Vagabond

Teddy Tahu Rhodes

Songs by Vaughan Williams, Britten, Quilter, Finzi and Ireland

ABC Classics 476 7175

I have grown very fond of this CD of English song performed by Teddy Tahu Rhodes. His performances are, as would expect from this artist, uniformly engaging.

In the six years since these recordings were made (2002) I am most used to hearing him in his operatic guise, and yet this CD is a fine reminder that he could just as easily be performing chamber music. There are few singers who have the dual talents of excelling at both Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Finzi’s Come Away, Death.

Not that the Finzi is the highlight of the CD. I will never appreciate, as some do, the mixed proportions of Finzi’s long drawn‑out phrases and short pieces, which is a combination that makes me entirely distrustful of Finzi’s overwrought ‘emotional gestures’ and obvious word‑painting. Yet Rhodes comes as close as any performer has to convincing me that I should hear some more.

More enjoyable are the three songs by Quilter, whose version of Come Away, Death has a melody as catchy as any of the folksong arrangements by Britten on the disc. I am grateful for the careful programming of this CD, and for the opportunity to hear two setting of Come Away, Death as well as O mistress mine (also Finzi and Quilter).

Although there are times when the intimacy required by the performance practice of this repertoire constrains his voice more than I would like, the moments when his operatic voice emerges bring much needed drama to the music. On the other hand, his ability to render a melodic line substantial whilst barely singing will ensure that his version of Britten’s The Foggy, Foggy Dew is the one nearest my CD player.

Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of this release is the way in which the piano and voice work so very well together. Sharolyn Kimmorley deserves to be as well known as the baritone she accompanies. Their performance of Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel is alone worth the asking price. Both performers have more chance with these songs to show the depths of their expressive capabilities, from the delicate, light and high first verse of ‘Youth and Love’ to its later strident outbursts. Similarly, Rhodes’ voice seems ideally suited to ‘Bright is the Ring of Words’.

Inevitably, one compares Rhodes’ performance of this repertoire with those of, say, Benjamin Luxon and Philip Langridge. I still prefer the latter two, but would suggest that anyone with a CD of Luxon in their collection and not this one by Rhodes is missing out. Hopefully Kimmorley and Rhodes make further recordings of repertoire of this ilk in coming years.

© Michael Hooper