Down by the Salley Gardens: 19th & 20th Century English Songs / Bejun Mehta

Down by the Salley Gardens offers a vivid and varied cross-section of English song, ranging from the Edwardian aesthetic of Quilter and early Vaughan Williams to the intensely expressive style of Howells and Finzi. The Purcell realizations by Britten and Tippett, meanwhile, are products of two great 20th-century composers engaging with their musical heritage. In all these different styles, Bejun Mehta shows the same verbal and vocal mastery that won such acclaim for his debut Handel recital on harmonia mundi.

"Bejun Mehta certainly can't be faulted on his eclecticism in his whistle-stop tour of English song...Mehta's singing is so heart-stoppingly beautiful and musically perceptive that you wish he had recorded whole cycles rather than just representative songs." -The Guardian

"Mehta's gift for mood and atmosphere is heard in the light beauty of Quilter's "It was a lover and his lass", the sweet melancholy of Gurney's "Down by the Salley Gardens" or the veiled mystery of Lennox Berkeley's "The Horseman". Pianist Julius Drake provides customary alert, expressive accompaniment." -The Observer

"Mehta is a technically excellent singer; with a firm well-supported line; an unusually resonant lower range; and fine expressive diction, well equal to Julius Drake's sturdy accompaniment. And he's hardly more bloodless than genteel English tenors of the era...he exploits his thinner tone deftly for unusual, even eerie effects, especially in Stanford's chilling La belle dame snas merci" -BBC Music Magazine

"Any suspicion that these songs might sound lukewarm or tentative in the hands of a countertenor is soon dispelled by Mehta's invigorating singing of Quilter's 'Blow, blow, thou winter wind' and the keen way he dramatises Stanford's 'La Belle Dame sans merci'. The verbal point he brings to a handful of Purcell songs in arrangements by Britten and Tippett is also appreciated." -Gramophone

"Mehta may not possess the most extensive of vocal paintboxes but he does gradate the shades at his disposal to good effect: pastels rather than oils. In Drake he has a partner who draws suitable sounds from the piano." -International Record Review

International Record Review
Mehta may not possess the most extensive of vocal paint boxes but he does gradate the shades at his disposal to good effect: pastels rather than oils. In Drake he has a partner who draws suitable sounds from the piano.

The Guardian
Bejun Mehta certainly can't be faulted on his eclecticism in his whistle-stop tour of English song...Mehta's singing is so heart-stoppingly beautiful and musically perceptive that you wish he had recorded whole cycles rather than just representative songs.

The Observer
Mehta's gift for mood and atmosphere is heard in the light beauty of Quilter's "It was a lover and his lass", the sweet melancholy of Gurney's "Down by the Salley Gardens" or the veiled mystery of Lennox Berkeley's "The Horseman". Pianist Julius Drake provides customary alert, expressive accompaniment.

BBC Music Magazine
Mehta is a technically excellent singer; with a firm well-supported line; an unusually resonant lower range; and fine expressive diction, well equal to Julius Drake's sturdy accompaniment. And he's hardly more bloodless than genteel English tenors of the era...he exploits his thinner tone deftly for unusual, even eerie effects, especially in Stanford's chilling La belle dame snas merci

Gramophone Magazine
Any suspicion that these songs might sound lukewarm or tentative in the hands of a countertenor is soon dispelled by Mehta's invigorating singing of Quilter's 'Blow, blow, thou winter wind' and the keen way he dramatises Stanford's 'La Belle Dame sans merci'. The verbal point he brings to a handful of Purcell songs in arrangements by Britten and Tippett is also appreciated.

Notes & Reviews:

Recording information: Teldex Studio Berlin (09/2010).

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Works Details

Howells, Herbert : King David for voice & piano

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 5 min. 1 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Quilter, Roger : Shakespeare Songs (5), Op. 23

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 2 min. 21 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Gurney, Ivor : Down by the Salley Gardens for voice & piano

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 2 min. 46 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1921

Vaughan Williams, Ralph : House of life

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Notes: Composition written: 1903.
Running Time: 4 min. 23 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic
Written: 1903

Purcell, Henry : Lord, what is man?, Z 192

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 5 min. 55 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Written: circa 1692

Purcell, Henry : Let the night perish, Z 191 "Job's Curse"

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 5 min. 42 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Form: Vocal
Written: circa 1687

Vaughan Williams, Ralph : Linden Lea

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Notes: Composition written: 1901.
Running Time: 2 min. 25 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic
Written: 1901

Quilter, Roger : Come away death, for voice & piano, Op. 6/1

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 2 min. 53 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1905

Quilter, Roger : O mistress mine, for voice & piano, Op. 6/2

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 1 min. 31 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1905

Quilter, Roger : Shakespeare Songs (3), Op. 6

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 2 min. 32 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Form: Vocal

Finzi, Gerald : I Said to Love, Op. 19b :: At Middle-Field Gate in February

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 3 min. 10 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1936

Howells, Herbert : Songs, Op. 22 :: The Widow Bird

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 1 min. 48 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Berkeley, Lennox : Songs, Op. 26 :: The Horseman

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 1 min. 11 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1946

Howells, Herbert : The Little Boy Lost, song

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 2 min. 12 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Stanford, Charles Villiers : La Belle Dame Sans Merci, ballad for voice & piano

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 6 min. 9 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic

Vaughan Williams, Ralph : Bright is the ring of words, song for voice & piano (or orchestra) (Songs of Travel no 8)

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 1 min. 50 sec.
Period Time: Post Romantic
Written: 1904

Finzi, Gerald : A Young Man's Exhortation, Op. 14 :: The Sigh

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 3 min. 28 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1926-1929

Warlock, Peter : Jillian of Berry, for voice & piano

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Period Time: Modern
Written: 1926

Hely-Hutchinson, Victor : Old Mother Hubbard (Set in the Manner of Handel), song for voice & piano

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 2 min. 20 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Form: Vocal

Quilter, Roger : Take, o take those lips away, song for voice & piano, Op. 23/4

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 1 min. 25 sec.
Period Time: Modern
Form: Vocal

Finzi, Gerald : Since we loved

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 1 min. 17 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Quilter, Roger : Hey ho! The wind and the rain, for voice & piano, Op. 23/5

Performers: Bejun Mehta; Julius Drake (Piano)
Running Time: 1 min. 51 sec.
Period Time: Modern

Purcell, Henry : Music for a while

Performers: Julius Drake (Piano); Bejun Mehta
Running Time: 3 min. 37 sec.
Period Time: Baroque
Written: circa 1692

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