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Elgar's songs, generally speaking, are the Cinderella of his oeuvre, as he usually needed a large canvas for the full expression of his musical ideas, yet all of them are thoroughly characteristic and enjoyable. This disc, from the enterprising Somm company, is perhaps the best advocacy they have so for received. All three vocal soloists sing with character and admirable clarity, not least of diction. Perhaps Catherine Wyn-Rogers has the edge but Neil Mackie and the immensely promising Christopher Maltman also contributes splendidly and the fact that the 23 tracks are shared between three different voices help one the more readily to enjoy the whole CD at a sitting. Malcolm Martineau is a sympathetic accompanist; the recording is excellent and the booklet prints all the words.

The basic presentation is chronological, so we began with the early, pre 1900, songs -, Victorian ballads in effect - then pass to the two Benson songs of Opus 41 and to Pleading, an Edwardian ballad, and then to perhaps Elgar's best songs, from around 1910 (Twilight, The Torch, sing with gripping intensity by Mr, Mackie, The River, the tender A Child Asleep etc.). We end with two snippets, sung by Mr. Maltman, Salvaged from Elgar's unfinished opera The Spanish Lady but which drew on early sketch books. Practically all the songs have been recorded previously, though most of them not many times - I had not come across pulsating Arabian Serenade before, nor the vocal setting In Moonlight (with Shelley's words imported thereto; and beautifully phrased by Miss Wyn-Rogers) of the "Canto Popolare" interlude from The South".

Reviewer

Phil Scowcroft

 

Reviewer

Phil Scowcroft

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