Kitty Whately (mezzo-soprano), Julius Drake (piano)

Dring: 6 Songs (Selection)
Dring: Encouragements to a Lover
Dring: Love and Time
Dring: 7 Shakespeare Songs (Selection)
Dring: 4 Night Songs
Porter (arr. Dring): In the Still of the Night

Renowned for her storytelling precision and rich, communicative tone, British mezzo-soprano Kitty Whately is joined by the eminent pianist Julius Drake for this exploration of the vocal works of Madeleine Dring (1923–1977). A student of Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells, Dring was a polymath of the British musical scene, equally at home in the world of West End revues as she was in the rigorous halls of the Royal College of Music. While the resurgence of interest in her contemporaries has moved apace, Dring’s legacy—often categorized by its theatrical wit—has remained a hidden gem of the twentieth-century English song repertoire.

Kitty Whately writes: ‘It has been a revelation to inhabit the sound world of Madeleine Dring, a composer who refused to be hemmed in by the boundaries between "serious" art song and the flair of the theatre. Her music possesses an immediacy and a rhythmic vitality that feels startlingly fresh. Whether in the poignant stillness of the 4 Night Songs or the cheeky, sophisticated charm of her Shakespeare settings, there is a sense of a composer who understood the human voice and the stage in equal measure. To end this journey with her own arrangement of Cole Porter’s "In the Still of the Night" felt only right; it captures that unique Dring "shimmer"—a bridge between the concert hall and the cabaret, delivered with a wink and a sigh. It is an immense privilege to finally bring these vivid, technicolor songs into the light they so richly deserve.’