John Joubert: Song-Cycles and Chamber Music

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John Joubert: Song-Cycles and Chamber Music

Catalogue Number: TOCC0045
EAN: 5060113440457
Release Date: 9 July 2007
Duration: 76:24

Recorded in the presence of the composer

The Hour Hand, Op. 101, for soprano and recorder
Shropshire Hills, Op. 155, for high voice and piano
Improvisation, Op. 120, for recorder and piano
Kontakion, Op. 69, for cello and piano
The Rose is Shaken in the Wind, Op. 137, for soprano and recorder
Six Poems by Emily Brontë, Op. 63, for soprano and piano

Lesley-Jane Rogers, soprano
John Turner, recorder
Richard Tunnicliffe, cello
John McCabe, piano

The music of John Joubert – born in 1927 in Cape Town, a student at the Royal Academy of Music in London in the 1940s and ’50s, and Birmingham-based since 1962 – has a strong sense of melody, his beguiling lyricism combining with an acute sensitivity to words to produce songs that are both colourful and evocative. These four song-cycles pay tribute to the places and poets that inspired them. And his chamberworks, drawing on a rich instrumental palette and haunting melodic lines, are memorable and dramatically effective.

Liner Notes (PDF)

Track Listing, MP3 Downloads and Streaming Samples

Track No.	Track Title / Details	Duration

	DOWNLOAD COMPLETE ALBUM	76:24

1-5	The Hour Hand, Op. 101, for soprano and recorder (1982) John Joubert, composer Lesley-Jane Rogers, soprano John Turner, recorder (first recording)	9:09
1	The Hour Hand	1:55
2	Cock ’round the Clock	1:22
3	Horizontal Beams	1:58
4	Low Tide	1:08
5	Winter Sun	2:46

6-8	Shropshire Hills, Op. 155, for high voice and piano (1982) John Joubert, composer Lesley-Jane Rogers, soprano John McCabe, piano (first recording)	12:44
6	Shropshire Hills	4:07
7	Early Spring in the Marches	3:34
8	Clun Forest	5:03

9	Improvisation, Op. 120, for recorder and piano (1982) John Joubert, composer John Turner, recorder John McCabe, piano (first recording)	6:14

10	Kontakion, Op. 69, for cello and piano (1982) John Joubert, composer Richard Tunnicliffe, cello John McCabe, piano (first recording)	13:29

11-14	The Rose is Shaken in the Wind, Op. 137, for soprano and recorder (1982) John Joubert, composer Lesley-Jane Rogers, soprano John Turner, recorder (first recording)	10:33
11	Spring Day in Arrowtown	2:24
12	Tombstone Song	2:24
13	The Gardener’s Song	1:37
14	The Rose is Shaken in the Wind	4:08

15-20	Six Poems by Emily Brontë, Op. 63, for soprano and piano (1982) John Joubert, composer Lesley-Jane Rogers, soprano John McCabe, piano (first recording)	24:15
15	Harp	2:23
16	Sleep	5:00
17	Oracle	3:17
18	Storm	2:55
19	Caged Bird	3:25
20	Immortality	7:15

Artists

John Joubert, composer

Lesley-Jane Rogers, soprano

John Turner, recorder

Richard Tunnicliffe, cello

John McCabe, piano
[credit: Peter Thompson]

Reviews

Many people are familiar with at least one of Joubert’s miniatures – his carol ‘Torches’, which they probably sang at school – but are unlikely to know these song cycles, which have been recorded by the imaginative Toccata label to mark his 80^th birthday. They burst with his characteristic melodic inventiveness and vivid word setting and are beautifully captured here by Lesley-Jane Rogers. Chamber pieces are also included, with John McCabe, who has long championed Joubert’s work, in fine form at the keyboard.

Stephen Pritchard Observer

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