A Lad’s Love —Brian Giebler, tenor; Steven McGhee, piano; String Quartet (Bridge 9542)
“When I first discovered Ivor Gurney’s Ludlow and Teme,” writes tenor Brian Giebler, “…it made a lasting impression. I programmed the cycle on my degree recital…A. E. Housman’s poetry, set by Gurney, was so affecting that we started digging for other settings by lesser-known British composers of that time. That led us to John Ireland’s songs, [and]…as we dove further into English poetry and songs of the early 20th Century, we found an array that tell stories of loss or unrequited love…All of the works on this album are unified by the depth of feeling expressed by the lover, not by the gender of the object of his affection, which is conspicuously absent from any of the texts. Loss is at the center of these songs, whether due to death, societal standards, unrequited love, the passage of time, or inaction.” So the release of this album during a pandemic is especially timely. Cleveland Ovations listeners may remember Brian Giebler from the Apollo’s Fire program L’amore, An Old Italian Valentine WCLV aired on Ovations June 17 th. (Note: link sends you to the Bridge Records website.)