George Antheil

A two-disc survey of the songs of George Antheil (1900-1959), sung by mezzo-soprano Alice Lackner with pianist Philip Mayers. Written at different points of his career, the songs show a quieter side of the composer of the noisy orchestral and piano works. Their texts range from William Blake and John Keats to Lewis Carroll and American ballads.

The programme opens with the 5 Songs, W.85, settings of Adelaide Crapsey that begin with November Night and Triad. Next come the 9 Songs of Experience, W.100, on Blake, which take in The Garden of Love, The Sick Rose and a closing The Tyger. A set of 6 Songs includes Yeats's Down by the Sally Gardens and a fragment of Joyce's I Hear an Army. Other groups are German, among them Schlafe, mein Kindlein, Op. 10 No. 2, and 5 Lieder ending with a song about Lippe-Detmold. The American side comes through in Frankie and Johnny, The Ballade of Jesse James and The Fable of the Redwoods. The two Odes of John Keats, W.101, give the set its longest single song, Ode to a Nightingale, at almost nine minutes. Lewis Carroll's You Are Old, Father William and Turtle Soup show the lighter side, and there are also Nightpiece, Just One Moment, Annabelle! and the cycle Tongue of Silver. The speaker Colin Griffiths-Brown takes part in some items.

Brilliant Classics 97689, two CDs, released in November 2025.