Unearthing

This pairing of folk veterans comprises singer James Patterson and instrumentalist (and concertina maker) John Dipper, who has played with the likes of Chris Wood, Rob Harbron and Emily Askew, and who here focuses on the 14-string viola d'amore. There are guest turns from Askew, who contributes cello to their arrangement of Houseman's ‘In Summertime on Bredon’, from A Shropshire Lad, and multi­ instrumentalist Adrian Lever.

The ‘unearthing’ of the title refers to their drawing from the English classical tradition, and from the musical settings of poems by the likes of Thomas Hardy, AE Houseman and Joseph Campbell by British composers Robin Milford, Vaughan Williams, Gerald Finzi, George Butterworth, Ivor Gurney and Sir Arthur Somervell. This deep delving into art song by veterans of the folk revival delivers a series of sublime performances that fuse art music with the spontaneous interactions of folk performance. Dipper's baritone and the viola d'amore bring great depth and focus to these songs settings. Alongside them are major ballads, too, including ‘The Murdered Servant Man’ (aka ‘The Bramble Briar’) whose origin lies in Boccaccio's The Decameron, and the transportation ballad ‘Isles of France’, while a snatch of Playford's Dancing Master in ‘King of Poland’ is sublime.