Listen & tracks
3 of 20 tracks have a preview · 18 works · 52:54
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1 Semiramide Gioachino Rossini Bel raggio 3:39
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2 I Vespri Siciliani Giuseppe Verdi Bolero 3:19
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3 I Puritani Vincenzo Bellini Qui la voce 4:09
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4 Rigoletto Giuseppe Verdi Caro nome 3:00
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5 Jocelyn Benjamin Godard Angels Guard Thee 2:50
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6 Winds in the Trees Arthur Goring Thomas 2:36
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7 To the Angels Napoleone Zardo 3:33
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8 The Angels Serenade Gaetano Braga 3:00
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9 The Perfect Way Charles Willeby 2:46
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10 My Little Violet Charles Willeby 2:21
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11 Four Leaf Clover Charles Willeby 2:12
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12 By the Waters of Minnetonka Thurlow Lieurance 2:08
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13 The Rosary Ethelbert Nevin 2:21
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14 Serenade Charles Gounod 3:00
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15 Ave Maria Charles Gounod 3:01
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16 Danny Boy Traditional 3:24
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17 Gypsy Songs Antonín Dvořák Songs My Mother Taught Me 2:17
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18 Cavalleria Rusticana Pietro Mascagni Ave Maria – Intermezzo 3:18
The programme opens with coloratura arias from Rossini, Verdi and Bellini, then turns to the salon songs and ballads she recorded in London and later in Australia.
The final four tracks feature her sister Eileen Castles, among them Gounod’s Ave Maria and Dvořák’s Songs My Mother Taught Me.
In the artist’s words
I belong to Australia and to the Australians, not only by right of birth, but also by a hundred other ties. Australians gave me the first helping hand. Australians first whispered to me of success. Australians were the first to assist me in the hard times at the beginning of my career. To Australia I belong, therefore, as long as the Australians care to claim me. And I hope that will be for always.
Reviews
Miss Castles of Melbourne held us under the charm of her exquisite voice - a voice of infinite purity and of marvellous flexibility. The English have styled Miss Castles the "Australian Nightingale". It will never again be said that the English are not gallant, as they were never more complimentary - to the nightingale! There is no greater flattery for a singer than to be compared to the King of singing birds, and yet the nightingale finds in his throat, no lighter trills, no sweeter sounds, than those which Miss Castles gave forth in profusion, and which in brilliance resembled glittering fireworks.
Artists
Amy Castles
soprano
Amy Eliza Castles (25 July 1880 – 19 November 1951), was an Australian dramatic soprano, the daughter of Joseph Castles (1849-1933), and Mary Ellen Castles (1855-1937). Her two sisters, Ethel Margaret "Dolly" Castles (1884–1971) and Eileen Anne Castles (1886–1970) were also highly regarded, talented sopranos.
Eileen Castles
soprano
Eileen Castles was a sister of Amy Castles. Also a singer, she performed in Melbourne and New York, mainly in opera and light opera.
Johann Sebastian Bach
composer
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750) was a German composer and organist of the late Baroque. His sacred and secular music for choir, orchestra, organ and solo instruments remains among the foundations of the Western concert and church repertory.
Antonín Dvořák
composer
Antonín Dvořák (1841–1904) was a Czech composer whose music fused the folk rhythms and melodies of Bohemia and Moravia with the Romantic symphonic tradition, earning lasting international renown.
Charles Gounod
composer
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, conductor and organist of the Romantic era. His operas include the enduringly popular Faust, and his sacred and salon pieces remain staples of the repertoire.
Pietro Mascagni
composer
Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana lives by melody that cuts straight to the heart. The Intermezzo and the aria Voi lo sapete carry the opera's heat in a few concentrated minutes of lyric drama.
Gioachino Rossini
composer
Rossini's operas crackle with melodic invention and theatrical pace: comic peaks such as The Barber of Seville and La Cenerentola sit beside grand statements like Guillaume Tell, all driven by rhythmic snap and bright instrumental colour.
Giuseppe Verdi
composer
Giuseppe Verdi wrote the operas that still define the Italian stage: Rigoletto, La traviata, Aida, Otello. His music turns private passion and public fate into melody audiences know by heart and never tire of hearing.
Vincenzo Bellini
composer
Bellini’s operas and songs are built on long, graceful bel canto melodies that balance florid embellishment with a deceptively simple lyric line. His writing still supplies Italianate colour for recital and instrumental programmes alike.
Gaetano Braga
composer
Benjamin Godard
composer
Benjamin Godard wrote Romantic operas, songs and chamber music in a lyrical vein close to Mendelssohn and Schumann. The Berceuse from his opera Jocelyn remains his best-known piece, and his smaller works travel easily to flute, harp and the salon.
Thurlow Lieurance
composer
Ethelbert Nevin
composer
Arthur Goring Thomas
composer
Frederic Weatherly
composer
Frederic Weatherly (1848–1929) was an English lawyer, author and lyricist. He wrote the words to thousands of popular songs, among them the sentimental ballad Danny Boy.
Charles Willeby
composer
Napoleone Zardo
composer
Digital booklet
Digital booklet Notes, texts and credits — read online or download the PDF Download the PDFPerformers
- Amy Castles · soprano · tracks 1–14
- Eileen Castles · soprano · tracks 15–18
Technical credit
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Mastering Engineer
Martin Wright
Details
- List price
- $20.00 AUD
- Total playing time
- 52 minutes 54 seconds
- Release date
- 2017
- Musical work copyright
- © 2017 Move Records
- Sound recording copyright
- ℗ 2017 Move Records
- Catalogue
- MCD 559
- EAN
- 9314574055924
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