大象传媒

Around the turn of the 20th century, music in Britain underwent a kind of renaissance, mirrored perfectly in the developments of native songwriting. The popular drawing-room ballads of the Victorians began to make way to different musical aspirations. Composers looked to make settings of poetry in the English language that could stand alongside the world of the German lied and the great flowering of song from the likes of Schubert, Schumann and Wolf.

Tenor Mark Padmore reflects on the story of this renaissance in British song. Across three programmes, he charts a personal journey, beginning with the 19th-century ballad, through Somervell and Elgar right up to the present day. In the first programme, he looks at how this renaissance began to be achieved. He considers the work of the Georgians such as Quilter, Butterworth and Gurney, through to the period between the wars with the music of Ireland and Finzi; and features other, perhaps less familiar names too. Composers who set about establishing what is sometimes referred to as English art song.

The programme features recordings from some of the outstanding interpreters of this repertory.