Osian Ellis : Songs with Harp

'Wales is rich in folk songs, and the art of singing these songs is very much alive today,' writes Osian Ellis to the original note (reprinted in the CD booklet) accompanying this L'Oiseau-Lyre LP. Renowned for his harpistry and to many through his recordings of music by Benjamin Britten (with whom he worked closely), this extremely rare recording, made for L'Oiseau-Lyre in 1961 here receives it's first release on CD. What makes it even more of a collector's item is the fact that Ellis is both singer and harpist on this recording. It ranges from Baroque songs to music from the nineteenth century (Boughton's once-popular Faery Song) to folk songs from Wales, and includes a composition ('O mistress mine') by Ellis himself.