Percy Grainger

Percy Grainger was born July 8, 1882, in Melbourne, Australia. He studied piano as a child and gave his first recital in 1895, at the age of twelve. Grainger moved with his mother, Rose Grainger, to Frankfurt, Germany, for more musical studies. In 1901, Grainger and his mother moved on to London, where he became well known as a concert pianist.

Like Béla Bartók, Percy Grainger was interested in collecting and preserving folk songs. While he lived in London, he traveled around England, collecting and transcribing folk songs. He recorded these songs on a wax-cylinder phonograph. Grainger believed that folk songs were a good source for learning the history of certain communities. Folk songs were important to Grainger for another reason as well. He wanted to be a composer. He used the folk songs he collected as the basis for many of his pieces, including Lincolnshire Posy.

In 1914, Grainger and his mother moved to the United States to escape World War I. When the United States entered the war in 1917, Grainger enlisted in the U.S. Army Band as a saxophone player. His experiences in the band sparked his interest in composing for bands and wind ensembles. Later, Grainger went back to composing and playing the piano. He was known for his powerful piano playing and his healthy, athletic lifestyle. In 1926, Grainger met Ella Viola Ström-Bandelius, a Swedish artist and poet. They fell in love and were married two years later at the Hollywood Bowl. The wedding took place during a concert in which Grainger conducted a piece he wrote for his bride, called To a Nordic Princess.

Even though Grainger was best known for his compositions based on folk music, he was more interested in developing a form of music that was free from the tonal and rhythmic rules of Western art music. He wanted to create music with pitches that could glide seamlessly from one to the next, to imitate the motion of waves. His first attempt at writing this kind of music was Free Music No. 1 for string quartet. Afterward, he rewrote it for four theremins. Starting in 1945, Grainger worked with a physics teacher, Burnett Cross, to invent and build machines that could perform the "free music" that Grainger wanted to compose. Together they designed about four different machines. The "Reed-Box Tone-Tool" and the "Kangaroo Pouch Tone-Tool" are now in the Grainger Museum in Melbourne, Australia.

Choral Discography

Polyphony: At Twilight

Percy Grainger: - Irish Tune from County Derry - Dollar and a Half a Day - Shenandoah - Stormy - The Gypsy's Wedding Day - Brigg Fair - Mo nighean dubh - O Mistress Mine Edvard Grieg: - Four Psalms: - How Fair is Thy face - God's Son hath set me free - Jesus Christ our Lord is risen - In heav'n above - Ave, Maris Stella Percy Grainger: - Soldier, soldier - Mary Thomson - Ye banks and braes - Dalvisa - Australian Up-Country Song - Near Woodstock Town The Sussex Mummers' Carol A Song of Varmeland At Twilight

The pairing of music by Percy Grainger and Edvard Grieg at first may seem odd. In fact, though, the two composers were good friends. Grieg lauded Grainger's folk song settings as helping to create "an independent English music." The choral music of Grainger and Grieg on this CD, sung gloriously by Polyphony, was written in the early 1900's. Most of Grainger's settings are of English folk songs, though there are a few Irish and Scotch ones as well. The CD also includes a song from Grainger's native Australia (Track 18 Australian Up-Country Song). The Four Psalms by Grieg are his last completed works and are based on Norwegian church melodies. To further connect the composers, the English translations of the psalms were written by Grainger. This wonderful recording also features soloists tenor Paul Agnew and baritone David Wilson-Johnson.

Academy of St Martins In The Field Chorus: Grainger: A Cappella Choral Works

My Love's in Germanie Six Dukes Went A-fishin' O Mistress Mine Mary Thomson Early one Morning Irish Tune from Country Derry Agincourt Song Australian Up-Country Song Recessional At Twilight The Gipsy's Wedding Day Mo Nighean Dubh (My dark-haired maiden) Ye Banks and Braes O' Bonnie Doon Soldier, Soldier Jungle-Book Verses Near Woodstock Town Love at First Sight

When Laszlo Heltay founded the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chorus in 1975, he set the standards for the fresh, clear tone now admired throughout the choral world. Grammy-winning conductor Richard Hickox leads the Chorus in a selection of 12 "Works for Unaccompanied Chorus" by the beloved Australian composer/arranger Percy Grainger. Grainger wrote original pieces, and arranged folk songs that he sought out in the English and Scottish countryside and around the world. Included are "My Love’s in Germanie," "Six Dukes Went A-fishin’," "O Mistress Mine," "Mary Thomson," "Early One Morning," "Irish Tune from County Derry," "Agincourt Song," "Australian Up-Country Song, "Recessional," "At Twilight," "The Gypsy’s Wedding Day" and "Mo Nighean Dubh." Wonderful, authentic folk songs, beautifully sung by a top-drawer chorus!