A word of caution firstly
concerning the sound of this disc. It
was recorded in the very resonant acoustic
of ABC’s Melbourne Iwaki Auditorium
and this leads to considerable spread.
It also manages to magnify the occasional
strains in Yvonne Kenny’s voice, notably
at the top, both of which are problematic
throughout the course of this attractive,
though by now fairly standard repertoire
recital.
Taking the songs in
disc order I enjoyed Kenny’s Phyllis
Tate arranged The Lark in the
Clear Air for its sweet affection
though I was disappointed by Linden
Lea. It’s rather breathless, somewhat
over metrical and too fast for effective
word pointing. I doubt also – though
I don’t want to go to war over it –
whether women do this song justice.
Mind you after hearing Heddle Nash sing
it you’ll wonder whether anyone can
do it justice. She takes a much better
tempo for Quilter and lavishes great
care and tensile intensity over Holst’s
remarkable The Heart Worships.
Bridge’s Love went
a-Riding is pushed too hard and
suffers accordingly. Silent Noon
also shows some weaknesses; it lacks
intimacy and she elongates the phrase
"still as the hourglass" to
a dangerous degree in the interests
of expressive phrasing. But it sounds
wrong, and whilst the way she colours
"soul" is freighted with meaning
it too comes across as just a touch
too much. Gurney’s Sleep is too
operatic and Warlock’s setting of the
same poem, much inferior to Gurney’s,
makes as little impression on me as
it usually does. Love’s Philosophy
unfortunately reveals an effortful top
with a degree of spread and unsteadiness
in the voice but the Delius is much
better. I’m not quite sure why Kenny
responds to some of the lyrics with
such perception – Delius, Holst, some
of the Quilter – and others, Linden
Lea for instance, with such a degree
of seeming indifference. Unless this
is a Cortot situation, with an artist
rather taking for granted repertoire
with which he is familiar – and occasionally
stumbling – but responding with greater
immediacy to the challenges of the new.
Caroline Almonte plays
well throughout – especially so in a
setting such as the bell peal-laden
Barbara Allen. Given the recording
problems, and some concerns with Yvonne
Kenny’s voice in this recital, I’m afraid
my welcome is mixed.
Jonathan Woolf
Yvonne Kenny (soprano) 
