Hugh Wood Wild Cyclamen Clare McCaldin mezzo-soprano ~ James Gilchrist tenor Roderick Williams baritone Iain Burnside piano ~ Simon Lepper piano NMC D201 • Celebrating 25 years of NMC Recordings. Discover — Connect — Challenge — Inspire • Composer Hugh Wood is known for his powerfully communicative and lyrical music and this latest release presents a selection of songs spanning his career.   They are set to poems by DH Lawrence, Robert Graves, Laurie Lee and Lawrence Durrell, exploring themes of youth, love, lust and longing. Wild Cyclamen (2006) — a song-cycle from twelve individual, unrelated poems by Robert Graves — depicts the rise and fall of a love affair.   Hugh Wood explains: “Graves wrote no such cycle but I've dared to construct one. It doesn't achieve too strong a story-line, but the songs are meant to be sung in a fixed order.” The DH Lawrence settings (1998) include three poems Lawrence wrote about his days with Frieda in Bavaria and the Isles of Greece (2007) — written for and dedicated to baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Iain Burnside — is a compilation of poems celebrating various aspects of Greek life and its people. The earliest works on this recording are the Laurie Lee Songs (1956-58) written when Hugh was in his mid twenties.       Wild Cyclamen   1. A Dream of Frances Speedwell     1'57   2. Wild Cyclamen     1'28   3. Beatrice and Dante     2'33   4. The Garden     1'38   5. The Leap     0'37   6. Not to Sleep     1'54   7. The Crab-Tree     2'16   8. Bites and Kisses     1'38   9. Horizon     3'02 10. The Window Sill     2'58 11. A Lost Jewel     1'18 12. Hedges Freaked With Snow     1'58       James Gilchrist tenor       Simon Lepper piano       Laurie Lee Songs 13. Boy in Ice     2'57 14. The Edge of Day     2'17 15. The Easter Green     2'31 16. Town Owl     3'14 17. April Rise     3'45       Clare McCaldin mezzo-soprano       Iain Burnside piano       DH Lawrence Songs 18. Dog-tired     2'29 19. Kisses in the Train     1'50 20. Roses on the breakfast table     3'04 21. Gloire de Dijon     2'07 22. River Roses     3'01       James Gilchrist tenor       Simon Lepper piano       The Isles of Greece 23. Delos     2'36 24. Nemea     2'44 25. Ouzo Unclouded     0'45 26. In the sea caves     1'43 27. The Isles of Greece     2'00 28. Bitter Lemons     2'41       Roderick Williams baritone       Iain Burnside piano 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