Contents:

1. Old Shellover - (30.3.1927)
2. Queen Djenira - (30.12.1927)
3. Three Cherry Trees - (26.1.1928)
4. Rachel - (2.2.1928)
5. Mistress Fell - (17-18.2 1928)

Editor's note

Burrows’s settings of five poems by de la Mare have received more attention perhaps than any of his songs – not surprisingly in view of their quality. Burrows responded sensitively to de la Mare’s delicate, often shadowy, verse. His use of ‘arabesque’, a device he delighted in, is apparent and evocative in Queen Djenira. In Old Shellover, the twilit garden where molluscs enjoy freedom from predators is cleverly captured, as is the airy Spring in Three cherry trees. Rachel was a special favourite of Burrows and he transcribed it for organ and cello. The kaleidoscope of changing chords was included especially for his pupil, Jane Vowles, who enjoyed that feature of harmony. But it is in Mistress Fell that Burrows, perhaps, touches dramatic heights. Though he himself, as far as notes to Jane reveal, did not highly value this song, the setting suggests what a talent he would have had for opera, a form he professed not to enjoy, had he written any.
Burrows failed to complete Queen Djenira. A final verse followed on the next page which he either failed to see, or perhaps judged it not quite worthy of his setting. The previous verse seems such a natural completion to the poem that this would be understandable.
Queen Djenira, Three cherry trees and Mistress Fell are recorded by the soprano, Catherine Martin, and the editor on the British Music Society CD ENV CD018R. These, and Rachel, are also recorded by the soprano, Caroline Friend, and the editor on the British Music Society MC BMS 403. Both recordings are available from The British Music Society, 7 Tudor Gardens, Upminster, Essex RM14 3DE.