Ann Murray, Malcolm Martineau - Britten, Mahler, Schumann (2005)

is a consummate artist, an instinctive and passionate musician. Her career has taken her literally all over the world to many an opera and concert stage, transfixing audiences with her unshowy musicality. A dedicated recitalist, she doesn’t so much sing her repertoire as embody it. Her voice blooms with an immaculate sense of line that transports the listener, as it appropriately does in Schumann’s dramatic life-journey Frauenliebe und Leben. She magically colours the Rückert Lieder in Mahler’s melancholic harmonies. She casts a spell throughout Britten’s A Charm of Lullabies, evoking the power and potential of the night, after which the Cabaret Songs are a suitable tonic. Malcolm Martineau, the collaborator of choice for today’s vocal stars, equals Ann every step of the way, underpinning her sense of style and storyline with every turn of phrase.