0:00:07 > 0:00:11# Shall I strive with words to move
0:00:11 > 0:00:14# When deeds receive not due regard?
0:00:14 > 0:00:18# Shall I speak, and neither please
0:00:18 > 0:00:22# Nor be freely heard? #
0:00:22 > 0:00:25Hello, today at Cadogan Hall, in Chelsea, two great British
0:00:25 > 0:00:29tenors performing music by two great British composers.
0:00:29 > 0:00:34350 years separate the births of John Dowland and Benjamin Britten.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37Later, James Gilchrist will sing Britten's Songs from the Chinese.
0:00:39 > 0:00:45# Don't help on the big chariot
0:00:45 > 0:00:50# You will only make yourself dusty... #
0:00:52 > 0:00:55But we start with John Dowland, a contemporary of Shakespeare
0:00:55 > 0:00:58and one of the greatest lutenists of all time.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01An inveterate traveller as well, who worked in Paris and at the
0:01:01 > 0:01:05Danish court, before he finally secured a job here in London.
0:01:05 > 0:01:09On stage, the tenor Ian Bostridge, the lutenist Elizabeth Kenny
0:01:09 > 0:01:11and the viol consort Fretwork.
0:02:31 > 0:02:37# Can she excuse my wrongs with virtue's cloak?
0:02:37 > 0:02:42# Shall I call her good when she proves unkind?
0:02:43 > 0:02:48# Are those clear fires which vanish into smoke?
0:02:49 > 0:02:54# Must I praise the leaves where no fruit I find?
0:02:56 > 0:03:02# No, no, where shadows do for bodies stand
0:03:02 > 0:03:08# Thou may'st be abused if thy sight be dim
0:03:08 > 0:03:14# Cold love is like to words written on sand
0:03:14 > 0:03:19# Or to bubbles which on the water swim
0:03:20 > 0:03:23# Wilt thou be thus abused still
0:03:23 > 0:03:26# Seeing that she will right thee never?
0:03:26 > 0:03:29# If thou canst not o'ercome her will
0:03:29 > 0:03:32# Thy love will be thus fruitless ever
0:03:32 > 0:03:35# Wilt thou be thus abused still
0:03:35 > 0:03:38# Seeing that she will right thee never?
0:03:38 > 0:03:41# If thou canst not o'ercome her will
0:03:41 > 0:03:44# Thy love will be thus fruitless ever
0:05:01 > 0:05:07# Was I so base that I might not aspire
0:05:07 > 0:05:13# Unto those high joys which she holds from me?
0:05:14 > 0:05:21# As they are high so high is my desire
0:05:21 > 0:05:26# If she this deny what can granted be?
0:05:27 > 0:05:34# If she will yield to that which reason is
0:05:34 > 0:05:39# It is reason's will that love should be just
0:05:39 > 0:05:46# Dear, make me happy still by granting this
0:05:46 > 0:05:52# Or cut off delays if that die I must
0:05:52 > 0:05:55# Better a thousand times to die
0:05:55 > 0:05:58# Than for to live thus still tormented
0:05:58 > 0:06:01# Dear, but remember it was I
0:06:01 > 0:06:04# Who for thy sake did die contented
0:06:04 > 0:06:07# Better a thousand times to die
0:06:07 > 0:06:11# Than for to live thus still tormented
0:06:11 > 0:06:13# Dear, but remember it was I
0:06:13 > 0:06:17# Who for thy sake did die contented. #
0:06:20 > 0:06:24APPLAUSE
0:06:25 > 0:06:31# Now, o, now, I needs must part
0:06:31 > 0:06:37# Parting though I absent mourn
0:06:37 > 0:06:42# Absence can no joy impart
0:06:42 > 0:06:46# Joy once fled cannot return
0:06:48 > 0:06:54# While I live I needs must love
0:06:54 > 0:07:00# Love lives not when hope is gone
0:07:00 > 0:07:06# Now at last despair doth prove
0:07:06 > 0:07:10# Love divided, loveth none
0:07:12 > 0:07:18# Sad despair doth drive me hence
0:07:18 > 0:07:23# This despair unkindness sends
0:07:25 > 0:07:31# If that parting be offence
0:07:31 > 0:07:38# It is she which then offends. #
0:07:43 > 0:07:45APPLAUSE
0:07:45 > 0:07:48"Now, o, now, I needs must part",
0:07:48 > 0:07:53words set in 1597, in John Dowland's first book of songs.
0:07:53 > 0:07:58Dowland's speciality was a mood of refined melancholy that was
0:07:58 > 0:08:01so popular in Jacobean times.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09# Shall I strive with words to move
0:10:09 > 0:10:13# When deeds receive not due regard?
0:10:13 > 0:10:17# Shall I speak and neither please
0:10:17 > 0:10:20# Nor be freely heard?
0:10:21 > 0:10:24# Grief, alas, though all in vain
0:10:24 > 0:10:28# Her restless anguish must reveal
0:10:28 > 0:10:32# She alone my wound shall know
0:10:32 > 0:10:36# Though she will not heal
0:10:36 > 0:10:40# All woes have end
0:10:40 > 0:10:44# Though a while delayed
0:10:44 > 0:10:49# Our patience proving
0:10:52 > 0:10:58# O, that time's strange effects
0:10:59 > 0:11:05# Could but make, but make her loving
0:11:08 > 0:11:11# Storms calm at last
0:11:11 > 0:11:16# And why may not she
0:11:16 > 0:11:22# Leave off her frowning?
0:11:24 > 0:11:28# O, sweet love
0:11:28 > 0:11:31# Help her hands
0:11:31 > 0:11:37# My affection crowning
0:11:40 > 0:11:44# I wooed her, I loved her
0:11:44 > 0:11:46# And none but her admire
0:11:48 > 0:11:50# O, come, dear joy
0:11:50 > 0:11:55# And answer my desire
0:11:55 > 0:11:59# I wooed her, I loved her
0:11:59 > 0:12:02# And none but her admire
0:12:02 > 0:12:05# O, come, dear joy
0:12:05 > 0:12:13# And answer my desire. #
0:12:18 > 0:12:20APPLAUSE
0:12:26 > 0:12:32"Shall I strive with words to move, when deeds receive not due regard."
0:12:32 > 0:12:36An anonymous poem set as a galliard by John Dowland.
0:12:36 > 0:12:38The lute rather went out of fashion after
0:12:38 > 0:12:40the end of the 17th century
0:12:40 > 0:12:43but one of those involved in its revival was Benjamin Britten,
0:12:43 > 0:12:46who used lute music in his coronation opera, Gloriana.
0:13:17 > 0:13:22# Happy
0:13:24 > 0:13:32# Happy were he
0:13:39 > 0:13:46# Could finish forth his fate
0:13:47 > 0:13:53# In some unhaunted deserts
0:13:55 > 0:14:02# In some unhaunted deserts
0:14:05 > 0:14:11# Where, obscure from all society
0:14:12 > 0:14:17# From love and hate of worldly folk
0:14:20 > 0:14:27# Then might he sleep
0:14:27 > 0:14:33# Sleep secure
0:14:37 > 0:14:39# Then wake again
0:14:40 > 0:14:45# And give God ever praise
0:14:46 > 0:14:54# Content with hips and haws and brambleberry
0:14:57 > 0:15:03# In contemplation
0:15:03 > 0:15:07# Spending all his days
0:15:10 > 0:15:17# And change of holy thoughts
0:15:17 > 0:15:19# To make him merry
0:15:25 > 0:15:32# Where, when he dies his tomb might be a bush
0:15:34 > 0:15:39# Where harmless robin
0:15:39 > 0:15:45# Dwells with gentle thrush
0:15:53 > 0:16:00# Happy
0:16:01 > 0:16:07# Happy
0:16:07 > 0:16:11# Were he!
0:16:17 > 0:16:24# Happy
0:16:28 > 0:16:35# Were he! #
0:16:58 > 0:17:00APPLAUSE
0:17:04 > 0:17:07The second Lute Song from Britten's opera Gloriana,
0:17:07 > 0:17:10performed by Ian Bostridge and lutenist Elizabeth Kenny.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Julian Bream was another of those responsible for the great
0:17:14 > 0:17:16revival of interest in the lute in the 20th century
0:17:16 > 0:17:20but it was for Bream's guitar that Britten wrote the next work
0:17:20 > 0:17:22to be performed here at Cadogan Hall.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25"The Songs From The Chinese" are settings of six poems
0:17:25 > 0:17:27translated by Arthur Waley.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31They're performed by James Gilchrist and guitarist Christoph Denoth.
0:17:33 > 0:17:39# Don't help on the big chariot
0:17:39 > 0:17:44# You will only make yourself dusty
0:17:51 > 0:17:56# Don't think about the sorrows of the world
0:17:56 > 0:18:02# You will only make yourself wretched
0:18:09 > 0:18:15# Don't help on the big chariot
0:18:15 > 0:18:21# You won't be able to see for dust
0:18:27 > 0:18:33# Don't think about the sorrows of the world
0:18:33 > 0:18:37# Or you will never escape from your despair
0:18:44 > 0:18:48# Don't help on the big chariot
0:18:48 > 0:18:50# The big chariot
0:18:52 > 0:18:56# You'll be stifled with dust be stifled with dust
0:19:03 > 0:19:08# Don't think about the sorrows of the world
0:19:08 > 0:19:10# Think about the sorrows of the world
0:19:10 > 0:19:12# The sorrows of the world
0:19:12 > 0:19:16# You will only load yourself with care. #
0:19:42 > 0:19:46# Of cord and cassia-wood
0:19:46 > 0:19:51# Is the lute compounded
0:19:51 > 0:19:54# Within it lie
0:19:54 > 0:20:02# Ancient melodies
0:20:07 > 0:20:13# Ancient melodies weak and savourless
0:20:15 > 0:20:20# Not appealing to present men's taste
0:20:24 > 0:20:31# Light and colour are faded from the jade stops
0:20:33 > 0:20:39# Dust has covered the rose-red strings
0:20:43 > 0:20:50# Decay and ruin came to it long ago
0:20:59 > 0:21:03# But the sound that is left
0:21:03 > 0:21:08# Is still cold and clear
0:21:13 > 0:21:17# I do not refuse to play it
0:21:17 > 0:21:21# If you want me to
0:21:23 > 0:21:27# But even if I play
0:21:27 > 0:21:32# People will not listen
0:21:45 > 0:21:51# How did it come to be neglected so?
0:21:54 > 0:21:58# Because of the Ch'iang flute and the zithern of Ch'in. #
0:22:09 > 0:22:12# Autumn wind rises
0:22:12 > 0:22:16# White clouds fly
0:22:16 > 0:22:18# Grass and trees wither
0:22:18 > 0:22:20# Geese go south
0:22:21 > 0:22:24# Orchids all in bloom
0:22:24 > 0:22:29# Chrysanthemums smell sweet
0:22:29 > 0:22:34# I think of my lovely lady
0:22:34 > 0:22:39# I never can forget
0:22:41 > 0:22:45# Floating pagoda boat crosses Fen River
0:22:46 > 0:22:50# Across the midstream white waves rise
0:22:54 > 0:22:57# Flute and drum keep time, keep time
0:22:57 > 0:23:00# To sound of rower's song
0:23:01 > 0:23:06# Amidst revel and feasting
0:23:06 > 0:23:10# Sad thoughts come
0:23:12 > 0:23:15# Youth's years how few!
0:23:15 > 0:23:17# Age how sure!
0:23:17 > 0:23:19# Youth's years how few!
0:23:19 > 0:23:23# Age how sure, how sure
0:23:23 > 0:23:25# Age how sure!
0:23:25 > 0:23:29# Age how sure, how sure. #
0:23:40 > 0:23:46# In the southern village
0:23:46 > 0:23:54# The boy who minds the ox
0:23:54 > 0:23:59# With his naked feet stands on the ox's back
0:24:00 > 0:24:06# Through the hole in his coat the river wind blows
0:24:07 > 0:24:12# Through his broken hat the mountain rain pours
0:24:15 > 0:24:19# On the long dyke he seemed to be far away
0:24:21 > 0:24:27# In the narrow lane suddenly we were face to face
0:24:31 > 0:24:36# The boy is home and the ox is back in its stall
0:24:40 > 0:24:46# And a dark smoke
0:24:46 > 0:24:54# Oozes through the thatched roof. #
0:25:06 > 0:25:08# The unicorn's hoofs!
0:25:08 > 0:25:10# The unicorn's hoofs!
0:25:10 > 0:25:12# The duke's sons throng
0:25:12 > 0:25:14# The duke's sons throng
0:25:14 > 0:25:17# Alas for the unicorn!
0:25:17 > 0:25:21# Alas for the unicorn! Alas!
0:25:23 > 0:25:25# The unicorn's brow!
0:25:25 > 0:25:27# The unicorn's brow!
0:25:27 > 0:25:29# The duke's kinsmen throng
0:25:29 > 0:25:31# The duke's kinsmen throng
0:25:31 > 0:25:36# Alas for the Alas! Alas for the unicorn! Alas!
0:25:40 > 0:25:41# The unicorn's horn!
0:25:41 > 0:25:43# The unicorn's horn!
0:25:43 > 0:25:47# The unicorn's horn!
0:25:47 > 0:25:48# The duke's handsmen throng
0:25:48 > 0:25:51# The duke's handsmen throng
0:25:51 > 0:25:57# Alas for the Alas! Alas for the unicorn! Alas!
0:25:59 > 0:26:01# Alas! #
0:26:03 > 0:26:05APPLAUSE
0:26:05 > 0:26:07James Gilchrist and Christoph Denoth,
0:26:07 > 0:26:10performing six poems translated from the original
0:26:10 > 0:26:13Chinese by Arthur Waley and set by Benjamin Britten.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16First performed in 1957 by Julian Bream
0:26:16 > 0:26:19and Britten's lifelong partner, Peter Pears.
0:26:19 > 0:26:23Well, it's Britten who provides us with the last music in this concert.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26One of his folk songs settings, Master Kilby, collected in Somerset
0:26:26 > 0:26:31and performed by James and Christoph and joined by soprano Ruby Hughes.
0:26:34 > 0:26:37# In the heat of the day
0:26:37 > 0:26:40# When the sun shines so clearly
0:26:40 > 0:26:45# There I met Master Kilby
0:26:45 > 0:26:48# So fine and so gay
0:26:50 > 0:26:52# So, I pulled off my hat
0:26:52 > 0:26:55# And I bowed to the ground
0:26:55 > 0:27:00# And I said, "Master Kilby
0:27:00 > 0:27:05# "Pray, where are you bound?"
0:27:05 > 0:27:08# I am bound for the West
0:27:08 > 0:27:11# There in hope to find rest
0:27:11 > 0:27:16# And in Nancy's soft bosom
0:27:16 > 0:27:20# To build a new nest
0:27:20 > 0:27:23# And if I were the master
0:27:23 > 0:27:26# Of ten thousand pounds
0:27:26 > 0:27:30# All in gay gold and silver
0:27:30 > 0:27:34# Or King William's crowns
0:27:34 > 0:27:37# I would part with it all
0:27:37 > 0:27:40# With my own heart so freely
0:27:40 > 0:27:43# And it's all for the sake
0:27:43 > 0:27:48# Of my charming Nancy
0:27:51 > 0:27:54TOGETHER: # She's the fairest of girls
0:27:54 > 0:27:57# She's the choice of my own heart
0:27:57 > 0:28:03# She is painted like waxwork
0:28:03 > 0:28:09# In every part. #
0:28:12 > 0:28:15APPLAUSE