Singing Of A High Order

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31223, 22 November 1966, Page 18

Singing Of A High Order

Mr Maurice Till accompanied five singers in an enjoyable recital last evening with his unfailing musical discernment

Heather Taylor sang two groups of tongs by Scarlatti and by Purcell with excellent technical command. She has an admirably clear line of vowels which never waver from a firmly forward placing, giving her flexibility, a fresh ease of production and a control of many differing timbres. The Scarlatti songs were interpreted with poise and feeling for all their vary ing moods and the formidable technical difficulties of the Purcell works were surmounted with agile ease. Diana Lancaster sang a Schubert group with artistic understanding of the meaning of the poems and the style tai required for their interpretaH tion. She has a contralto I voice of gentle and mellow richness of sound, free from

booming and from the all-too-prevalent backward production of lower notes. The softest sounds kept a lifegiving resonance and carrying quality. She should guard against a nervous movement of her fingers which can be distracting to the audience and betrays a tension which, happily, was not apparent in her singing.

Brian Gallas has a baritone voice which shows promise but needs further discipline. Some vowels fall away from a firmly-forward holding of position, and resonance—particularly on his higher notes— is lost thereby. More

consideration needs to be given to the lightening of syllables which should be unstressed, and a tendency to hold his breath too highly in the chest detracts from clear and even line of singing. Heather Reed sang five setting by Leslie Bridgewater of songs from Shakespeare

with a charming purity of tone and a simplicity of approach which demanded and received a strong command of technical resources. Her phrasing and accentuation of words were exemplary. Anthea Moller’s singing of four songs by Mahler was highly impressive technically and in artistic understanding and presentation. Her mezzo-soprano voice has an appealing beauty of timbre at all levels of dynamic intensity, and she has a wide range therein. Strong muscular control of breathing keeps her line of excellently shaped vowels well in place and gives her an arresting array of tonal colouring. She has splendid clarity of words and knows how to shape and to control a phrase. This was charming singing of a high order. The recital was arranged by Mrs Joan Davies. CF.B.