Erin Morley walks straight up into the entrance rank of excessive coloratura sopranos along with her debut solo recording. The songs are all linked to flowers and gardens, and plenty of additionally reference birdsong, which inserts her completely: what’s most putting is her seemingly artless precision, nonetheless stratospherically excessive they take her voice. Her crystalline sound melts into liquid phrases that permit the phrases to come back throughout strongly; furthermore, her tone is full-bodied sufficient to hold extra expansive songs comparable to the 2 she consists of by Rachmaninov, Daisies and Lilacs. Her pianist, Gerald Martin Moore – additionally her trainer – is unfailingly poised in help.
On the centre is a brand new cycle by Ricky Ian Gordon. Regardless of being referred to as Huit Chansons de Fleurs, it’s in English, set to phrases by Dickinson, Wordsworth, Dorothy Parker and Gordon himself. Principally in a wistful, post-Sondheim idiom, these really feel a little bit bland; they provide her much less likelihood to shine than well-chosen numbers by Saint-Saëns, Milhaud, Berg, Brahms and Zemlinsky. She’s joined by flautist Ransom Wilson for 2 songs, together with an aria from Sullivan’s The Rose of Persia, wherein they outdo Mozart’s Queen of the Night time with a spiky little duet. Lastly, she accompanies herself on the piano in Novello’s We’ll Collect Lilacs – simply sentimental sufficient and, once more, astonishingly managed.
