Arthur Sullivan had a life and career before and beyond the Savoy operas. In the now completely unknown cantata On Shore and Sea of 1871 and the earlier Masque Kenilworth, with which the 22 year-old composer fulfilled his first commission for a major choral festival (at Birmingham), we have two scores all lovers of Sullivan as well as those exploring the still forgotten tuneful delights of Victorian cantatas will revel in. Already the master of the charming aria, catchy number and delightful chorus, we can share with Sullivan's first audiences the pleasure of melodic discoveries in works commissioned from the coming man of mid-Victorian music. Under the authoritative direction of Richard Bonynge the music of Sullivan is vibrantly restored to us in these enthusiastic performances.

On Shore and Sea (1871): A dramatic cantata*
Opening chorus: The Windlass ply
Recit and Aria: 'Tis the Mid Watch/The wave at her Bows
Recit: From Springtime on to Summer
Aria: Soft and sadly sea-wind swell
Moresque dance
Recit and Chorus of Moslem Triumph: The Crescent o'er the Cross
Recit: They chain not Christian souls
Chorus of Christian Captives: With a will, Oh Brothers
Recit and Duet: Hark! on the Night/Here on thy Heart
Final Chorus: Sink and scatter, Clouds of War

Kenilworth (1864): A masque
1 Introduction: A Summer night
2 Chorus: Hark, the sound that hails a King
3 Song: I have slept beneath the water
4 Quartet: Let Fauns the cymbal ring
5 Slow Dance with Chorus
6 Arion's Song: I am a Ruler on the Sea
7 Recit: Place for a Queen
8 Duet: How sweet the Moonlight sleeps
9 A Brisk Dance
10 Finale: After Banquet play and riot

* World premiere recording

Sally Silver (soprano)
Nico Darmanin (tenor)
Louise Winter (mezzo-soprano)
Donald Maxwell (bass baritone)
The John Powell Singers

Victorian Opera Northwest
Richard Bonynge (conductor)

Recorded: Urmston Grammar, Manchester, 2-3 November 2013

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