Music
Katherine Jenkins
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Michael Tumelty
three stars
THERE’S no room for snobbery here: mezzo Katherine Jenkins put on a terrific show in the Royal on Tuesday night, from middle-of-the-road to light classical, with a mulled Yuletide flavour. Her voice was rich, well-coloured and extremely stable, securing high notes in the near-soprano register with relaxed ease. She looked absolutely radiant, got through four frocks, regaled us with a lovely characterisation of her 14-month-old daughter and provided a very good night’s entertainment, earning her the standing ovation that was inevitable and the encore – I Will Always Love You – that was so predictable it was listed on the playlist. I did baulk at the £10 programme book: even with today’s pretend-y polymer funny money it seemed a rip-off.
I did think the one number that would fall flat was Beethoven’s Ode Joy, but she seemed to pull it off. The flavour of the night however, was the seasonal flavour, obviously in classics from Silent Night to Santa Baby and from a powerful O Holy Night to a totally beautiful little ballad, Sleep Quietly My Jesus. And the Welsh lass had a bit of fun too, with the inclusion of a belting Delilah in her Welsh selection, with just enough of a raw edge to conjure the image of the great Tom himself.
The band, a hefty-sounding Scottish Concert Orchestra with conductor Anthony Inglis and some amplification, was firm in accompaniment with a clutch of numbers to themselves, and Ms Jenkins’ guest, tenor Jonathan Antoine from Britain’s Got Talent, got his bit of La Boheme in and a few numbers that suited his light, pleasant voice. Good stuff all round.
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