Bryn Terfel's overdue sequel to his highly successful The Vagabond (1995) dips deeper yet into the barrel of English song, hauling up a number of unfamiliar composers and songs, and interspersing them with favorites by Roger Quilter,
Ralph Vaughan Williams, and
Benjamin Britten. It's a far more diverse collection than The Vagabond, lavishing attention especially on the turn-of-the-century (twentieth, that is) students of C.V. Stanford and Hubert Parry. For that reason it will be of great interest to fans of that era in particular. But, though it showcases
Terfel's charisma and vocal flexibility (often in the extreme -- more on that later), and is certainly worth hearing, it doesn't live up to the baritone's previous achievements in pure musical enjoyment and interpretive consistency.
Part of the problem lies with the musical selections themselves. Though pleasant, Arthur Somervell's songs from A.E. Housman's A Shropshire Lad -- the most substantial group in the program -- seem pedestrian next to George Butterworth's better-known settings of the same poems (included on The Vagabond), which far outpace them in melodic appeal and poetic insight. And, for every unsung treasure, like Welsh composer Dilys Elwyn Edwards' supple and harmonically beguiling "The Cloths of Heaven," there is an uninspired counterweight like Michael Head's plodding and awkward "The Lord's Prayer." More problematic, though, is
Terfel's fitful alternation between extremes of vocal color. That he can muster both the bluster for Verdi's Falstaff and the honeyed, sweet-toned softness for Franz Schubert's "An die Musik" is a big part of
Terfel's considerable charm, and his success across many genres. But in the past he has knitted those colors together into a more integrated vocal sound, and applied them more judiciously. Here, he often changes his sound so extremely from one syllable, or one phrase, to the next that it becomes impossible to follow the flow of the music. The sudden, sometimes spasmodic, changes are just too distracting, too jarring. For that reason even familiar and appealing songs like
Vaughan Williams' "Silent Noon" lose their cohesion, becoming overshadowed by the chameleon sound of
Terfel's voice.
That said,
Terfel breathes welcome life and inspiration into Roger Quilter's "O Mistress Mine," and delivers
Britten's "The Salley Gardens" and "The Foggy, Foggy Dew" with a deft touch -- the first with beautiful simplicity, and the last with a breathless secrecy that heightens its comedy.
Malcolm Martineau shines at the piano, though at times he seems hard pressed to create a cohesive backdrop for
Terfel's rhythmic excursions. The sound is clear and warm, if a little distant for the piano, and the booklet includes printed texts for all of the songs.