Lucy Crowe (soprano), Joseph Middleton (piano). Songs by: G Gershwin Summertime; A Copland Nature, the gentlest mother (from 12 Poems of Emily Dickinson); S Barber Sure on this shining night, Op. 13/3; W Walton Through gilded trellises; J Ireland The trellis; I Gurney The fields are full; B Britten Seascape (from On This Island); G Fauré Nell, Op. 18/1; La fée aux chansons, Op. 27/2; H Berlioz Villanelle (from Nuits d’Éte); H Duparc Chanson triste; C Debussy La romance d’Ariel; J Brahms Sommerabend; Mondenschein, Op. 85/2; Feldeinsamkeit, Op. 86/2; R Strauss Die Drossel; September (from Four Last Songs)
This was the first of 6 Buxton Festival events I am going to, a lovely recital by one of my favourite UK singers. It was one of 4 seasonally focused song recitals, this one dealing with summer and ending with September. Throughout, Ms Crowe’s singing was a huge delight – she has the capacity to soar without sounding under pressure, can float quiet soft notes beautifully, and altogether I like her ‘white’ almost vibrato less voice. She is also a very good communicator in a recital context. I loved her languishing Gershwin Summertime, with barely audible sighs, remarkably sensitive and idiomatic. Other songs I particularly enjoyed were
- Ireland’s The Trellis, the singing of which was dedicated to her singing teacher at RAM who was in the audience
- Berlioz’s Villanelle (from Nuits d’Éte) ;
- Duparc’s Chanson
- Brahms’ Sommerabend;
The final scheduled song was R Strauss’ September (from Four Last Songs), which was very moving though without the subtlety of a Schwarzkopf or Janowitz (or indeed Lise Davidsen’s recording with the Philharmonia of 2019). A beautiful rendition of Britten’s setting of ‘The last rose of summer’ completed the programme as an encore. The hour went by in a flash!
John's musical journey 