Bryn Terfel's Simple Gifts

Album Review

Feb 24, 2007 Sarah Canice Funke

Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel is back with his second Grammy Award-winning album Simple Gifts.

Genre: Classical

Album Title: Simple Gifts

Release Date: October 11, 2007

Performer: Bryn Terfel with guest performers

Website: http://www.geocities.com/Vienna/Stage/4118/

Review: Drawing from a repertoire as diverse as African-American spirituals to selections from the Latin mass, Terfel brings together a substantial collection of folk songs and religious works.

The project is certainly not the work of a single man: several strong musicians joined forces to produce this album. Barry Wordsworth conducts the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Voices behind Terfel's powerful voice. Simon Keenlyside and Aled Jones join Terfel in several of the tracks, and guitarist John Williams accompanies Terfel on Cavatina.

Vocal standards such as Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus and Bach's Ave Maria manage to remain fresh, but for some truly exciting moments on the album, be sure to listen to Pergolesi's Stabat Mater. Terfel's bass-baritone intertwined with Simon Keenlyside's baritone voice, soaring over the delicate chamber orchestra, makes this the strongest track on the album. Providing immediate contrast is the tender Still, Still, Still (a Christmas lullaby).

The purist might raise eyebrows at the arrangements: hymns such as How Great Thou Art tend to wander towards the sentimental side anyway, exuding a grandeur that borders on the campy. Unfortunately, Terfel's inclusion of a full orchestra and swelling chorus backdrop does nothing to help assuage the melodramatic theatricalness (whatever happened to simple gifts?). However, the orchestra accompaniment in Amazing Grace is kept to a minimal, sparkling background, making this track truly enjoyable.

Fittingly, the album closes with God Will Be With You, a benediction that dismisses the listener with a calm well-wishing.

Overall, this album has enough to keep the purist classical music listener engaged, while venturing into arrangements that evoke a nostalgic era of religious hymns.

Track Listing:

1. Ave Verum Corpus, K. 618

2. Deep River

3. The Lord Bless You and Keep You

4. I'll Walk Beside You

5. Stabat Mater: I. Stabat Mater

6. Still, Still, Still Wiels Kindlein Schlafen Will

7. Simple Gifts

8. How Great Thou Art

9. Panis Angelicus

10. Bless This House

11. Ave Verum Corpus

12. Cavatina

13. The Rose

14. Amazing Grace

15. God's Mercy

16. Morning Has Broken

17. Nearer My God to Thee

18. Ave Maria

19. A Little Night Music: Send in the Clowns

20. God Will Be With You

Where to Buy It: The album can be purchased on iTunes or on Amazon.

The copyright of the article Bryn Terfel's Simple Gifts in Classical Music is owned by Sarah Canice Funke. Permission to republish Bryn Terfel's Simple Gifts in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.