At a time when many opera singers are out of work and chances to hear the full-throttle human voice in all its glory are few, a new recital disc as good as this one feels more than usually like a treat. The Irish mezzo-soprano Paula Murrihy has been building an international opera career for well over a decade but remains relatively little known to UK audiences, though she’s just been announced for the title role in the Royal Opera’s concerts of Ariodante next month. For her debut solo recording, she and the pianist Tanya Blaich have put together a programme loosely based on folksong, or the idea of it. The disc takes its name from one of a handful of Irish folksong arrangements that round it off.
They begin with Brahms, and a performance of Da unten im Tale that, with unfussy expression, reveals the depth stored up in this deceptively slender little tune. The simplicity of the rising and falling melody of Es steht ein’ Lind’ shows off the rich substance and laser-beam focus of Murrihy’s voice, as does Ich ging mit Lust, one of five songs from Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn settings. In Urlicht, an expressive keening swoop comes across as overdone, the only blemish on a performance that’s otherwise persuasively controlled, even if Murrihy’s voice sounds a notch too present and earthly to achieve real transcendence here.
She turns the laser beam down, to rewarding effect, for Debussy’s Chansons de Bilitis, which bring out a darker, softer edge in her voice. Grieg’s Six Songs could occasionally use a little more freshness of tone, but are beautifully, thoughtfully done nonetheless, and Murrihy’s voice dances through their melodic twists and turns. Blaich, her playing unfailingly expressive and finely judged, is supportive rather than soloistic and lets Murrihy hold the spotlight.
This week’s other pick
Taking the folk-classical connection in the opposite direction, Schubert in Love is an affectionate throwing-together of styles, instruments and melodies centring on Rosemary Standley. She brings her reedy, soft-grained folk voice to favourite numbers by the composer, gently but convincingly reworked in folk or jazz form. Alongside her are the six musicians of Ensemble Contraste, plus classical soprano Sandrine Piau and jazz trumpeter Airelle Besson. If you love Schubert but aren’t too much of a purist, you might fall hard for this – or at least find yourself thinking about this music in a different way.
