Verdict - five stars
Jamie Barton and Llyr Williams
The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
five stars
Miranda Heggie
The lexicon of the English language cannot possibly do justice to the exquisite beauty and wisdom of musicianship displayed in Saturday's recital; however, I shall do my best... Mezzo-Soprano Jamie Barton - BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and Song Prize Winner 2013 , accompanied by the celebrated pianist Llyr Williams, gave a mesmerising performance, albeit to an undeservedly low audience. With a programme of lesser known romantic works, she began with Spanish composer Joaquin Turina's 'Homage a Lope Vega'. From the second she began to sing the audience was captivated with her rich, full bodied yet buoyant voice as she brought to life a tale of unrequited love under a starlit Mediterranean sky.
Schubert's 'Gretchen am Spinrade' (Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel) saw the lovelorn theme continue, with Williams' unrelenting urgency in the accompaniment underpinning our protaganotst's crazed longing for her lover.
The astounding synchronisation between these two musicians was most evident in Dvorak's Gipsy Songs. Though both Barton and Williams are each brilliantly accomplished and fantastically intelligent artists, their fusion was utterly transcendent to the sum of the parts in this cycle. The subtleties of rubato were as astonishing yet natural as the pull of the moon on the tide and their spellbinding music making almost made sense of the entire cosmos.
Barton wonderfully evokes the spirit of whatever she sings without having to 'act'; it is evident that the dreams and passions of those of whom she sings flow through her blood intertwined with the music. She is an honest and profound communicator, and one who touches the hearts as well as the ears of those who listen to her in a truly special way.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article