Tue, 01 Mar 2005
Jane Austen's Songbook
various
Julianne Baird, Laura Heimes, Anthony Boutte,
Karen Flint, Martin Davids, Colin St. Martin
LP, Albany Records US, through Priory in the UK
This appears to have been a labour of love by this group
and rather a good one it is too. Better than "rather a good
one" in fact -- much better.
Jane Austen was a keen musician and usually played her pianoforte
for an hour every morning. She collected songs she liked and put
them into her songbooks, eight volumes of which are still at her
house at Chawton. This group sifted through the songs and here
present a selection, each of which has a vocal with piano
accompaniment.
The collection includes sea songs, some rollicking tales of
the day, and even an early version of what became, in 1795, the
post-revolutionary anthem -- the Marseillaise. Jane Austen was
a royalist and there are songs sympathetic to that side as well.
I hope they sell a lot of these and are emboldened to do more.
(Count K)
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pre Dec 04 reviews are here
