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Judith Weir:
The Vanishing Bridegroom

Ailish Tynan soprano ~ Anna Stéphany soprano
Andrew Tortise tenor ~ Owen Gilhooly baritone ~ Jonathan Lemalu bass baritone
BBC Singers & BBC Symphony Orchestra
Martyn Brabbins conductor

NMC D196

D196 Cover NMC 25 years logo
• Celebrating 25 years of NMC Recordings.
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    Judith Weir's opera, commission by Glasgow District Council for the 1990 City of Culture celebrations, takes three Scottish folktales, all concerned with disappearance: The Inheritance features a runaway bride, a singing forest and a lost sum of gold; The Disappearance tells of a man abducted by supernatural forces; and The Stranger is the story of an independent-minded girl wooed by a sinister stranger.

    Weir's writing combines lush descriptive soundscapes with ethereal choruses and Gaelic folk melodies; the romanticism of the three tales is offset by the sardonic humour and down-to-earth attitude of their protagonists, and of the composer herself.
Disc 1.
The Inheritance
  1. The Deathbed     0'41"
  2. Cold, icy rain’     1'18"
  3. The Dying Man sits up     1'54"
  4. The Dying Man dies     0'33"
  5. ‘Gone!’     1'22"
  6. ‘I knew your father’     0'47"
  7. The Passion     2'31"
  8. The Bride’s Father materializes     2'41"
  9. The Wedding     2'09"
10. ‘I would sleep wherever his bed might be’     1'13"
11. ‘He ended the wedding’     1'52"
12. At the Lover’s House     1'41"
13. A Priest appears     1'57"
14. The Wood     3'03"
15. ‘Let me go!’     1'41"
16. The Bride and the Good Robber vanish     0'37"
17. The Reckoning     1'40"
18. ‘Shame!’     1'16"
19. Conclusion     1'43"

The Disappearance
20. The Hill     2'52"
21. At Home     3'50"
22. Towards the Hill     2'23"
23. 'The endless expense'     4'44"
 		24. At Home     1'55"
25. ‘People just disappear’     1'04"
26. The Friend enters, distraught     1'21"
27. ‘People don’t just disappear’     1'34"
28. The Policeman and Friend leave     0'32"
29. The Hill i     1'29"
30. ‘He’s gone’ i     0'39"
31. The Hill ii     1'33"
32. ‘He’s gone’ ii     0'36"
33. The Hill iii     3'49"
34. Towards Home     2'23"

Disc 2
The Stranger
  1. The Daughter     1'31"
  2. ‘And she was to lie’     1'13"
  3. ‘You are whiter than the swan’     1'36"
  4. The Stranger performs a miracle     1'54"
  5. ‘Come away with me’     1'30"
  6. ‘What a charming young man’     1'38"
  7. ‘Hooves!’     1'46"
  8. The Priest marks a circle     1'54"
  9. ‘No fire shall burn me’     3'00"
10. The Stranger assaults the circle     1'02"
11. The Stranger appears transformed     1'56"
12. ‘Hosts of angels on thy side’     1'32"


NMC Recordings are distributed in Australia by
Rockian Trading, P.O.Box 44, Briar Hill, Vic, 3088, Australia
Telephone (03) 9432 4149 ~ Facsimile (03) 9444 6879