Album Notes

This recording has been awarded a much-coveted Parents' Choice Approved award, and has won praise from Parenting Magazine, which describes the CD as a "sumptuous collection." (August, 2002)

Composed and arranged by Sir J. W. Elliott, "Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Songs" was first published in the 1870s in London and quickly became a fond part of childhood for millions of children for more than a century.

The songs are original compositions and arrangements of traditional melodies, with lyrics from Mother Goose's nursery rhymes and from popular Victorian children's poetry.

The CD cover is an eight-panel foldout that contains some of the charming engravings created especially for this music by the Dalziel Brothers studios more than a century ago.

Ms. Hendrix, whose own children so enjoyed these songs when they were very little, presents this wonderful music just as Sir James conceived it.

Intended to supplement the traditional nursery rhymes, the nursery songs give a charming glimpse of an idealized childhood at the height of the Victorian period.

Some nursery songs show the gentle humor of the time ("Three Children Sliding"), while others show how nursery songs were used to convey morals to very young children ("Maggie's Pet", "Mother Tabbyskins").

The quality of the compositions brings to mind the works of composers like Schubert (as in "When the Snow is on the Ground") and Gilbert & Sullivan (as in "The Spider and the Fly"). Sir James was a colleague of Arthur Sullivan, of Gilbert and Sullivan fame.

This recording is a delightful means of introducing very young children to good music.

Robin Hendrix and Michel Prezman are concert artists who divide their time between New York City and the south of France.

Miss Hendrix's natural singing style never fails to move audiences, and her concerts always end with a standing ovation.

Mr. Prezman, a former Yamaha Concert Artist, has an active performance career in the United States and in Europe.

He is considered by many to be one of the finest accompanists on the vocal scene today. He is also a composer of classical works and numerous film scores.