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A Song in my Heart
- Bryn Terfel
James P CARRELL
(1787-1854) and David
CLAYTON (1801-1854): 1 Amazing
Grace (arr. Chris Hazell) [4:02]; 2
Amazing Grace (arr. Martin Taylor) [3:04];
Trad arr. Chris
HAZELL 3 Shenandoah
[4:21]; 4 "Ar hyd y nos"
[4:46]; 5 "Suo-Gân"
[5:03]; 6 "Deep river"
[5:12]; Ralph
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958) 7
The vagabond [3:14]; 8 "Whither
must I wander" [4:04]; 9 Silent
Noon [3:36]; John
IRELAND (1879-1962) 10 Sea
Fever [2:20]; Wolfgang
Amadeus MOZART (1756-1791) 11
"Non più andrai"
from "Le Nozze di Figaro" [3:34];
12 "Passeggiamo anche noi"
and "Il core bi dono, bell’idolo
mio" from "Cosi fan tutte"
[2:15 + 4:18]; 13 "Ein mädchen
oder weibchen" from "Die Zauberflöte"
[4:01]; 14 "Io ti lascio,
o cara, addio" KAnh245 [4:26]; Franz
SCHUBERT (1797-1828) 15
Erlkönig [4:26]; 16 "Du
bist die ruh" [4:42]; 17 Der
musensohn [1:55]; Alan
J LERNER (1918-1986) and Frederick
LOWE (1901-1988) 18 "Little
Prince" from "The Little Prince"
[3:19]; 19 "They call the
wind Maria" from "Paint your
wagon" [3:14]; Richard
RODGERS (1902-1979) and
Oscar HAMMERSTEIN (1895-1960) 20
"Come home" from "Allegro"
[4:05]; John
HUGHES (1873-1932) 21
Cwm Rhondda (arr. Chris Hazell) [3:39];
Welsh Trad arr.
D G Jones 22 "Y
march glas" [1:41]; 23 "Glas
y dorian" [2:32]; George
Frederick HANDEL (1685-1759)
24 "Sì, tra I ceppi
e le ritorte" from "Berenice"
[4:17]; 25 "Vouchsafe, O Lord"
from the Dettingen Te Deum [2:17]; Felix
MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847) 26
"Lord God of Abraham" from
"Elijah" [3:04]; Ivor
GURNEY (1890-1937) 27 Sleep
[3:08]; Roger
QUILTER (1877-1953) 28 "Go,
lovely rose" [2:44]; Hector
BERLIOZ (1803-1869) 29 "Une
puce gentile" and "Voici des
roses" from "La Damnation de
Faust" [1:23 + 2:29]; Richard
WAGNER (1813-1883) 30 "Die
frist is um" from "Der Fliegende
Holländer" [10:56]; 31 "Wie
todesahnung – O du mein holder abendstern"
from "Tannhäuser" [5:53];
Gustav MAHLER
(1860-1911) 32 "In
diesem wetter" from Kindertotenlieder
[6:33]; Robert
SCHUMANN (1810-1856) 33
"Du bist wie eine blume"
[1:44]; 34 "Die beiden Grenadiere"
[3:55]; 35 "Mein wagen rollet
[langsam" [3:27]; Sir
Arthur SULLIVAN (1842-1900) and
Sir William GILBERT (1836-1911)
36
"Hereupon we’re both agreed"
from "The Yeoman of the Guard"
[1:43]; Giuseppe
VERDI 37 "Eh, paggio!
… L’onore!" from "Falstaff"
[4:32]; John
RUTTER (b. 1945) 38 "The
Lord bless and keep you" [2:46];
Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone); Neil Martin
(pipes), London Voices, London Symphony
Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth (conductor)
[1,3,6,38]; Malcolm Martineau [7,8,9,15,16,17,27,28,33,34,35];
English Baroque Soloists, Sir John Eliot
Gardiner [11]; Cecilia Bartoli (mezzo-soprano),
Orchestra dell Accademia Nazionale di
Santa Cecilia, Myung-Whun Chung (conductor)
[12]; Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Sir
Charles Mackerras [13,14,24,25]; Chorus
of Opera North, English Northern Philharmonia,
Paul Daniel (conductor) [18,19,20]; The
Black Mountain Choir, Risca Male Choir,
Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, Gareth
Jones (conductor) [4,5,21]; Alun Llwyd
(harp) [22,23]; Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment, Paul Daniel [26]; Philharmonia
Chorus, Eton College Boys’ Choir, Philharmonia
Orchestra, Myung-Whun Chung (conductor)
[29]; Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Claudio
Abbado [30]; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra,
James Levine (conductor) [31,37]; Philharmonia
Orchestra, Giuseppe Sinopoli (conductor)
[32]; Sir Thomas Allen (baritone), Academy
of St Martin in the Fields, Sir Neville
Marriner (conductor) [36]; Martin Taylor
(guitar) [2];: rec various locations between
1993 and 2006 except 22 and 23 (1978)
DEUTSCHE GRAMMOPHON 4776686 [76:06
+ 72:43];
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One glance at the above
list shows you the versatility of this
singer and the variety of distinguished
colleagues with whom he has worked.
The booklet note boasts of his ability
to tackle music normally regarded as
suitable for different kinds of voice,
and to bring to them all a powerful
sense of vocal drama and sincerity.
The latter is certainly true. The English
songs in particular all come up with
astonishing freshness, even if you know
these recordings well, and the two Wagner
extracts grab the listener and refuse
to let go. It is an amazing achievement
to be able to do this and also to portray
the very different characters of Mendelssohn’s
Elijah and Gilbert and Sullivan’s Wilfred
Shadbolt. His Mozart, too, is notable
for the way in which he is able to differentiate
between the different characters and
to make the most of the drama inherent
in the music. What these discs, apparently
chosen by the singer, show above all,
is the way in which he is clearly inspired
by words and by dramatic situations.
There is a wonderful
identification with the Lerner and Loewe
and Rodgers and Hammerstein numbers,
whose energy and accuracy show up the
vocal and dramatic inadequacies of certain
well-known singers who specialize only
in musicals. The Handel extracts are
perhaps somewhat overblown; other items
on the original disc would have represented
the singer in a more flattering light.
Three of the items
are new to CD. Two Welsh songs were
recorded in August 1978 when the singer
was 12 at the Eisteddfod in Cardiff.
It is no surprise that they won a prize,
although essentially they have an historic
interest rather than a musical one.
The final item on the second disc is
a version of "Amazing Grace"
with Martin Taylor, apparently recorded
for the BBC’s "Songs of Praise".
As might be expected, this is a sincere
and musical performance, which is enjoyable
in itself. It does however serve to
emphasise just how awful the arrangement
of this same song is which starts the
first disc. Like the other Chris Hazell
arrangements on both discs it is overblown
and unrelated to the fundamental character
of the song, encouraging the singer
to the kind of exaggeration otherwise
rare here. There are only six tracks
of this kind, but if the discs are listened
to as a whole they do have, at least
to this listener, a thoroughly depressive
effect. Overall these discs show some
of the best vocal performances of any
sort recorded in recent years, and show
also the wide musical sympathies of
a great singer. It is a pity that they
also include items which it is surprising
were issued in the first instance, let
alone reissued here.
John Sheppard
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