Sarah Brightman

The trees they grow so high / Early one morning

In 1988 Sarah released an album entitled The trees they grow so high, with folks songs arranged by Benjamin Britten, accompanied by Geoffrey Parsons on piano.
In 1995 the CD was re-released under the title Early one morning
The CD was re-released again in February 1998 as The trees they grow so high and it is this version that I have -- its cover is shown above.
Here follows the track list; further down you can find the covers of the different versions of the album as well as some personal comments on the CD.

EARLY ONE MORNING (3:33)
--
COME YOU NOT FROM NEWCASTLE? (1:26)
Hullah's Song-Book (English)
SWEET POLLY OLIVER (2:53)
Old English tune
THE TREES THEY GROW SO HIGH (4:33)
Somerset folksong
THE ASH GROVE (2:42)
Welsh tune
O WALY, WALY (4:38)
from Somerset - Cecil Sharp
HOW SWEET THE ANSWER (2:12)
The Wren (Moore's Irish Melodies)
THE PLOUGH BOY (2:02)
Tune by W. Shield
VOICI LE PRINTEMPS (2:00)
--
THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER (4:33)
Groves of Blarney (Moore's Irish Melodies)
LA BELLE EST AU JARDIN D'AMOUR (3:34)
--
FILEUSE (2:04)
--
DEAR HARP OF MY COUNTRY! (2:33)
Kate Tyrrel (Moore's Irish Melodies)
LITTLE SIR WILLIAM (3:27)
Somerset folksong
O CAN YE SEW CUSHIONS? (2:37)
Scottish tune
OFT IN THE STILLY NIGHT (2:48)
Moore's Irish Melodies
QUAND J'ÉTAIS CHES MON PÈRE (2:09)
--
THERE'S NONE TO SOOTHE (2:09)
Hullah's Song-Book (Scottish)
OLIVER CROMWELL (0:51)
Nursery rhyme from Suffolk

(Total playing time: 52:54)

My copy of the CD is released by EMI Records Ltd. in 1998 under number 566769-2.
The 1988-release was by EMI under number CDC 7-49510-2.

The lyrics of the songs are printed in the CD booklet and given on the separate pages linked to in the contents above; translation in English of the non-English songs (by Mark Valencia) are also given in the CD booklet.
===> All lyrics on a single page (21.3 kb; includes the translations)

The CD booklet contains some background info on folksongs and Benjamin Britten's arrangements, written by Colin Matthews.

Album covers

Here are the covers of the different releases of the album

	The trees they grow so high -- 1988 release JPEG version of the cover (28.2 kb) source of the image: thanks to Joe Elliott
	Early one morning -- 1995 release JPEG version of the cover (67.0 kb) source of the image: Elden's page
	The trees they grow so high -- 1998 release JPEG version of the cover (27.9 kb) GIF version of the cover (123.9 kb) source of the image: scanned myself

Comments

It took 2-3 times listening to the CD to get used to the kind of songs, and now I think this CD is wonderful! Sarah's magnificent voice, accompanied only by a piano -- the "simplisity" of this makes the songs sound great! This does not mean that the songs are simple, of course, but it shows that there is no need for lots of instruments and sound effects to make impressive songs. And 19 songs like this is not boring to listen to since the songs are different in melody and arrangement: some songs sound merry, others more sad; some are fast, others are slower. In order to really appreciate the CD you have to sit down and listen; playing it on the background does not work well, I think.

This CD was recorded back in 1988, and you can clearly hear that Sarah's voice is quite young, like in the song Pie Jesu on the CDs Surrender, the unexpected songs and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection. Comparing the early songs with the later recorded songs on these two CDs and her Timeless CD shows that Sarah's voice has clearly become stronger over the years and has a bigger vocal range -- Sarah's voice is now even more beautiful than it was 10 years ago.

Thanks to Melissa Hoffman, Elden, Joe Elliott for help and info.

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