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01. Birds of Love and Prey Prologue. Bird Cadenza
02. Birds of Love and Prey No. 1, O Beloved Nightingale
03. Birds of Love and Prey No. 2, The Tit and the Lovebird
04. Birds of Love and Prey No. 3, The Eagle
05. Birds of Love and Prey No. 4, Night Interlude
06. Birds of Love and Prey No. 5, The Owl and the Nightingale
07. Birds of Love and Prey No. 6, Bird Cadenza
08. Birds of Love and Prey No. 7, The Turtle Dove
09. Birds of Love and Prey No. 8, Interlude
10. Birds of Love and Prey No. 9, Blest Are the Birds on the Wing
11. The Olney Avian Verse of William Cowper No. 1, The Faithful Bird
12. The Olney Avian Verse of William Cowper No. 2, To the Nightingale
13. The Olney Avian Verse of William Cowper No. 3, On the Swallow
14. The Olney Avian Verse of William Cowper No. 4, Sparrows Self-Domesticated
15. The Olney Avian Verse of William Cowper No. 5, Invitation to the Redbreast
16. Cycle Avicellus No. 1, De ton perchoir
17. Cycle Avicellus No. 2, Blanc harfang
18. Cycle Avicellus No. 3, Ils partent
19. Cycle Avicellus No. 4, Envol
Soprano Deborah Sternberg brings together three song cycles themed on birds, each with its own unique flavour and expressive vocabulary. Andrew Earle Simpson’s eloquent skills as a composer and pianist are united in Birds of Love and Prey, in which both antique and modern textual sources contrast songbirds and predators in a variety of ways. Eric Kitchen uses transcriptions of actual birdsong in The Olney Avian Verse of William Cowper, while Gabriel Thibaudeau’s Cycle Avicellus portrays birds within landscapes using a language of modern impressionism.