Hamish McLaren countertenor, Matthew Jorysz piano
Album “Sphinx” and Rubinstein EP Launch Recital
28 January 2022, 7.pm
Tickets £15 (includes a drinks reception) to book please follow the link below
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/copy-of-sphinx-cd-launch-recital-tickets-249248949317?aff=erelexpmlt
Russian, Czech, and French Songs from Moscow and Isfahan to Bucharest and Paris. Songs by Shostakovich, Mussorgsky, Taneyev, Rubinstein, Lili Boulanger, Kaprálová, and Enescu. Russian/Romanian wine, kvass, baklava, and other edible treats on offer.
Hamish and Matthew were absolutely delighted to release their debut solo album “Sphinx” on the Orchid Classics label in May 2021, but covid precluded any proper – and suitably bibulous – celebratory launch till now. A subsequent digital EP of a selection of Rubinstein’s beguiling Persian songs will be released later this year.
Excerpts from reviews of Sphinx:
“Blessed with a rich, burgundy tone, he’s especially powerful in the middle to lower register but possesses easy access to passing top notes. He also has admirable control over a gentle vibrato with which he is able to warm a lyrical line.’’ Clive Paget, Limelight Magazine
“There’s more scene-and-mood painting in ‘Stalactites’, [Taneyev], in which bitter tears drip from the frozen icicles, a melancholy, hypnotic fall of chilling suffering. Though sombre, McLaren’s vocal line incorporates telling nuance – of dynamics, colour and pulse – and warmth to balance the general funereal ambience. This is beautiful singing, somehow both tragic and uplifting…” Claire Seymour, Opera Today
“Hamish McLaren’s rich and sombre voice is perfectly suited to this heart-on sleeve pathos…the discovery of these songs is commendably adventurous…This feast of Slavic gloom…” Natasha Loges, BBC Music Magazine
“McLaren and Jorysz move us beautifully through the grief, hope and disappointment” John Leman Riley, DSCH Journal