Lyric beauty & great storytelling: Young Artists tenor Hugo Brady & pianist Mark Rogers in Moore's Melodies at Oxford International Song Festival

Mark Rogers, Hugo Brady - Oxford International Song Festival (Photo: TallWall Media)

Moore's Melodies: traditional, Stanford, Ina Boyle, Schumann, Duparc, Barber, Britten, Johnny Patterson; Hugo Brady, Mark Rogers; Oxford International Song Festival at the Holywell Music Room
Reviewed 23 October 2025

One of the festival's Young Artist duos gives an imaginative exploration of song inspired by Thomas Moore from folksong to Ina Boyle to Samuel Barber, along with a delightful tribute to John McCormack

The lunchtime recital at the Holywell Music Room on 23 October 2025 as part of the Oxford International Song Festival showcased one of the duos from the festival's Young Artist Programme. Under the title Moore's Melodies, tenor Hugo Brady and pianist Mark Rogers presented a programme that leveraged Brady's Irish heritage by focusing on an Ireland experience partly through the ears of Thomas Moore (1779-1852) the Irish poet whose Irish Melodies (with the first of ten volumes appearing in 1808) set his poems to old Irish tunes.

We heard traditional songs, plus music by Stanford, Ina Boyle, Robert Schumann, Henri Duparc, Samuel Barber, Helen Blackwood, Britten and Johnny Patterson.

I had been impressed when I heard Hugo Brady with The Mozartists in their Opera in 1775 concert at Cadogan Hall recently [see my review], so it was great to get the chance to hear him in recital in a more intimate venue.

We began with Thomas Moore, The Harp that through Tara's Halls in an arrangement by Mark Rogers that provided discreet harp-inspired accompaniment. Like many of Moore's songs, this one spoke of Irish nationalism along with a strong vein of sentiment. Brady and Rogers took it entirely seriously, and Brady display a fine mix of vibrant tone and elegant line along with clear words.

Stanford's A sheaf of songs from Leinster was a group of songs from 1913 setting poems by Winifred Letts, one of the voices in the Celtic Revival. A soft day is the best known of these, and Brady gave us admirable clarity of phase and words allied to beauty of tone create some fine story telling. The composer Ina Boyle was one of a group of women who studied with Ralph Vaughan Williams and whose work is gradually emerging from his shadow. The Joy of the Earth featured rather over the top words by George Russell in a setting by Boyle that combined stormy piano with impulsive, rhapsodic vocal writing. The Walt Whitman setting, The Last Invocation was quiet and darkly romantic, Brady and Rogers brought out the song's lyric beauty though there were a couple of moments where Boyle seemed to struggle with the innate wordiness of Whitman's verse. The final Boyle setting was The Stolen Child, setting a piece of WB Yeats' faery whimsy. Another wordy song, Brady really leaned into the story-telling aspect of the piece and brought out the lyric beauty of the haunting final lines of each verse where time seemed to stand still.

Moore stands centre in a photograph by William Henry Fox Talbot dated April 1844

From here we moved to Moore's influence on Continental writers and composers. A complete recital could undoubtedly be assembled on this topic but Brady and Rogers gave us two of Schumann's Myrthen and one Henri Duparc setting. First Zwei Venetianische Lieder from Schumann's Myrthen with texts in German translations by Ferdinand Freilgrath from lyrics in Moore's National Airs (1822). Both are mildly erotic, Moore reflecting the reputation that Venice had. 'Leis' rudern hier' featured Brady's lyric beauty of line and tender phrasing over Roger's gently rocking piano, whilst 'Wenn durch di Piazetta' was perkily flowing, the text vividly chattering along.

Henri Duparc's Élégie sets Mme Duparc's text based on Moore's Elegy on the death of Robert Emmet,  who was an Irish Republican and leader of attempts to overthrow the British Crown. Emmet's speech from the gallows in 1803 inspired generations of later Irish Republicans. Duparc, of course, ignores all of this and the song was all romantic intensity with a throbbing piano part setting of the lyric beauty of Brady's tone. French song seemed to suit him and I would love to hear more.

Written in 1953 for Leontyne Price, Samuel Barber's Hermit Songs reflect a very different Ireland. The texts, all largely short, were original in Irish Gaelic or Latin and scribbled in the margins of significant manuscripts from the 8th to 10th centuries. Barber set ten poems, translated into modern English with some translations done specially for him.

Brady's delivery was delightfully serious and dead-pan, giving us these lovely aphorisms with an intimate clarity. 'At St Patrick’s Purgatory' showed his firmness of line and expressive tone, yet we had a relish for words and storytelling. 'Church Bell at Night' was atmospheric and haunting, yet with darker hints. There was a rhapsodic freedom to 'St Ita’s Vision' which transformed into lyric beauty when St Ita prays to Jesus. 'The Heavenly Banquet' was perkily vivid, allowing its litany of unlikely images to come across. 'The Crucifixion' was considered with a quiet intensity to it, then 'Sea Snatch' was all vivid vigour.

Probably my favourite of all the songs, 'Promiscuity' is tiny and Brady's performance perfectly dead-pan and knowing. 'The Monk and his Cat' made a delightful story, with some lovely tender moments in the piano. In 'The Praises of God' the two performers mixed the sharp edges in the piano with Brady's rhapsodic vocal line. 'The Desire for Hermitage' had both lyric beauty and seriousness of intent. Overall there was a lovely directness to the performance with nothing arch at all, allowing these little gems to tell.

Brady explained that the final section of the programme was inspired by the great Irish tenor John McCormack. Terence's Farewell to Kathleen is a folk tune to which the Irish poet and songwriter Helen Blackwood (granddaughter of playwright Sheridan) wrote the words. We heard it in Mark Rogers' arrangement, contained yet sentimental with a rather touching closing stanza. This was followed by Britten's Moore setting, At the mid hour of the night, one of Britten's more unsatisfactory arrangements where the lyric melancholy of Brady's voice was offset by the slightly curious piano part, as if Britten did not take the song's sentiment seriously.

We ended with a John McCormack favourite, The garden where the praties grow written by the entertainer Johnny Patterson (1840-1889) though using pre-existing tunes. And according to Google, praties are potatoes. Commenting that the song 'only worked if I do a John McCormack accent', Brady sang it with a strong Irish accent, demonstrating a gift for story-telling and an engaging personality.

For encore, Brady evoked John Huston's film of Joyce's The Dead, singing the folk-song The Lass of Aughrim off stage to magical effect.

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