Amanda Roocroft, Konrad Jarnot & Reinild Mees - Elgar: Complete Songs for Voice and Piano, Vol. 1 (2008) [Hi-Res]

One wonders why it took so long for a comprehensive survey of the songs of Edward Elgar to be released. This disc from the Dutch label Channel Classics represents the first such survey ever undertaken for the great English fin de siècle composer. Following a brilliant series of recordings of the complete songs of Schreker, Respighi, and Szymanowski, Channel begins its Elgar series with this 2008 disc featuring English soprano Amanda Roocroft and English baritone Konrad Jarnot accompanied by Dutch pianist Reinild Mees.

The program is divided by voice: first six songs by Roocroft, then five songs by Jarnot, then five more songs from Roocroft, and finally four songs by Jarnot. Except for Jarnot' first set, each group is constituted of songs from various periods and opuses of Elgar's career. In terms of programming, this proves highly effective. One never hears too many youthful works in a row, and one never hears too much of either voice. Most importantly, the performers are freer to shape the progress of the disc.

Not all of the songs are masterpieces; many, in fact, are trifles, evanescent entertainments meant merely to catch a mood or evoke a feeling. But all of them are characteristic of the composer: reserved yet sentimental, noble but inward, harmonically conservative but expressively subjective. Roocroft is a subtle and sensitive singer with a warm tone that pays extra dividends in Elgar's melodies, while Jarnot is a strong and dramatic singer well suited to Elgar's sometimes heroic rhetoric. Try Roocroft's soulful "In Moonlight" or Jarnot's exquisite "Come Gentle Night" if you'd like to see if their approaches suit your taste. Channel's super audio sound is ideally balanced between too near and too far, too present and too transparent. ~ James Leonard