Andrew Kennedy performs Vaughan Williams’ great and innovative work, On Wenlock Edge, nearly one hundred years after its premiere performance in 1909. Written for tenor, piano and string quartet Williams explored a chamber combination previously unexplored by other English composers.
Followed by Ludlow & Teme and Songs of Eternity & Sorrow Op.36 by Ivor Gurney & Ian Venables, this disc provides the listener with renditions from three great English composers ranging from the late nineteenth- century to the present day, performed beautifully by Andrew Kennedy, Simon Crawford-Phillips & the Dante Quartet.
Kennedy has a big, bright, expressive tenor voice and uses it with fervour, delicacy and imagination … A thoughtfully realised recital – The Independent on Sunday
Kennedy’s young tenor sounds utterly at ease in this CD of Housman settings by Vaughan Williams, Ivor Gurney and Ian Venables … his musicianship is appealing, and the Dante Quartet accompany with gusto – The Times
The first of what I hope will be a flood of Vaughan Williams CDs to mark the 50th anniversary of his death has arrived, and very fine it is too … Kennedy copes marvellously with the music’s kaleidoscopic, constantly changing moods … Venables’s four settings come as an unexpected bonus, and cap an outstanding CD no lover of British music should miss – The Mail on Sunday
Venables’ songs are sharply responsive to the weight and meaning of every word, and his style … around Kennedy’s voice like a glove … The tenor handles the texts superbly, making every word perfectly clear – The Guardian
This is a powerful cycle, worth hearing. All the participants respond well to its requirements, as they do to the Vaughan Williams and Gurney songs – International Record Review
