Jeremy Huw Williams, Paula Fan - The Sound of Hidden Music: Songs of Hubert Parry [CD]

Cat. no: EMRCD084
Format: CD
Barcode: 5060263500780
Release Date: 15 Aug 2025
Genre: Classical

This new release of songs by Hubert Parry is Paula Fan's fnal recording in a legacy of remarkable recordings from this remarkable Chinese-American pianist, whose unique intellect remained ever curious and inquisitive

This CD contains three world premiere recordings of Parry's songs. The frst of these is The Maid of Elsinore (1891), the Viking tale of the 10th-century Norwegian King who married Tyra of Denmark. In 1903 Parry's old friend Sir Cavendish Boyle, then Governor of Newfoundland, requested a tune for lyrics he had written for the Newfoundland National Song, Ode to Newfoundland. In 1906 he composed The Laird of Cockpen to lyrics by Lady Nairn, the tale of a self-possessed 17th-century Laird.

Perhaps the words of one of the composer's great champions, HM The King, best summarises the hidden man: 
"a complex man with a mind of his own, who challenged his upbringing, and, in love, let his heart rule his head".

It is gratifying to think that the 21st century might bring a new image of Parry and his hidden music into focus.

Tracks: The Poet's Song / A Spring Song / The Maid of Elsinore / Of all the Torments / Thine Eyes still Shined for me / When Lovers Meet Again / When we Two Parted / Love and Laughter / A Lover's Garland / At the Hour the Long Day Ends / Ode to Newfoundland / The Laird of Cockpen / Follow a Shadow / Julia / Marian / Looking Backward / Whether I Live / There / Gone were but the Winter Cold / A Moment of Farewell / The Child and the Twilight / From a City Window / One Silent Night of Late /  When the Dew is Falling / To Blossoms / The Sound of Hidden Music