November 1995

Bryn Terfel: The Vagabond
Songs of Butterworth, Finzi, Ireland, Vaughan Williams.
Martineau (piano). DG 445946-2

The English art song has never had the fame of its Continental counterparts, probably because, with a few exceptions, the corpus of work is confined to this century. Bryn Terfel's artistry is ideal to give musical prominence and import to his almost eighty-minute recital, not only because of the power of the voice itself and how cleanly he articulates the poetry, but because he -- like today's pop singers -- knows how to use a microphone. The dynamic range is wide, from sung whisper to full voice, and with Malcolm Martineau's knowing accompaniments, Terfel brings these works to vivid life.

The Vaughan Williams-Robert Louis Stevenson Songs of Travel are jewels, both for music and for verse, but the Finzi-Shakespeare and Ireland-Masefield selections are worthy as well, and if Butterworth's A. E. Housman songs sound too much a single note of early loss (Housman's poetry is now quite faded), certain of them are still powerful, not least in Terfel's dramatic "Is my team ploughing?"

- P.J.S.