For The Fallen - Douglas Guest
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Soprano - Colleen Nicoll
Mezzo - Ulrike Wutscher
Tenor - David Douglas
Baritone - Phil Gault
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Robert Laurence Binyon wrote these words in 1914 in honour of the casualties of the British Expeditionary Force, which by then already suffered severely at the Battle of Mons and the Battle of the Marne.
How Cold the Wind Doth Blow - Vaughan Williams
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Tenor - David Douglas
Pianist - Andrew Johnston
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Vaughan Williams enlisted as a private in the Royal Army Medical Corps. After a gruelling time as a stretcher bearer in France and Salonika, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Garrison Artillery.
By a Bierside - Ivor Gurney
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Mezzo-Soprano - Ulrike Wutscher
Pianist - Andrew Johnston
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Ivor Gurney wrote poems and songs in the trenches, where, already physically and mentally frail, he was shot at and gassed. By a Bierside sets a poem that first appeared within John Masefield’s play, The tragedy of Pompey the Great, where it is spoken by four centurions, lamenting the death of a young Roman soldier. Gurney composed this song in August 1916, whilst lying on a damp sandbag in a disused trench. Gurney was later invalided out and spent much of the remainder of his life in mental asylums. With terrible irony, the comradeship and routine in the trenches may have been his happiest times.
With Rue my Heart is Laden - George Butterworth
Baritone - Phil Gaul
Pianist - Andrew Johnston
George Butterworth was one of the most promising composers of his generation and served as a platoon leader. He was shot by a sniper during the battle of the Somme. His body was never recovered.
No Man’s Land - Eric Bogle, arranged by Ken Johnston)
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Soprano - Colleen Nicoll
Mezzo - Ulrike Wutscher
Tenor - David Douglas
Baritone - Phil Gault
Pianist - Andrew Johnston
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Eric Bogle is a Scottish-born singer-songwriter who emigrated to Australia at the end of the 1960. His moving song about the First World War was written in the 1970 after he visited some of the battlefield sites and graveyards of northern France. No Man’s Land has been performed in many versions by artists from all round the world.
Oh! How I hate to Get up in The Morning - Irving Berlin
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Soprano - Colleen Nicoll
Pianist - Andrew Johnston
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This song was written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and gives a comic perspective on military life. Berlin composed the song as an expression of protest against the indignities of Army routine shortly after being drafted into the United States Army in 1918. The song soon made the rounds of camp and became popular with other soldiers.
Keep the Home Fires Burning - Ivor Novello
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Soprano - Colleen Nicoll
Mezzo - Ulrike Wutscher
Tenor - David Douglas
Baritone - Phil Gault
Pianist - Andrew Johnston
Irvine Royal Academy Vocal Ensemble
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Ivor Novello was only 21 when he wrote Keep the Home Fires Burning in 1914, which touched all families at the outbreak of war with its hopeful message.