FRESH AND STYLISH

'Richard Edgar-Wilson gives musicianly interpretations of all works, admirably partnered by the Coull Quartet ...'

Songs for tenor -
with TREVOR HOLD

This enterprising disc contains two masterworks from the repertoire, one well-known (Vaughan Williams's On Wenlock Edge), the other (Rubbra's Amoretti) less familiar. Rubbra took his texts from the sequence of 89 love sonnets that the Elizabethan poet, Edmund Spenser, wrote to his second wife, Elizabeth Boyle. He set ten of these in 1935 in two sets of five; those on the disc are the second set. They remind us what a fine songwriter Rubbra was in his younger days, writing music both colourful and varied in texture. The gravity of the string quartet medium suits his musical thought perfectly [listen -- track 7, 'Fresh Spring', 0:00-0:51]. The Vaughan Williams songcycle, in which Edgar-Wilson and the Coull Quartet are joined by pianist James Lisney, is given a fresh and stylish performance, despite illustrious competition from previous recordings. Edgar-Wilson's performance may lack the depth of Ian Partridge's classic interpretation, but this light lyrical tenor has excellent phrasing and tone. Listen to the way he captures the hysterical climax to 'Is my team ploughing' [listen -- track 15, 'Is my team ploughing', 2:17-3:18].

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