John Aler, tenor
Grant Gershon, piano

John Aler, one of the most acclaimed lyric tenors on the international stage, and already the recipient of two Grammys, has put together a sentimental trip down memory lane. These are songs that were very popular in the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s, and sung in every home where sheet music was to be found. (Remember the book of favorites called ’56 Songs You Like to Sing’?) In fact, the distinguished American tenor’s suggested subtitle for the album is ‘Songs from the Piano Bench.’ ‘Songs We Forgot to Remember’ features the American tenor John Aler in a program of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century balladry, the kind of repertoire made famous by singers like John McComack, Nelson Eddy and John Charles Thomas. He is accompanied by pianist (and choral director) Grant Gershon.

program
1. I Hear You Calling Me [Charles Marshall; Harold Harford] (3:11)
2. If I Could Tell You [Idabelle Firestone; Madeleine Marshall] (2:45)
3. Trees [Oscar Rasbach; Joyce Kilmer] (2:00)
4. Until [Wilfrid Sanderson; Edward Teschemacher] (2:09)
5. Passing By [Edward C. Purcell; Robert Herrick] (1:45)
6. The Green-Eyed Dragon [Wolseley Charles; Greatrex Newman] (3:07)
7. The Lost Chord [Arthur Sullivan; Adelaide Proctor] (4:08)
8. My Lovely Celia [George Munro; Lane] (2:00)
9. Serenade (Rimpianto) [ Enrico Toselli; Alfredo Silvestri (Elkin)] (3:44)
10. Still As The Night [Carl Bohm; Nathan Dole (Morgan)] (2:27)
11. Do Not Go, My Love [Richard Hageman; Rabindranath Tagore] (2:40)
12. Bird Songs At Eventide [Eric Coates; Royden Barrie] (2:41)
13. Love’s Philosophy [Roger Quilter; Percy Bysshe Shelley] (1:37)
14. Love, Could I Only Tell Thee [J.M. Capel; Clifton Bingham] (3:33)
15. Annabelle Lee [Henry Leslie; Edgar Allan Poe] (4:02)
16. Little Boy Blue [Ethelbert Nevin; Eugene Field] (2:28)
17. The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise [Ernest Seitz; Eugene Lockhart] (3:09)
18. I Love, And The World Is Mine [Clayton Johns; Florence Coates] (1:29)
19. Kashmiri Song [Amy Woodforde-Finden; Laurence Hope] (3:03)
20. Evening Song [Charles Griffes; Sidney Lanier] (3:09)
21. The Cloths Of Heaven [Thomas Dunhill; W.B. Yeats] (2:15)
22. A Perfect Day [Carrie Jacobs-Bond] (2:23)
23. I Love Life [Mana-Zucca; Erwin M. Cassel] (1:47)
24. Homing [Teresa del Riego; Arthur L. Salmon] (2:23)
25. When I Have Sung My Songs To You [Ernest Charles] (2:01)