3.0 out of 5 stars
Look for another performance, March 20, 2008
This review is from: Wolpe: Wild Roses (Audio CD)
This will be a short review, because it's not a fun review to write. Wolpe was a fine composer and is unfortunately under-represented on CD. Performers willing to take on this repertory should be commended. Still, this is one of the most monochromatic lieder performances I've ever heard.
Good songs are stories, and good lieder singers are story tellers. They may take the role of lover, herald, enemy, confidant or jokester, switching personae in an instant. The singer and accompanist use all of their tools--timbre, enunciation, dynamics--in service of the story.
While the English-language songs on this CD show some minor effort in this direction, the overall effort is forgettable. The singer's vibrato appears to have one setting and it's always on. Tone is unvarying and the accompanist seems to make little attempt to push the singer to greater expressive effort. Technically, it's all fine. Perfectly in tune and all that. But nothing more.
Perhaps I'm hearing it all wrong, but I've given this disk several listenings over the months I've had it. Perhaps another duo will rise to the challenge. I hope so.
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