William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare's sonnets and the songs embedded in his plays remain living lyric for composers. On these recordings his words surface in art song, lieder and choral settings that still carry love, wit, jealousy and foolery.
His language is built for the ear: compressed feeling in the sonnets, and stage songs that step out of Twelfth Night, Othello and the comedies with a directness singers still chase. Composers from Vaughan Williams and Finzi to Korngold, Argento and living Australians set him because the verse already sings—metre, image and argument doing half the musical work. Whether it is the clown's weather wisdom, the willow song's quiet dread, or a lover measuring beauty against truth, the texts ask for colour and clarity rather than costume drama. Listeners come for the settings; they stay for lines that still sound newly spoken.
William Shakespeare is featured on the following titles
Bards of Faith and Passion
Jim Minchin sets poems by writers at play or at odds with eternity: soul-poet lyrics across the centuries, from anonymous Latin verse and the metaphysicals to Yeats, Shakespeare and living voices.
Compositions by William Shakespeare also appear on
Laughing
The internationally acclaimed Choir of Ormond College, directed by Douglas Lawrence, turns to the lighter side of a cappella singing across jazz, madrigal and spiritual repertoire.
A Shropshire Lad
Baritone Blake Fischer and pianist Claire Cooper, winners of the 1998 Song Recital Award, present English and American folk, traditional and art songs by Butterworth, Copland, Finzi and Britten.
Australian Songs
A comprehensive survey of Richard Peter Maddox’s vocal music, with the composer at the Stuart & Sons piano, joined by soprano Samantha Smith and, in the closing cycle, his brother Graham Maddox on oboe.
ABC of American Art Song
Melanie Duncan blitzed the 1999 Mietta Song Recital Award, taking the Popular Choice award and the Musical Partnership with accompanist Claire Cooper as well as the Award itself. This is her recital of twentieth-century American art song.
Adele Johnston sings Wagner and Korngold Lieder
Adele Johnston, 1997 winner of the City of Melbourne Song Recital Award, sings rarely heard Wagner and Korngold lieder with pianist Andrew Greene, including Australian and world premiere recordings.