Wallace Southam - Songs of a Sunday Composer

Not long ago I presented a recording of English songs by tenor Wilfred Brown on the small Jupiter label. The record was issued by the part-time composer T. Wallace Southam, and included a few of his own works. This post came through the generosity of reader David Leonard, who knew Southam.

David has now graciously provided the even more obscure Songs of a Sunday Composer. The LP is entirely devoted to Southam's songs, composed both in jazz and classical styles. It was issued in 1969 on Turret Records, which was an imprint of London's Turret Book Shop, operated by poet Bernard Stone.

True, Southam was considered an amateur composer, or "Sunday composer," as he termed it. Nonetheless, he was a serious artist who had a gift for setting verse. His works were published by large firms, and are here performed by some of the most noted artists of the time.

The surprise of the record, at least to me, was the accomplished jazz settings. They are performed by well-known English musicians, and sung by Belle Gonzales, a fine vocalist whose name was new to me. She was active in the London cabarets of the time. Leonard Salzedo, better known for classical and film scores, arranged two of these numbers.

The other singers represented are baritones John Barrow and Bryan Drake, and soprano Noelle Barker. All had been members of Britten's English Opera Group; Drake was closely associated with the composer. Barker in particular was noted for her devotion to new music.

Thanks once again to David for offering this rare recording to all of us.

English Songs from Wilfred Brown

The English tenor Wilfred Brown (1921-71) is best known for his recording of Gerald Finzi's "Dies Natalis," which I have cited here before as one of my favorite records.

To my knowledge, Brown did not make other records of similar repertoire. That's why I was so excited to learn of this rare recording, uploaded to another site by my friend David (aka "dances"). It presents Brown in a recital of songs by 20th century English composers, and it is a treasure to those who, like me, love this material.

David, a reader of this site, graciously offered to let me present the record here. I am very grateful for the opportunity.

Wilfred Brown

As noted, Brown is best known for his recording of "Dies Natalis"; he was a friend and associate of the composer, who appears here with three of his settings of Thomas Hardy. Brown was a member of the Deller Consort for some years. He also appeared on recordings of Handel, Purcell, Bach and Haydn, one duo recital with guitarist John Williams and a few other LPs for small labels.

This recital was made for the Jupiter label in 1962. That imprint was apparently started by the business executive T. Wallace Southam, a part-time composer who is represented by two songs on the compilation. One, a setting of "Nemea" by Southam's friend Lawrence Durrell, is quite good.

Beside Finzi and Southam, the other composers represented are Peter Warlock, George Butterworth, W. Denis Browne, Lennox Berkeley, Ivor Gurney and William Walton. Browne, like George Butterworth, perished in World War I. His setting of Richard Lovelace's "To Gratiana singing and dancing" is a high point of the program.

Several of the songs represented have appeared on this blog in other performances. Warlock's "Sleep" can also be found in the Warlock collection from Alexander Young. Butterworth's "Loveliest of Trees," the first song in his first group of Housman settings, "Six Songs from A Shropshire Lad," has appeared here before in the recording by Roy Henderson.

The Walton works comprise his "Three Songs" of 1932. In that group, Walton reset some of the many Façade pieces he composed with Edith Sitwell. These are sung, rather than recited versions that make an interesting contrast to the earlier items, two of which have appeared here before. "Through Gilded Trellises" is contained in the Sitwell-Prausnitz recording of 1949. "Old Sir Faulk" can be heard in the 1929 recording by Constant Lambert and Walton, as well as in a 1950 instrumental version conducted by Lambert, both available via this post.

Accompanying Brown is the excellent Margaret McNamee, who apparently was the singer's regular pianist.

Included in the download are texts of all songs and translations of the two Berkeley items, compiled from web sources, along with a front cover cleaned up from a web source. Good mono sound; David says there doesn't appear to have been a stereo version.

Thanks once again to David for allowing me to make this available here!