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The Low Bass. Great Art Songs from the Bass repertoire Franz SCHUBERT (1797-1828) Der Tod und das Mädchen Der Wanderer Erlkönig Hugo WOLF (1860-1903) From the Michelangelo Poems: Wohl denk’ ich oft Alles Endet, was entsteht Fühit meine Seele Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921) Danse Macabre Ange FLÉGIER (1846-1927) Le Cor Richard STRAUSS (1864-1949) Im Spätboot Der Einsame Das Thal Sergei RACHMANINOV (1873-1943) Morning Modest MUSSORGSKY (1839-1881) Leaves make Sound Johannes BRAHMS (1833-1897) Verrat Norman DELLO JOIO (b 1913) The Assassination Jack BEESON (b 1921) To a Sinister Potato Kevin Maynor (bass) Richard Woitach (piano) Recorded Seltzer Sound, New York City, October and December 2001 GUILD GMCD 7244 [57.52]

Kevin Maynor has a nobly rounded bass. Its downward extension is fine, he possesses declamatory power when needed and whilst his top is not always ideally strong or resonant enough he’s seldom found badly wanting in his chosen repertoire. In addition his diction is often sound and he has the confidence to construct a programme wide ranging enough to take in German, French, Russian and English. Then there is his – or the record company’s – confidence in starting off with the three canonical Schubert settings. As a recitalist he seems to favour slow moving gravity; it suits the voice, which is sometimes less than authentically mobile, but it also presents problems. It brings with it potential fatigue, a danger not entirely alleviated by his vocal production – which can be worryingly one-dimensional as well as lacking range of colouration and flexibility. The lack of optimum colour exposes an allied problem, which is a certain generalization of approach, an inability to distinguish between the songs through inflection and subtle illumination of the text. There are many enjoyable things here naturally but others that will provoke debate. The contrastive material in Erlkönig seems rather overdone – the croon and the hardening are just too explicit – and when we reach Wolf I find that Wohl denk’ ich oft isn’t quite climactic enough. Fühit meine Seele is the most comprehensively well sung of this group of three in which Maynor seems to seek textual depths with particular care. There is a little intermezzo via Saint-Saëns’ Danse Macabre even though his French pronunciation is rather occluded. Flégier’s Le Cor seems to me altogether more convincing – powerfully resonant low notes and some really dextrous musicianship. He brings out the concentrated gravity of Strauss’ Der Einsame but in a companion setting, Das Thal, Maynor badly lacks subtlety of expressive nuance. As one might expect the Russian settings are good vehicles for his plangent sympathy and the recital ends with two slices of Americana – Dello Joio’s The Assassination, slow-moving and pensive and Jack Beeson’s To a Sinister Potato, which sounds iconoclastically promising but isn’t. Sleeve notes detailing the trials and tribulations of recording life with entertaining honesty are by the excellent pianist, Richard Woitach. Jonathan Woolf Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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