Various Interprets - Folksongs of the British Isles (2023) Hi-Res

SOMM Recordings is pleased to announce a musical journey around the four nations of the United Kingdom with Folk Songs of the British Isles.

Celebrating the “living, breathing heritage of British and Irish folksong down the ages”, the 27-track recital features soprano Janis Kelly, mezzos Yvonne Howard and Maria Jagusz, tenors Nicky Spence and Wynne Evans, baritone Mark Llewelyn Evans, jazz doyenne Elaine Delmar and actor- singer Kevin Whately.

Fiona Kelly (flute), Jean Kelly (harp) and pianists Michael Pollock and John Wilson provide instrumental contributions with singer Caroline McCausland accompanying herself on guitar.

Much-loved songs include She Moved Through the Fair, The Last Rose of Summer, The Foggy, Foggy Dew and Down by the Salley Gardens.

Local colour is provided by songs such as Blaydon Races, Skye Boat Song, Sosban Fach and The Oak and the Ash while the entirely new Song for Gwyn (words by Christopher Morley, music by John Wilson) tributes Gwyn Williams, former Principal Viola with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which he joined in 1965 and where he played for conductors Hugo Rignold, Louis Frémaux and Sir Simon Rattle.

Royalties will be donated to the Gwyn Williams Bursary Fund which supports young violists at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and endows three viola chairs in the CBSO Youth Orchestra.

SOMM’s long commitment to British vocal music includes the acclaimed three-volume One Hundred Years of British Song by James Gilchrist and Nathan Williamson (SOMMCD 0621, 0636, 0646), two discs of Parry’s English Lyrics (SOMMCD 257, 270), volumes by Eric Coates (SOMMCD 0192), Ethel Smyth (SOMMCD 0611) and a British song recital by Kathleen Ferrier (ARIADNE 5010).

Recent releases include a first volume of songs by Stephen Dodgson (The Peasant Poet, SOMMCD 0659) and Robert Matthew-Walker’s A Bad Night in Los Angeles (SOMMCD 0662), hailed by MusicWeb International as “individual and accessible but with a sophistication and craft that repays attentive listening”.