John Brunning’s new song cycle ‘Swansongs’, Songs of Remembrance is released today on Signum, recorded by soprano Elin Manahan Thomas and pianist Daniel Grimwood. The cycle was premiered in concert earlier this year by Elin at the North Wales International Music Festival.
Scores for the songs are published by Edition Peters.
Alonside his work as a composer, John Brunning can be heard regularly as a presenter on Classic FM. In his introduction to the disc, John Brunning writes:
There are probably more euphemisms employed when speaking of death than any other subject. Take a walk around a graveyard and you will see any number of headstones bearing inscriptions such as ‘passed away’, ‘fell asleep’, ‘called to rest’, and so on. Yet death is the one inescapable certainty that each of us must ultimately confront. I have sought to address this issue in as positive a way as possible with my cycle, ‘Swansongs’.
Elin Manahan Thomas says of the songs:
They are beautiful, simple and heartfelt. The words and music match perfectly and they have a timeless and touching quality to them.
The recording is also available to stream on Spotify.