Songs Vol 1

'A beautiful release' (American Record Guide)

'Sung with exceptional sensitivity and intelligence...a pleasure to listen to.' (Gramophone)

'Warmly recommended' (Classic CD)

'No praise can be too high for Stephen Varcoe ... his warm, natural baritone, finely judged legato and sensitivity to words are a joy throughout.' (International Record Review)

Stanford declared: 'Song-writing is as miniature-painting. The scale is small, and everything must conform to that scale' (Interludes, Records and Reflections, 1922). Such a rigorous sense of focus depended, as Stanford saw it, on a well-defined hierarchy: the poem should always remain the principal consideration, governing all other artistic decisions.
Stanford's care for the voice and the vocal line sprang from his own natural lyrical impulse. Through access in his early years to the almost limitless font of melodic material in Thomas Moore's (mainly eighteenth-century) melodies and the collections of Petrie, Bunting and Joyce, he developed a profound love of traditional melody which remained a vital source of creativity throughout his life. Irish folksong informed much of Stanford's own melodic parlance, but more than that, it engendered a predisposition towards simplicity, a love of diatonicism and a desire for economy, facets which informed not only the lyrical dimension of Stanford's art but also his approach to harmony (in which the presence of a strong bass was imperative), texture and accompaniment.

The composer was almost certainly influential on pupils such as Vaughan Williams, Gurney and Howells and all lovers of song are sure to be entranced by these performances.

Recorded in Rosslyn Hill Chapel, London, on 25-27 January 1999

"No praise can be too high for Stephen Varcoe's commitment here - he sounds as if he has been singing Stanford all his life. I hope the impeccable advocacy of this recital brings Stanford's songs the wider currency they deserve." International Record Review May 2000