late, Let what will be o’er me; Give the face of earth around, And the road before me. Wealth I seek not, hope nor love, Nor a friend to know me; All I seek, the heaven above, And the road below me. Or let autumn fall on me Where afield I linger, Silencing the bird on tree, Biting the blue finger. White as meal the frosty field- Warm the fireside haven- Not to autumn will I yield, Not to winter even! 3:12 Let Beauty awake Let Beauty awake in the morn from beautiful dreams, Beauty awake from rest! Let Beauty awake For Beauty’s sake In the hour when the birds awake in the brake And the stars are bright in the west! Let Beauty awake in the eve from the slumber of day, Awake in the crimson eve! In the day’s dusk end When the shades ascend, Let her wake to the kiss of a tender friend, To render again and receive! 5:15 The roadside fire I will make you brooches and toys for your delight Of bird-song at morning and star-shine at night, I will make a palace fit for you and me Of green days in forests, and blue days at sea. I will make my kitchen, and you shall keep your room, Where white flows the river and bright blows the broom; And you shall wash your linen and keep your body white In rainfall at morning and dewfall at night. And this shall be for music when no one else is near, The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear! That only I remember, that only you admire, Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire. 7:40 Youth and love To the heart of youth the world is a highwayside. Passing for ever, he fares; and on either hand, Deep in the gardens golden pavilions hide, Nestle in orchard bloom, and far on the level land Call him with lighted lamp in the eventide. Thick as stars at night when the moon is down, Pleasures assail him. He to his nobler fate Fares; and but waves a hand as he passes on, Cries but a wayside word to her at the garden gate, Sings but a boyish stave and his face is gone. 11:16 In dreams In dreams unhappy, I behold you stand As heretofore: The unremember’d tokens in your hand Avail no more. No more the morning glow, no more the grace, Enshrines, endears. Cold beats the light of time upon your face And shows your tears. He came and went. Perchance you wept awhile And then forgot. Ah me! but he that left you with a smile Forgets you not 13:50 The infinite shining heavens The infinite shining heavens Rose, and I saw in the night Uncountable angel stars Showering sorrow and light. I saw them distant as heaven, Dumb and shining and dead, And the idle stars of the night Were dearer to me than bread. Night after night in my sorrow The stars looked over the sea, Till lo! I looked in the dusk And a star had come down to me.
16:10 Whither must I wander? Home no more home to me, whither must I wander? Hunger my driver, I go where I must. Cold blows the winter wind over hill and heather: Thick drives the rain and my roof is in the dust. Loved of wise men was the shade of my roof-tree, The true word of welcome was spoken in the door- Dear days of old with the faces in the firelight, Kind folks of old, you come again no more. Home was home then, my dear, full of kindly faces, Home was home then, my dear, happy for the child. Fire and the windows bright glittered on the moorland; Song, tuneful song, built a palace in the wild. Now when day dawns on the brow of the moorland, Lone stands the house, and the chimney-stone is cold. Lone let it stand, now the friends are all departed, The kind hearts, the true hearts, that loved the place of old. Spring shall come, come again, calling up the moorfowl, Spring shall bring the sun and rain, bring the bees and flowers; Red shall the heather bloom over hill and valley, Soft flow the stream through the even-flowing hours. Fair the day shine as it shone on my childhood- Fair shine the day on the house with open door; Birds come and cry there and twitter in the chimney- But I go for ever and come again no more. 20:25 Bright is the ring of words Bright is the ring of words When the right man rings them, Fair the fall of songs When the singer sings them, Still they are carolled and said- On wings they are carried- After the singer is dead And the maker buried. Low as the singer lies In the field of heather, Songs of his fashion bring The swains together. And when the west is red With the sunset embers, The lover lingers and sings And the maid remembers. 22:29 I have trod the upward and the downward slope I have trod the upward and the downward slope; I have endured and done in days before; I have longed for all, and bid farewell to hope; And I have lived and loved, and closed the door.
I sang this as a teen but never this well. Its my goal before I pass to once again sing it. Many thanks to both of you for inspiring me, after so long. I pray I can find an accompanist as talented as Ms. Cheng.
Excellent Performance ...from note 1 to note end. Both piano and voice in perfect balance...THis is one of RVW's most poignant works and must be listened to in one movement..There is so much in each note...
That was so sweet. I know a couple of the songs. Mr. Berisso, your voice is so satisfying and Ms. Cheng's accompaniment is most sensitive. Thank you. (12/29/19)
Perhaps a little more credit should be given to Ms. Cheng. After all, this is one step in her master degree of collaborative accompaniment. She can accompany me anytime.
