Ian Bostridge & Xuefei Yang - Songs from Our Ancestors (2016)

English tenor Ian Bostridge and Chinese classical guitarist Xuefei Yang present this selection of works by Dowland, Schubert, Britten and Argento alongside Chinese folk songs. Celebrating the candlelit intimacy and storytelling environment of the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at Shakespeare's Globe, Songs from Our Ancestors merges trajectories of history, music and poetry in a thoughtful and eclectic journey that is personal as well as global. Bostridge sings these most famous of Dowland’s lute songs for the very first time, while Yang contributes her own arrangements of some of the most storied Chinese melodies. Both perform commissions by Stephen Goss and Chen Yi who have made outsized contributions to the modern classical guitar canon. The result is a chronological investigation of music that intersects both today and the Ming Dynasty, Shakespeare’s own generation and the age that gave us the Jacobean indoor theatre.

TRACKLIST
01. Fourth Book of Songs : Fourth Book of Songs: In darkness let me dwell
02. Book of Songs, Book 1: Come again, sweet love doth now invite : First Book of Songs: Come again, sweet love doth now invite
03. Second Book of Songs : Second Book of Songs: White as lilies was her face
04. Book of Songs, Book 1: Come again, sweet love doth now invite : First Book of Songs: My thoughts are winged with hopes
05. Second Book of Songs : Second Book of Songs: Flow, my tears, fall from your springs
06. Drunken Ecstasy (arr. Xuefei Yang for guitar) : Drunken Ecstasy (arr. Xuefei Yang for guitar)
07. Gloriana, Op. 53 : Gloriana, Op. 53: Gloriana, Op. 53: The Second Lute Song of the Earl of Essex (arr. J. Bream for voice and guitar)
08. Flowing Water (arr. Xuefei Yang for guitar) : Flowing Water (arr. Xuefei Yang for guitar)
09. Schwanengesang, D. 957 : Schwanengesang, D. 957: Schwanengesang, D. 957: No. 4. Ständchen (Serenade) (arr. for voice and guitar)
10. Die Mainacht, D. 194 (arr. for voice and guitar) : Die Mainacht, D. 194 (arr. for voice and guitar)
11. Der König in Thule, Op. 5, No. 5, D. 367 (arr. for voice and guitar) : Der König in Thule, Op. 5, No. 5, D. 367 (arr. for voice and guitar)
12. An die Musik, Op. 88, No. 4, D. 547 (arr. for voice and guitar) : An die Musik, Op. 88, No. 4, D. 547 (arr. for voice and guitar)
13. Sword Dance (arr. Xuefei Yang for guitar) : Sword Dance (arr. Xuefei Yang for guitar)
14. Letters from Composers : Letters from Composers: No. 3. Franz Schubert to a Friend
15. Letters from Composers : Letters from Composers: No. 1. Frederic Chopin to a Friend
16. Shuo Chang : Shuo Chang
17. The Book of Songs: No. 1. She threw me a quince
18. The Book of Songs: No. 2. Oh, you with the blue collar
19. The Book of Songs: No. 3. Plucking the rushes
20. The Book of Songs: No. 4. Pastoral
21. The Book of Songs: No. 5. In the tavern
22. The Book of Songs: No. 6. Lament