专辑简介

The songs of America belong to no one in particular and to everyone in general. They are parts of a chronicle of our nation’s history, passed on from singer to singer and from generation to generation. They bear our love and our faith, our mistakes and our carelessness. They are a melting pot of innumerable languages and dialects – complex, beautiful and sometimes highly artistic. But since the language of America became predominantly English, our songs followed suit, stemming mainly in musical style from the British tradition. It is, therefore, fitting that ‘Songs Of America, Vol. 1’ be presented by one of Britain’s renowned recording groups, The Knightsbridge Strings And The Knightsbridge Chorale, under the conductor-arranger partnership of Malcolm Lockyer and Reg Owen. Songs of the Southland are found on the first side of this album as The Knightsbridge Strings fire an opening salvo, complete with bugle calls, of the stirringly reminiscent 'Dixie', first written by Daniel Emmett in 1859 for a minstrel show. Minstrel show music also influenced the works of America’s greatest folk song writer, Stephen Foster. His 'Old Folks At Home' is rendered with true old plantation spirit and charm by the Strings and the lilting voices of the Knightsbridge Chorale. Then, a plinking banjo is the trademark of another song that helped make Stephen Foster famous – 'Oh Susannah' – often associated with the “forty-niners” rushing to seek gold in California. The Chorale returns, next, with 'Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen', a plantation spiritual, the words and melodic fragments of which anticipated and foreshadowed the blues. Another Stephen Foster favorite, supposedly derived from a spiritual, 'De Camptown Races' concludes the Southern hospitality in high-stepping fashion. It is said that the War Between the States produced more songs than any of our other wars. Perhaps the most popular is the rousing 'Battle Hymn Of The Republic', which The Knightsbridge Strings together with resounding brass voicings and the Chorale have used to begin the second side of ‘Songs Of America, Vol. 1.’ It’s followed by 'My Old Kentucky Home', a pastoral sentiment set to music and expressed by sweet-sounding strings. Stephen Foster was inspired to compose this beloved tune by a happy visit to his uncle’s home, Federal Hill, near Bardstown, Kentucky. The Knightsbridge Chorale returns for the next selection, a beautiful rendition of the time-honored spiritual 'Swing Low'. Two song favorites in the great tradition of mountain and frontier love songs, that of sadness and loneliness, conclude the album. The first is the romantically optimistic 'Home On The Range', brimming with the rich tonality of prairie sounds. The second, perhaps the best known of “hillbilly” tunes in a composite of many forgotten love songs. The enchanting interpretation of 'Down In The Valley' by The Knightsbridge Strings And Chorale, ably demonstrates why the song has endeared itself to so many American hearts.