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The title of this disc is taken from a set of songs by Benjamin Britten, composed for the seventy-fifth birthday of the Queen Mother. A 'hansel', or 'handsel', is a small gift given at the beginning of a year to wish the recipient good luck.

CHAN 9843

Manuel de Falla's Psyche uses a poem by Georges Jean-Aubry. It depicts the dawn that comes after the fateful night when Cupid abandons Psyche, and all the elements of morning – the birds, the sun – bid her greet the new day. The composer uses the slow rhythm of the sarabande, characteristic of Spanish processional music, as the basis for his setting.

Maurice Ravel made use of folk melodies and texts in a substantial number of his songs, including the Five Popular Greek Songs on this disc. Originally composed for piano and voice, these harp arrangements were made by the composer/harpist Carlos Salzedo, with the enthusiastic approval of Ravel.

Rubbra was always interested in mystical and religious ideas and composed a great deal of choral music, much of which goes beyond sectarian ideas to blend Asian (Buddhist) and European (Catholic) mystical and religious elements. The same interest in Buddhist thought no doubt played a role in his choice of five texts from the T'ang dynasty for his song cycle The Jade Mountain. The choice of harp in the cycle is certainly motivated by the second song, 'On hearing her play the harp', but would have been entirely suitable in any case, because so much Chinese music involves the sound of plucked strings.