SONGWRITING

A mixed bag of British songs since 1970 sounds a pleasing prospect. Experience with this selection passes the time fruitfully. Alison Smart accommodates the mixture of styles pleasingly and with enough polish to give the best tracks their due.

Without this sort of exercise few of us would be able to stand back and consider the progress of songwriting either nationally or internationally. As an art, songwriting since the age of lieder has revealed the mountain peaks that are few, whilst we find the commonplace all too easily and almost anywhere.

That which lies between is always interesting, and the choice here is discriminatory without fussiness: MacMillan, Weir, Maconchy - and her daughter LeFanu - Maxwell Davies, Holloway, Nicholson, and Gabriel Jackson.

My selection of 4 out of 25 is not final, rather a feel for those I'll investigate further. MacMillan Scots Song [listen - track 3, 3:35-4:47.], Maconchy Sun, Moon and Stars [listen - track 4, 0:00-0:40], Holloway Olive Tree, and Nicholson I passed by his garden.

In case you are about to click the page over now, just remember that CDs like this do not gain massive publicity or renown, yet they do a great service to both singer and song - and therefore music as an art. This CD could well grace many private record collections and brings together 25 imaginative songs.

To listen to the aural illustrations in this review, you may need to download RealNetworks' realplayer G2.