Stephen Goss

stephengoss

composer

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Songs of Ophelia

2016 | 7 mins | for soprano and guitar

text by William Shakespeare

How should I your true love know?
Tomorrow is Saint Valentine’s day
And will ’a not come back again?

Listen Score Notes CD CD

Songs of Ophelia was commissioned by Adélia Issa and Edelton Gloeden who gave the first performance on 11th August 2016 at the Mindlin Library, University of São Paulo, Brazil. They will record the work in September. The text is taken from Act 4 Scene 5 of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The Book of Songs

2014 | 18 mins | for tenor and guitar

text by Chinese poets from 800 BC to 700 AD

She Threw me a Quince
Oh, You with the Blue Collar
Plucking the Rushes
Pastoral
In the Tavern
Lament

“Goss’s ‘The Book of Songs’ is a striking series of miniatures, written with clear understanding of Bostridge’s distinctive instrument. The voice croons in musical androgyny in ‘Oh, you with the blue collar’ and barks in broken speech in ‘In the tavern’ " Gramophone, November 2016

Listen Score Notes CD CD

Commissioned by Xuefei Yang and Ian Bostridge. First performance 30th November 2014, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, Shakespeare’s Globe, London. Published by Doberman.

Welsh Folksongs

2008 | 12 mins | for voice and guitar

Dafydd y Garreg Wen
Wrth fynd hefo Deio i Dywyn
Suo-gân
Lliw Gwyn Rhosyn yr Haf
Lisa Lân
Hela’r ‘Sgyfarnog

“This group of short Welsh folksongs never outstays its welcome, the composer’s inventive powers using the instruments to great effect… Stephen Goss brings to each piece a keen musical intelligence that does not preclude the warmth of an instinctual response. I believe that these qualities make him one of the most consistently interesting composers in Britain today.” Colin Cooper, Classical Guitar Magazine

Score Notes CD CD

Defying Gravity

1997 | 10 mins | for voice and guitar

Commissioned for the wedding of Alan Chadwick and Mary Williams. First performed at St Giles’ Church Ashtead, 6th September 1997.

Under Milk Wood Songs

1990 | 11 mins | for soprano and guitar

text by Dylan Thomas

Polly Garter
Lily Smalls
Rosie Probert and Captain Cat
Oh, What’ll the Neighbours Say, What’ll the Neighbours…
Pretty Polly Hums and Longs

“Here the characters of Polly Garter, Rosie Probert, Captain Cat et al are given fresh voice with Goss’s sensitive setting” International Record Review

Listen Watch Score Notes CD CD CD

First performed at the Glynn Vivien Art Gallery, Swansea, October 1990 as part of the Swansea Festival. Recorded on Songs from Britain and America, (Tantallon, CD 31 © 1993), Frozen Music (CACD0711 © 2007) and Jarring Sounds (© 2014). Published by Doberman-Yppan © 2014. ISBN : 978-2-89503-669-2

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