• Ian Venables
  • Flying Crooked, Op. 28/1 (1998)

  • Novello & Co Ltd (World)
  • Piano
  • Baritone; Piano
  • High Voice
  • 1 min

Programme Note

Two Songs Op 28

i. Flying Crooked
ii. At Midnight

The two songs opus 28 are examples of Ian Venables' ultra-refined sensibility, contrasting the harmonic subtleties and ambiguities of his setting of Robert Graves' poem 'Flying Crooked' with the dream-like atmosphere of one of Edna St.Vincent Millay's many sonnets.

Flying Crooked is a witty interpretation of a poem that describes the haphazard flight patterns of the most ubiquitous of butterflies, the cabbage-white. Lasting just over a minute, its pointillistic and harmonically ambiguous piano writing contrasts the effortless diatonicism of the vocal line, creating a whimsical, if not irreverent setting. The poem was sent to the composer by Lady Bliss, to whom the song is dedicated and at whose home it received its first private performance.

This work has been recorded by Nathan Vale and Paul Plummer on SOMM CD 063, and by Andrew Kennedy and the Dante quartet in an arrangement by Graham J Lloyd on Signum

Media

2 Songs, Op. 28: No. 1, Flying Crooked

Reviews

[Venables’] approachable harmonic language suited the acceptance of loos inherent in Dowson’s famous lines “they are not long, the days of wine and roses”, and the painful longing of Edna St Vincent Millay’s At Midnight. Against these serious piece the lightness and wit of Robert Graves’ Flying Crooked (with a wonderful roulade on the word ‘aerobatic’!) showed Venables’ versatility.
John Gough, Birmingham Post
2nd October 2007

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)

Love's Voice

Love's Voice
  • Label
    SOMM Recordings
  • Catalogue Number
    SOMMCD 063
  • Soloist
    Nathan Vale (tenor), Paul Plummer (piano)

More Info