Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
A Peter Warlock Merry-Go-Down
Songs, catches and poems, sociable, amorous and bibulous
Ian Partridge (tenor), Neilson Taylor (baritone), Peter Gray (speaker), Jennifer Partridge (soprano, piano), Fred Tomlinson (piano)
rec. 1971
No texts
Convivium Records CR098 [48]

In 1971 Unicorn Records released an LP called ‘Merry-Go-Down’, the name of an anthology first published in 1929 compiled by Rab Noolas – read that name backwards – which contained sundry extracts from Genesis to Dickens on the subject of booze. The anthology’s sub-title tells us that it is ‘A gallery of gorgeous drunkards through the ages, collected for the interest, illumination and delectation of serious topers’. The disc was the idea of Fred Tomlinson and illustrated Warlock’s rich variety of interests, literary and musical.

As well as a composer, Warlock was a journalist, musicologist, editor and an astute explorer of the Elizabethans – musically and in terms of their literary achievement. This disc is a celebration of his manifold gifts in these fields as well as his enjoyment of – and susceptibility to – drink. The 34 tracks last 48 minutes so there are no long works, though there are two pieces from the Capriol Suite, both arranged for piano duet by Warlock.

The musicians who take on most of the burdens in the songs are Ian Partridge and his sister Jennifer, who is also a gifted soprano and indeed sings in that role a number of times on this disc. Jeffrey Nielson Taylor also appears in the more overtly rustic numbers. His professional name was Nielson Taylor and he had been a professional footballer from 1949 to 1957 for Huddersfield Town, Fulham and Brentford and known as ‘Jeff Taylor’. The guiding spirit of the enterprise was Fred Tomlinson, choral director and composer and luminary of all things Warlockian. He also co-composed Monty Python’s The Lumberjack Song. If you watch it, you’ll see some of the Fred Tomlinson Singers. The texts, from Aristotle to Warlock himself, are read with insight and relish by Peter Gray.    

The ‘songs, catches and poems, sociable, amorous and bibulous’ provide a seamless collage of pleasures. These include a lusty rendition of Warlock and Moeran’s Maltworms in which Neilson Taylor and Jennifer Partridge, at the piano, are joined by their comrade singers Mark Brown, Michael Clarke, Robert Hunter, James Lewington and Richard Hazell, as well as some rounds from a composer Warlock did much to restore to currency, Thomas Ravenscroft. Tomlinson arranged a number of pieces including, for tenors and basses, Warlock’s Piggesnie. Ian Partridge sings Have You Seen But A White Lily Grow, in Warlock’s edition, with exquisite refinement, very much in the lineage of Heddle Nash whilst Jennifer Partridge evokes a lute in her splendid piano playing of Dowland’s My Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe. She and Tomlinson enjoy their duets whether naughty – the Beethoven Binge – or nice, in the shape of a lusty and Ragtimey The Old Codger. There are too many pleasures to list individually.

The booklet has been beautifully compiled and is profusely illustrated. It includes Fred Tomlinson’s original sleeve notes and adds programme notes by Dr. Brian Collins, Vice-President of the Peter Warlock Society. There are also elegant black and white photographs of both Partridges, Neilson Taylor and Fred Tomlinson. Unicorn’s master tapes have been lost so this CD has clearly utilised a fine sounding LP – far better-sounding than my click-laden affair.

This is a reissue to be savoured by Warlockians. I am delighted to see it restored with such care by the Convivium team.

Jonathan Woolf

Contents
01: Maltworms – Peter Warlock (1894-1930) and EJ Moeran (1894-1950)
02: In Good Company – Peter Warlock
03: Malt’s Come Down – Thomas Ravenscroft (1592-1633) edited Peter Warlock
04: Tordion – Peter Warlock
05: Have You Seen But A White Lily Grow? – Anon edited Peter Warlock
06: Piggesnie – Peter Warlock
07: The Maid She Went A-Milking (1609) – Thomas Ravenscroft edited Peter Warlock
08: Hey Troly Loly Lo – Peter Warlock
09: An Observation On Beer-Drinkers – Aristotle (384-322 BC)
10: Fill The Cup, Philip – Peter Warlock
11: Eight Kinds Of Drunkenness – Thomas Nashe (1567-1601)
12: In An Arbour Green – Peter Warlock
13: As Thy Shadow Itself Apply’th – Thomas Whythorne edited Peter Warlock
14: My Lady Hunsdon’s Puffe – John Dowland (1563-1626) arranged Peter Warlock
15: Sweet Content – Peter Warlock
16: Prosdocimus De Beldamandis, Senior
17: Beethoven’s Binge – Peter Warlock
18: The Drunken Wizard – Bruce Blunt (1899-1957)
19: Peter Warlock’s Fancy – Peter Warlock
20: One More River – Anon arranged Peter Warlock
21: By A Bank As I Lay – Thomas Ravenscroft edited Peter Warlock
22: I Asked A Thief To Steal Me A Peach – Peter Warlock
23: Excerpts From The Knight Of The Burning Pestle (1610) – Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) and John Fletcher (1579-1625)
24: My Gostly Fader – Peter Warlock
25: Wine v. Women – Anon
26: What Hap Had I To Marry A Shrow – Thomas Ravenscroft edited Peter Warlock
27: Away To Twiver – Peter Warlock
28: Mother’s Ruin – Rab Noolas
29: The Old Codger – Peter Warlock
30: When Laura Smiles – Philip Rosseter (1568-1623) edited Peter Warlock
31: He That Will An Ale House Keep – Thomas Ravenscroft edited Peter Warlock
32: Drunken Song In The Saurian Mode – Rab Noolas
33: Mattachins – Peter Warlock
34: The Lady’s Birthday – Anon arranged Peter Warlock