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The Divine Muse
Various composers

Mary Bevan & Joseph Middleton

The Divine Muse

Price: € 19.95
Format: CD
Label: Signum Classics
UPC: 0635212060629
Catnr: SIGCD 606
Release date: 17 January 2020
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Label
Signum Classics
UPC
0635212060629
Catalogue number
SIGCD 606
Release date
17 January 2020
Album
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EN

About the album

After the success of their debut disc, ‘Voyages’, Mary Bevan and Joseph Middleton present their second recital disc exploring Lieder in German and Italian by Schubert, Haydn and Wolf. The programme is woven around songs inspired by the ‘muses’ of the day, both mythological and divine. It begins with Schubert’s dramatic and reverential settings of sacred German poetry, set alongside his lush emotional portrayals of female characters in the Italian settings. The central section of the disc is then devoted to Haydn’s epic ‘scena’ depicting the famously cruel abandonment of Arianna by her lover Teseo, ‘Arianna a Naxos’. Haydn’s beautiful prayer ‘Geistliches Lied’ takes us back into the world of German poetry and the religious fervour that arose from the collective belief in Christianity which pervaded most art forms of the age. The disc then moves into works by Hugo Wolf, whose stunning settings of devotional texts take the listener right to the heart of the characters; a few of these songs were in fact inspired by paintings. The early moments of Jesus Christ’s life are vividly portrayed here, particularly in songs such as ‘Die ihr Schwebet’, ‘Auf ein Altes Bild’ and ‘Schlafendes Jesuskind’, while the haunting ‘Gesang Weylas’ invites the listener into the world of the mysterious goddes Weyla who wistfully dreams of the shores of her distant homeland. From Ganymed to Christ, Dido to the Virgin Mary, Arianna to St Peter, this recital disc richly illustrates the lives and events surrounding the ‘divine muses’ who inspired these composers.

Artist(s)

Mary Bevan (soprano)

Mary Bevan appears with leading opera houses, orchestras and ensembles worldwide. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she sang Morgana in a new Richard Jones Alcina, Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, performed the title roles of Rossi Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and of Turnage Coraline at the Barbican, and made her main stage debut as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro. For English National Opera, roles include Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Eurydice in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld and Zerlina Don Giovanni. She made her debut with Opera di Roma as Cleopatra Giulio Cesare, returning as Morgana, also debuting for the Zurich Opera House (La Folie Platée) and Bayerische Staatsoper (title role La Calisto). Opera highlights elsewhere have...
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Mary Bevan appears with leading opera houses, orchestras and ensembles worldwide. For the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden she sang Morgana in a new Richard Jones Alcina, Lila in David Bruce The Firework-Maker’s Daughter, performed the title roles of Rossi Orpheus at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and of Turnage Coraline at the Barbican, and made her main stage debut as Barbarina Le nozze di Figaro. For English National Opera, roles include Susanna Le nozze di Figaro, Eurydice in Offenbach Orpheus in the Underworld and Zerlina Don Giovanni. She made her debut with Opera di Roma as Cleopatra Giulio Cesare, returning as Morgana, also debuting for the Zurich Opera House (La Folie Platée) and Bayerische Staatsoper (title role La Calisto). Opera highlights elsewhere have included appearances with Opera de Monte Carlo, Teatro Real Madrid, Teatro La Fenice, Royal Danish Opera, and the Bolshoi Theatre.

Bevan’s concert performances include her Carnegie Hall debut as Dalinda Ariodante with the English Concert (Harry Bicket), Creation at the Barbican with the Academy of Ancient Music, Sally Beamish The Judas Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, orchestrated Schubert songs with the CBSO (Edward Gardner) and appearances with the Handel and Haydn Society Boston, Philharmonia Baroque, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Concert Orchestra, Barokksolistine, LPO and at the BBC Proms. She has toured extensively across Europe, Australia, Asia and the US with the Kammerorchester Basel, Australian Chamber Orchestra and English Concert, and she appears regularly in recital at Wigmore Hall.

Bevan’s wide-ranging discography includes numerous releases on Signum Records: a recording of orchestral French song entitled Visions Illuminées, art song albums Voyages and Divine Muse with pianist Joseph Middleton, and Handel’s Queens. Other albums include Handel's The Triumph of Time and Truth and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, Vaughan Williams Symphony No.3 and Schubert Rosamunde with the BBC Philharmonic, Arthur Sullivan songs (Chandos), Vaughan Williams folk songs (Albion), Brahms Liebesliederwaltzer (Resonus), and more.

Bevan is a winner of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist award and UK Critics’ Circle Award for Exceptional Young Talent in music. She was awarded an MBE in the Queen’s birthday honours list in 2019 and was made a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music in 2025.


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Joseph Middleton (piano)

Joseph Middleton is widely regarded as one of the most exceptional and creative pianists of his generation, specialising in song accompaniment and chamber music at the highest international level. Hailed by Gramophone as 'the absolute king of programming', and by the New York Times as “the perfect accompanist”, he collaborates with many of the world's foremost singers, performing at venues and festivals across Europe, North America, and Asia.  A passionate advocate for the power of song, Joseph is the Artistic Director of Leeds Song, praised by The Guardian for its 'world-class' programming and by The Times as a 'Northern powerhouse of song”. He also curates series for BBC Radio 3, Wigmore Hall, and the University of Cambridge, where he founded and...
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Joseph Middleton is widely regarded as one of the most exceptional and creative pianists of his generation, specialising in song accompaniment and chamber music at the highest international level. Hailed by Gramophone as "the absolute king of programming", and by the New York Times as “the perfect accompanist”, he collaborates with many of the world's foremost singers, performing at venues and festivals across Europe, North America, and Asia. A passionate advocate for the power of song, Joseph is the Artistic Director of Leeds Song, praised by The Guardian for its "world-class" programming and by The Times as a "Northern powerhouse of song”. He also curates series for BBC Radio 3, Wigmore Hall, and the University of Cambridge, where he founded and directs their Lieder Scheme. Joseph is Musician in Residence at Pembroke College. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music, where he is a Professor of Ensemble Piano, and was made a Bye-Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge by Lord Chris Smith. Joseph is the first —and to date, only—accompanist to receive the Royal Philharmonic Society’s Young Artist Award, the UK's most prestigious recognition for a classical musician. He has enjoyed fruitful partnerships alongside Sir Thomas Allen, Louise Alder, Mary Bevan, Ian Bostridge, Allan Clayton, Dame Sarah Connolly, Marianne Crebassa, Veronique Gens, Iestyn Davies, Fatma Said, Huw Montague Rendall, Christiane Karg, Sir Simon Keenlyside, Elsa Dreisig, Angelika Kirchschlager, Katharina Konradi, Dame Felicity Lott, Christopher Maltman, John Mark Ainsley, Ann Murray DBE, James Newby, Mark Padmore, Konstantin Krimmel, Mauro Peter, Miah Persson, Sophie Rennert, Dorothea Röschmann, Carolyn Sampson, Nicky Spence and Roderick Williams. His award-winning discography on Warner, Harmonia Mundi, BIS, Chandos and Signum, amongst others, includes multiple honours: the Diapason d’Or, Edison Award, and Prix Caecilia, alongside nominations for Gramophone, Opus Klassik, BBC Music Magazine, and International Classical Music Awards. Committed to expanding the song repertoire, he has commissioned and premiered works by composers including Thomas Adès, Helen Grime, Mark - Anthony Turnage, Hannah Kendall, Errollyn Wallen, Mark Simpson and Nico Muhly.


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Composer(s)

Press

Play album Play album
01.
Vedi, quanto adoro ingrato, D.510
04:29
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
02.
Son fra l’onde, D.78
01:48
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
03.
Die Götter Griechenlands, D.677
04:06
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
04.
Goethe Lieder: No. 50. Ganymed
05:26
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
05.
Mörike Lieder : No. 27. Zum neuen Jahr
01:51
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
06.
Mörike Lieder : No. 22. Seufzer
02:34
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
07.
Mörike Lieder : No. 28. Gebet
02:38
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
08.
Mörike Lieder : No. 46: Gesang Weylas
01:43
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
09.
Ganymed, D. 544
04:06
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
10.
Arianna a Naxos, Hob XXVIb:2: I. Largo e sostenuto
04:54
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
11.
Arianna a Naxos, Hob XXVIb:2: II. Aria ‘Dove sei‘
04:16
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
12.
Arianna a Naxos, Hob XXVIb:2: III. Andante – Poco da me lontano
03:19
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
13.
Arianna a Naxos, Hob XXVIb:2: IV. Aria ‘Ah, che morir vorrei‘
03:58
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
14.
Geistliches Lied, Hob XXVI:17
03:33
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
15.
Gott im Frühlinge, D.448
01:57
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
16.
Marie, D.658
01:30
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
17.
Alte Weisen: No. 6. Wie glänzt der helle Mond
03:42
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
18.
Mörike Lieder : No. 23. Auf ein altes Bild
02:26
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
19.
Spanisches Liederbuch: No. 4. Die ihr schwebet
02:43
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
20.
Mörike Lieder : Schlafendes Jesuskind
03:36
(Various composers) Mary Bevan, Joseph Middleton
show all tracks

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