This latest Bostridge release comes as somewhat of a disappointment on the heels of the five-star Harmonia Mundi album with the wonderful Mark Padmore. Three of the items on that issue are duplicated here: “Where’er you walk”, “Total Eclipse!”, and “As steals the morn”. So there is a lot here that can enjoyed, though a head to head comparison with Padmore in these three selections has him winning by a large margin each time, and his sound is far superior. And please—no Messiah excerpts. I doubt many people enjoy hearing these apart from the well-established contextual setting.
Part of the problem is Bostridge’s penchant for over-caressing the voice—it can feel so uncomfortably intimate, even feminine, and it disturbs the beauty of the vocal line. It’s as if every word or syllable needed to be tenderly stroked in order to make the meaning jump out. Add to this the far inferior sound that EMI has provided, rather boxed-in and claustrophobic with little resonance, and the artist hugging the microphone like a torch singer, and the recipe for substandard is set.
The orchestra, one of the best in England, proves itself worthy of that accolade here, and I find little to complain about in their quite apropos stylizations. This is not a thumbs-down by any means, and Bostridge is a very fine singer with much to offer in the repertory. But if you are in the market for only one Handelian tenor album, then Padmore must be your choice. Otherwise, add to the number of songs with the album by Bostridge, flaws and all.
— Steven Ritter
