Alright, so perhaps "120 years of the melodies of the Royal College of Music" is a bit of a stretch, given that the first of the composers to study here was Thomas Dunhill in 1893, and the last was Anthony Turnage in 1982, but as he is now a teacher there, we can perhaps let that go. In any case, Sarah Connolly's magnificent selection of English songs from throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries bears witness to the richness of the English melodic stage: Britten of course, Holst, Somervell, Gurney and Tippett are among the more famous, including beyond Britain's shores; but also there are some rather better-kept, but essential, secrets in the form of Morean, Rebecca Clarke, Stanford, Bridge and Parry: all of which make for quite a trip through time. Note that the album contains three discographic world firsts, one of which is fairly obvious – Farewell by Turnage, written especially for Sarah Connolly, for this recordings – and another stupefying, two mélodies by Britten, which the composer had first conceived for his magical 1947 Charm of Lullabies and left to one side, because it was his habit, in his melodic cycles, to do a bit more than required in order to later have the option of pruning some back. These two lullabies remained in the manuscript. They were fairly difficult to decipher, but still clear enough that they have finally been brought out of their Sleeping Beauty suspended animation, sixty years on. We should add that Connolly's rich and sumptuous voice, delicately accompanied by Joseph Middleton, works wonders with this exquisite repertoire. © SM/Qobuz