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    • Piano
    • Baritone; Piano
    • Tenor
    • 4 min

    Programme Note

    Thomas Hardy published his first book of verse, 'Wessex Poems', in 1898. This was followed by 'Poems of the Past and Present' in 1901, 'Time's Laughing-Stocks' in 1909, 'Satires of Circumstance' in 1914, and 'Moments of Vision' in 1917. It is from the last of these volumes that Ian Venables chose to set the poem 'A Kiss'. Its two stanzas contrast the naïve impulses of an innocent love with love as an eternal theme. The composer chose to create an almost identical soundworld for both, with only subtle changes to voice and piano in texture and tessitura. This song shows Venables' ability to write a diatonic melody that is accompanied by a highly chromatic language. It is bordering on the discordant, but never at the expense of resolution.

    Media

    A Kiss, Op. 15
    Album d'un voyageur, S156/R8, Book I, "Impressions et Poesies": A Kiss, Op. 15

    Discography

    The Song of the Severn

    The Song of the Severn
    • Label
      Signum Records
    • Catalogue Number
      SIGCD424
    • Ensemble
      Carducci Quartet
    • Soloist
      Roderick Williams, baritone; Graham.J Lloyd, piano
    • Released
      2015

    On the Wings of Love

    On the Wings of Love
    • Label
      NAXOS
    • Catalogue Number
      8.572514
    • Soloist
      Andrew Kennedy, tenor; Richard Hosford, clarinet; Iain Burnside, piano
    • Released
      1st September 2010

    Severn and Somme

    Severn and Somme
    • Label
      SOMM Recordings
    • Catalogue Number
      SOMMCD 057
    • Soloist
      Roderick Williams (baritone), Susie Allan (piano)

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