The songs on this recording were created by an artist who has been making music for over 70 years - a man deserving of merit, known as a teacher, pianist, and a published composer of piano literature, chamber music and orchestral works. Richard Faith's song output spans the years 1944 to the present, from his beginnings in Evansville, Indiana, where he was born in 1926, through his education at Chicago Musical College and Indiana University, to his 28 years of teaching piano at the University of Arizona at Tucson. His works include four operas; symphonic works, including concerti for piano, clarinet, and oboe; choral and chamber music; piano works; and well over one-hundred songs. Faith's music displays a freely modulating harmonic language within the boundaries of tonality that combines neo-romantic and impressionistic qualities. With Debussy, Ravel, and Rachmaninoff as important influences, and Brahms as a model with respect to form, Faith also shares musical traits with Vaughan Williams, particularly in the areas of modality and harmonic color. The English flavor is further highlighted by Faith's choice of poetry, much of which comes from British authors. His settings run the stylistic gamut from sophisticated concert pieces to simple miniatures and there are various selections with obbligato instruments, including flute, viola, cello, and harp. Mr. Faith, now 90 years old, skillfully translates into music the emotions behind the words of the world's greatest authors. His songs display style and careful craftsmanship, with words from the pens of such authors as Conrad Aiken, Percy Shelley, William Shakespeare, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe, and the like. Many of Faith's songs have themes related to the sea, and there are a number of others in which the sea figures as an integral element in the poem. Performers of art song, both singers and pianists, will appreciate Faith's output, considering the variety of poems he set to music and the gracious way he treats the voice and piano in his neo-romantic manner. Richard Faith's works have been published by Classical Vocal Reprints, Musik Fabrik, Leyerle Publications, Belwin-Mills, Shawnee Press, Southern Music, Schirmer, and Alfred Music. This recording was engineered by the late Daniel Gnader of edream Studios in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The following is a detailed list of the track titles, including the date of composition and the name of the poet. 1. The Isles of Greece (Lord Byron) 1995 2. The Lake Isle of Innisfree (William Butler Yeats) 1980 3. The Blackbird (W.E Henley) 1955 4. The Wind Blows Out of the Gates of the Day (Yeats) 1980-82 5. The Song of Wandering Aengus (Yeats) 1980-82 6. The Wild Swans at Coole (Yeats) 1980-82 7. Spring Quiet (Christina Rossetti) 1991 8. My Heart is Like a Singing Bird (Rossetti) 1991 9. Echo (Rossetti) 1991 10. It was a Lover and his Lass (Shakespeare) 1982 11. Firefly (June Presswood) 1968 12. I Hear the Shadowy Horses (Yeats) 1982 13. The Sun has Set ( Emily Brontë) 1964 14. The City in the Sea (Edgar Allan Poe) 1989 15. Mother's Lullaby from the opera THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL (Michael Ard) 1981 16. So, We'll Go No More A-Roving, duet (Lord Byron) 1995 17. Remember Me (Christina Rossetti) 1954