Allan je Rame, je Tangue

SOMM Recordings continues its widely acclaimed championing of the music of Charles Villiers Stanford with a captivating collection of his Children’s Songs by mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately and baritone Gareth Brynmor John, accompanied by pianist Susie Allan.

Composed in feverish bouts interrupted by long periods of inaction, Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch was brought to completion in 1896. The 46 songs are settings of poems in German by Paul Heyse, after Italian folk songs – miniatures with a duration of less than 2 minutes in most cases. Heyse’s collection numbered more than 350 poems, but Wolf ignored the ballads and laments, and concentrated almost exclusively on the rispetti. These are short love poems which chart, against a Tuscan landscape, the everyday jealousies, flirtations, joys and despairs of men and women in love. Heyse’s translations often intensify the simple Italian of the original poems, and in their turn, Wolf’s settings represent a further heightening of emotion. Miniatures they may be, but many of the songs strike unforgettably at the heart.

Allan Holdsworth's guitar prowess is well known in music circles, but he remains something less than a household name. His large and sometimes uneven discography has floated in and out of print, making it difficult for curious listeners to know where to start. Against the Clock is a double-disc collection taken from nine different albums, dating back to 1984…

Allan Taylor is one of England's most-respected singer/songwriters. His songs have been covered by artists on both sides of the Atlantic, including Don Williams, Frankie Miller, Fairport Convention, Dick Gaughan, the McCalmans, the Fureys, the Clancy Brothers, and De Dannan. Folk Roots praised him for his "ability to crystallize a mood and evoke an era with the ease of a computer memory access, crafting perfect songs with dramatic changes in the spirit of Brecht, Bikel, and Brel." The Oxford Book of Traditional Verse felt as strongly, writing that Taylor was "one of the most literate and sensitive of contemporary songwriters in terms of words and music and one who is capable of exploring more complex subjects than most of his contemporaries."

Gary Allan's debut, Used Heart for Sale, is a competent set of neo-traditionalist country that occasionally comes to life, such as on the single "Her Man." Allan's best moments suggest that he is capable of more.This Album will really surprise you when you know it was his first,"From where I'm Sittin" is fantastic and "All I had Going Is Gone" will tear at your heart strings,"Forever and a day' I loved and "Her Man"finds him cleaning up his act,and trying to make amends….