I Thought I Heard a Magpie Call

Heritage Australian Art Songs

Margaret Schindler (soprano), Philip Mayers (piano)
The collection covers a wide ground.  Some of these songs were never intended to be considered as High Art; written for relatively uncritical consumption, they and others of their sort were aimed at the home music market, at times when singing together around the piano was a common evening pastime. An all-pervading sense of innocence prevails, maybe reflective of the publishing strictures of the times. Choosing the material for this recording was a journey of rediscovery for the artists which resulted in representative appraisals of a past revisited, and you will find amongst the acknowledged classics the sort of tunes some may primly dismiss as too light a fare. 
Choosing the name for this CD was not hard.  Ask any Australian abroad what remembered sound most triggers their nostalgia, and the inimitable rusty-gate chortle of the magpie will usually be the answer.  [extracts from the liner notes by Philip Mayers]
Wirr 076  
             

Download samples 
1 Mopoke (Alfred Hill)
2 A Bush Bird in a Blue Gum Tree (Horace Gleeson)
3 There's a Whisper in the Air (May H Brahe)
4 The Piper from Over the Way (May H Brahe)
5 The Fairy Bridge (Alfred Hill)
6   The Call of the Maytime (May H Brahe)
7   Idyll (Then Comes the Dawn) (Olive Ingall)
8   The Pixie Piper Man (Leslie Elliott)
9   In Spite of All (Mirrie Hill)
10  Lovely Morning (Horace Gleeson)
11  The Thrush (Edith Harrhy)
12  My Bird Singing (Mirrie Hill)
13  Spring Mirth (John Villaume)
14  By the Moongate (John Villaume)
15  You came to me in May (Edith Harrhy)
16  Flowers of Sleep (Roy Agnew)
17  Come Sleep (Peggy Glanville Hicks)
18  I Thought I Heard a Magpie Call (Alfred Hill) 
19  A Little Town (Alfred Hill)
20  Bush Silence (William G James)
21  An Australian Lullaby (Edith Harrhy)
22  Brown Bird (John Villaume)
23  I Heard a Sound of Singing (Mirrie Hill)
24  In Early Green Summer (Marjorie Hesse)
25  Down Sunlit Glades (Mirrie Hill)
26  A Pastoral Madonna (Dulcie Holland)
27  Summer is Dying (Edith Harrhy)
28  Autumn Leaves (Edith Harrhy)
29  In Early Green Summer (Marjorie Hesse)
30  If I Should Make a Garden (Louis Lavater)
31  Our Friend (Alfred Hill)
32  Nature's Requiem (John Villaume)