Fear No More
Songs by Schubert, Musorgsky, R Strauss, Ireland, Finzi, Head, Gurney and Warlock
Brindley Sherratt (bass), Julius Drake (piano)
Delphian DCD34313 58:20 mins
Brindley Sherratt has taken a slow-burn approach to what has turned into a stellar career in opera. In his late fifties, he has just released his debut solo recital recording, a collection of songs exploring notions of death, from the macabre to the consoling. Sherratt possesses that rare gift – a genuine bass voice that carries its lyrical, expressive clarity from its ringing high notes right down to a full-toned basso profundo delivered without a trace of muddiness.
The opening series of five songs by Schubert includes ‘L’incanto degli occhi’, a rare setting of an Italian text, in which Sherratt displays a characteristic operatic panache. Elsewhere, there is a lightness and flexibility that sounds positively youthful, culminating in a magnificent bottom D at the end of Der Tod und das Mädchen.
A centrepiece to the recital is Musorgsky’s Songs and Dances of Death, which is full of tonal variety and colour, with Sherratt clearly relishing the nuances of the Russian language in these expressionistic songs. Throughout the recording, Sherratt’s projection of text is exemplary, and that is especially so in the 20th-century English group that ends this album. The title song, Finzi’s ‘Fear No More’, is typical of the singer’s approach as he relishes every fricative and plosive of Shakespeare’s text while sustaining a generous, unfalteringly lyrical vocal line.
Pianist Julius Drake’s contribution is superb, sensitive to every dynamic shift in the singer’s performance. This is a true partnership of two experienced musicians at the peak of their powers. Ashutosh Khandekar
