Phantasie Piano Quartet (1910)

Songs:
All Things that We Clasp (1907)
Come to Me in my Dreams (1906 rev. 1918)
Dawn and Evening (1903)
Strew no more Red Roses (1913)
Scherzo for cello & piano (1901 rev. 1902)

Three Songs with Viola (1906-07):
Far, far from Each Other
Where is it that our Soul doth Go?
Music, when soft Voices Die

Souvenir for violin & piano (1904)

Songs:
My pent-up Tears Oppress My Brain (1906)
Night Lies on the Silent Highways (1904)
A Dirge (1903)
A Dead Violet (1904)
Phantasie Piano Trio (1907)

LONDON BRIDGE ENSEMBLE
Daniel Tong (piano)
Benjamin Nabarro (violin)
Kate Gould (cello)
Tom Dunn (viola)

Ivan Ludlow (baritone)

Recorded at The Wathen Hall at St Paul's School, London
18-20 February 2007

The London Bridge Ensemble's delightfully varied Frank Bridge programme presents between the frames of the two early chamber music masterpieces the Phantasie Piano Quartet (1910) and the Phantasie Piano Trio (1907) two groups of songs and the mellifluous Three Songs with Viola, all sung by baritone Ivan Ludlow. Also included are two less often heard instrumental solos: the early Scherzo for cello & piano and the Souvenir for violin & piano (1904). This enchanting, lyrical repertoire is the epitome of that still romantic music making which composers from the Royal College of Music produced under the influence of W.W. Cobbett, that master of chamber music. Bridge's music is beautifully projected by the Ensemble, and is rewarding both individually and as a programme.

CDLX 7205

"There's plenty to enjoy in this attractive survey of early Frank Bridge, which is bookended by mightily impressive accounts of two of the three fastidiously integrated works that the composer entered for WW Cobbett's prestigious annual chamber music competition. In truth, I can't immediately recall a more persuasive realisation of the lovely 1907 Phantasie Trio brain and heart are fully engaged. What's more, in the glorious Phantasie Quartet of 1910 these stylish newcomers deserve a place at the top table."
"In sum, a most recommendable mid-price package."
Andrew Achenbach, Gramophone, August 2008