"A Charm" by Benjamin Britten, sung by Sarah Connolly (mezzo-soprano)

Superb British mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly, accompanied by pianist Eugene Asti, sings "A Charm" text by Thomas Randolph, one of five songs from Benjamin Britten's "A Charm of Lullabies", a range of takes on the subject of night's arrival and the need for sleep. The setting of Randolph's "A Charm" is anything but soothing; it fusses for quiet even as it subverts it. From a recital at Wigmore Hall, London, 8 March 2010. She also performed "A Charm" at a recital in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Centre, New York on 14 April 2011. For the New York Times review of that recital, see: http://goo.gl/9qmD6 "A Charm Quiet! Sleep! or I will make Erinnys whip thee with a snake, And cruel Rhadamanthus take Thy body to the boiling lake, Where fire and brimstones never slake; Thy heart shall burn, thy head shall ache, And ev'ry joint about thee quake; And therefor dare not yet to wake! Quiet, sleep! Quiet, sleep! Quiet! Quiet! Sleep! or thou shalt see The horrid hags of Tartary, Whose tresses ugly serpants be, And Cerberus shall bark at thee, And all the Furies that are three The worst is called Tisiphone, Shall lash thee to eternity; And therefor sleep thou peacefully Quiet, sleep! Quiet, sleep! Quiet!" Photo: Julieta Cervantes , New York Times