Welcome to this PIPPA PASSES Home Page

"Pippa Passes - Five Songs of Asolo" is a work for Mezzo Soprano and Piano Trio.

The music was recorded at All Saints Church East Finchley on July 30th 2010 by the wonderful singer Yvonne Howard and the equally brilliant English Piano Trio, Jane Faulkner violin, Justin Pearson cello and Timothy Ravenscroft piano.

From the first notes it was clear that this would be a very special recording.  The venue of All Saints Church East Finchley is renowned for the quality of its acoustics, especially for singers, and the Steinway Concert D Grand piano was itself specifically chosen by Timothy Ravenscroft and Steinway to suit the venue and the work.   And not least we were in the hands of one of the country's top recording engineers, Michael Ponder.

Other recordings by this splendid team include their recordings of chamber music by the young Birmingham composer Edward Bache (1833 - 1858) on the Epoch label, while Yvonne Howard achieved international acclaim for her portrayal of Mrs Klinghoffer in John Adams' opera "The Death of Klinghoffer".

Pippa Passes is a substantial dramatic poem first published by Robert Browning in 1841 as the first of his Bells and Pomegranates series, the  year after Sordello.  The story and background are explained in the first of the links, left. There is also a link to the words for the five songs, taken from the words of the 1888 edition.

This recording is something very special and different - a 'complete one-off' to quote one of the performers.

For full details of obtaining this delightful music please go to the CD and dowloads page.