Mezzo-soprano Sarah Connolly has proven herself in every vocal music arena, performing in the most prestigious festivals, the most renowned recital halls, and the world’s most revered opera houses, and this venture into what some observers would characterize as slum territory–English song repertoire–simply proves that great singers and great songs shouldn’t be argued with. Interestingly, her CD comes at the same time as one by countertenor Bejun Mehta (Harmonia Mundi), featuring similar but not entirely duplicative repertoire (se reviews), and the two recordings are not only musically complementary but are contextually compatible in terms of vocal timbre and register and even interpretive perspective.
The shared song is Herbert Howells’ “King David”, and Connolly conveys the character’s passion and anguish as a firsthand observer; her portrayal of the Britten songs makes a happy, knowing, cooly assured impression. And her delivery of Richard Rodney Bennett’s extended “A History of the Thé Dansant”, a setting of a poem by the composer’s sister, shows both a sensitive dramatic flair and a sincere desire to bring this music into greater recognition.
Although the majority of the songs originated in the 1920s there’s still plenty of variety in character from work to work, which Connolly maximizes through her practiced dramatic experience and inherent vocal artistry. Among the rarities are Britten’s “Corpus Christi Carol”, which he famously used in his youthful (and extremely challenging) cantata A Boy Was Born, and songs by Michael Head, Ivor Gurney, and John Ireland.
Connolly’s voice is a marvel–she shapes and colors it to capture the essential components of each song, inhabiting the little worlds of the poetry and gratefully bringing us into the proceedings without pretense or affectation. Her piano partner Malcolm Martineau seems to be of like mind–a caring purveyor of these songs whose respect is proven by the fact that he never pushes nor prods. Don’t hesitate; this is really good.