This album includes the first-ever recording of E.J. Moeran's song The North Sea Ground, which is one of the few known surviving works from his early compositional period.
Composer Biography
E.J. Moeran's final years were plagued by ill-health, and he died in December 1950 after falling from a pier in Kenmare, Ireland, reportedly from a cerebral haemorrhage following a heart attack.
Composition History
E.J. Moeran's passion for collecting folksongs began after he was inspired by a performance of Vaughan Williams's Norfolk Rhapsody, which led him to buy Cecil Sharp's Folk Songs from Somerset.
Performer Biography
John Talbot, the pianist on this recording, is also a music editor who compiled the Thames Publishing's Moeran Centenary Edition, a thirteen-volume collection of the composer's works.
Composer's Artistic Vision
E.J. Moeran was deeply influenced by the scenery and folk music of both Ireland and Norfolk, where he grew up.
Composer Biography
E.J. Moeran, a composer of Anglo-Irish descent, suffered serious head injuries while serving on the Western Front in World War I, which affected him physically and mentally for the rest of his life.
Composition History
The North Sea Ground, a song by E.J. Moeran, is a setting of a poem by Cicely Fox Smith that describes the dangers faced by British fishing trawlers used as minesweepers during World War I.
