Brindley Sherratt got here late to opera, starting his stage profession effectively into his 30s, and has waited one other couple of many years for good measure earlier than making his first recital recording. The extremely rewarding consequence captures his drinkably deep bass voice at its peak. Teamed with the pianist Julius Drake, he affords a programme exploring themes of worry and loss of life, with a last affirmative twist.
He’s in his factor in 4 German songs by Schubert, beginning with the journey throughout the Styx in Fahrt zum Hades – there’s a major overlap typically between loss of life songs and boat songs – and persevering with with Der Schiffer, Sherratt’s supply agency towards the busy outboard motor of Drake’s piano. The perkier Italian idiom of L’incanto degli occhi doesn’t sound so effortlessly pure for Sherratt, however then it doesn’t for Schubert both.
In Mussorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Dying, Sherratt is not any pantomime villain, as an alternative chilling us with regular characterisation and lengthy, velvety strains. He closes with English songs, together with touching performances of Finzi’s title monitor and Gurney’s By a Bierside, the place contradictory responses to loss of life conclude with the concept that “It’s a grand factor to die”. Worry dissipates, and Sherratt’s last two numbers, each old-sea-dog songs, brim with heat and acceptance.
Enable content material supplied by a 3rd celebration?
This text consists of content material hosted on embed.music.apple.com. We ask in your permission earlier than something is loaded, because the supplier could also be utilizing cookies and different applied sciences. To view this content material, click on ‘Enable and proceed’.
Stream it on Apple Music (above) or on Spotify
