Catalogue

“Shellard shows meticulous attention to detail, with superb control over the ebb and flow of rubato and rapidly shifting dynamics in Elgar’s music … the love that has gone into this project is palpable, with the performers clearly revelling in the high drama, the lyrical sweep and beguiling tonality that encapsulate Elgar’s style in miniature” ★★★★ – BBC Music Magazine

“Beautifully recorded in Pershore Abbey under the watchful supervision of producer Andrew Keener, these are splendidly alert and sympathetic performances from the Proteus Ensemble … this is a disc that has already afforded me no little pleasure.” – Gramophone

“a relatively underexplored side of Sir Edward Elgar … [The Proteus Ensemble] is made-up of professional singers from all over the UK and they have very strong links to Elgar’s part of the world … The music cast a lifelong spell on [director, Stephen Shellard], so, the album is the fruit of this long standing enthusiasm for the music … that’s what’s so exciting about the performance, a close relationship with the repertoire … Definitely another side of Elgar, and it’s really interesting” – Record Review, BBC Radio 3

“Consistent smoothness and a mellow quality that fits the eight-voice Proteus Ensemble very well … a blend of continuous beauty that effectively brings forth Elgar’s stylistic elegance and the care with which he draws attention to the songs’ words and underlines their meanings … this very nicely presented vocal recital, which shines a light on some of Elgar’s less-known works and could well inspire other choruses to consider including some of these part-songs in their own repertoire” – Infodad

There Is Sweet Music is the idyllic title of the first AVIE release by the eight-voice Proteus Ensemble and their conductor Stephen Shellard, which surveys a selection of relatively rare part-songs by Sir Edward Elgar.

Elgar maintained his dedication to composing part-songs throughout his life and imbued each of them with an inimitable character. Like the composer’s celebrated “Enigma Variations”, his part-songs bear an array of inspirations and dedicatees, including his wife Caroline Alice who penned the poem of the album’s closer, “O Happy Eyes”, shortly after she and Elgar were married. This early work became a companion to the song “Love,” written eight years later and also dedicated to Caroline Alice. Elgar turned to famous poets and peers – Lord Byron for “Deep in my soul”, Percy Bysshe Shelley for “O wild West Wind!”, and Alfred Lord Tennyson whose poem “The Lotos-Eaters” provides the album’s title track. English translations of Russian poems lend themselves to “Death on the Hills”, “Love’s Tempest” and “Serenade”. Elgar frequently found inspiration in Italy, where he composed “Angelus’, a song dedicated to his close friend Alice Stuart Wortley whom he called “Windflower” and whose spirit is enshrined in his Violin Concerto.

Stephen Shellard’s Elgarian epiphany began in 1990 when he joined Dr. Donald Hunt’s choir at Worcester Cathedral as an Alto Lay Clerk. Dr. Hunt’s inspired and devoted expertise in performances of works by Worcester’s most famous musical son cast a life-long spell on Stephen that manifests itself in these beautiful performances with his Proteus Ensemble.