Album Notes

Charlemagne Music

Gentle Springs
‘A Pastoral Evocation'
CM22101

The first solo CD issued in 2004 by Nick and June contains a varied selection of some of the most enchanting songs of the British repertoire. From the early counter tenor repertoire of the seventeenth century, including songs by John Dowland and Henry Purcell, new ground is forged for the counter tenor voice in transposed songs from George Butterworth’s ‘Shropshire Lad’ cycle, and entirely new arrangements by June Clark of British folk songs.. Other such gems are ‘In Summertime on Bredon’ by Graham Peel, the ‘Eriskay Love Lilt’ and the Londonderry Air’. The title of the disc comes from the refrain of the Dowland song ‘Flow not so fast ye fountaines’. There are three piano pieces on the disc, by Percy Grainger, ‘Near Woodstock Town’, ‘At Twilight’, and the most dramatic is his transcription of the Dowland song ‘Now O now I needs must part’, a piece which beautifully transcends the passage of time from Dowland to Grainger, bridging the gap of four centuries by the metamorphosis of the simple song into the ever more complex and daring harmonies

NICK PEPIN has held Lay Clerk positions as countertenor in many British cathedrals including Durham, Portsmouth, and most recently Winchester, where he sang on numerous recordings, including a disk of Gibbons verse anthems with Hyperion. He has toured extensively with the Winchester choir to the U.S., and throughout Europe. He sings regularly as a soloist in oratorio, especially Bach and Handel, having appeared with the London Festival Orchestra, the Northern Sinfonia, the Parley of Instruments, the Bournemouth Sinfonietta and the Bach Choir. He is a member of the early music group Polyhymnia, specialising in Spanish renaissance repertoire. Nick has given many recitals, accompanied by his mother, June, in Europe and the USA, and performs regularly in lunchtime recitals. In 2003/2004 Nick lived in Washington D.C during which time he became a founder member of the upper- voice Countertop Quartet (www.countertopquartet.org) which has delighted audiences with its unique sound.

JUNE CLARK, after studying at the Royal Academy of Music, worked as a composer with Alan Bush, subsequently publishing works in London and the USA. As a pianist she studied with Cyril Smith making her debut with Joan Ryall as a piano duo during the 1958 Wagner Festival in Bayreuth. An international career and regular broadcasting with the BBC followed, with appearances at major festivals, Wigmore Hall and Purcell Room. In 1967 the duo won First Prize in the International Competition for Interpreters of Contemporary Music in Utrecht. After the death in 1990 of Joan, June revived an earlier career as accompanist and composer. In 1995 she founded, together with her son Nick, Pennine Parnassus in Alston. In 2004 together with Nick and her second son, Tom, they began Charlemagne Music, a company producing their own CDs and June’s many published compositions.
June is married to the writer David Pepin, and lives in the North Pennines in UK.
(www.charlemagnemusic.co.uk)

‘A lovely collection of songs…particularly the Butterworth…I remember Alan (my father) being very fond of these songs…Rachel O’Higgins (Alan Bush Music Trust)’

‘A really wonderful CD