As long as the Pears/Britten recordings of the Serenade are around (especially the more mature, radiant, better-sounding second effort with hornist Barry Tuckwell), all others will remain supplemental choices. But if you’re looking for a great supplemental choice, this one, another of Naxos’ reissues from the Collins Classics catalog, should be it.
Tenor Philip Langridge is a consistently involving, technically solid interpreter of Britten’s songs who, for better or worse, truly follows Pears’ expressive lead, and even resembles the legendary tenor in vocal timbre and in nuances of color, but without quite the rich throaty character that Pears often displayed. Langridge is especially impressive in the dramatic range he commands in the very difficult leaps and subtle shifts of shade and dynamics in the Nocturne’s “Below the thunders of the upper deep…”–and this vocal and interpretive control carries throughout this virtuoso work.
Ann Murray’s Phaedra is a thoughtful, sensitively executed performance, clear-voiced and articulate, with superb support from conductor Steuart Bedford and his English Chamber Orchestra. The other solo instrumentalists–particularly hornist Frank Lloyd in the Serenade–are first rate, and, as usual with these Collins productions, the sound is excellent. [2/11/2005]
