Hoping to restore a bit of pride following her disastrous performance at the Tour de France ceremony, Lesley Garrett's 14th studio album, A North Country Lass, is a hugely patriotic affair that is less likely to leave cyclist Bradley Wiggins with such a pained expression. Like last year's solo effort from All Angels' Laura Wright, the follow-up to 2008's Amazing Grace eschews the usual operatic standards for a series of traditional folk ballads that span from Henry VII's most famous composition, "Pastime with Good Company," to 19th century Welsh lullaby "Suo Gan." Having reunited with James Fitzpatrick, the man who guided most of her early-'90s output, the Doncaster soprano sounds rejuvenated, her expressive and somehow still youthful vocals lending a warmth to the emotionally stirring "The Bold Grenadier," the elegant Robert Burns-penned "My Love Is Like a Red Red Rose," and the gentle melancholy of "Once I Had a Sweetheart," while her comedic skills shine on the parping brass of Gracie Fields favorite "The Collier Lad" and the operatic spoof "On Ilkley Moor Baht'at." The theatrics aren't always so enchanting, as evident on the slightly ham-fisted "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies," while the arrangements, performed by the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra, can sometimes be a little too bombastic, as on the melodramatic "Blow the Wind Southerly." But overall, A North Country Lass is a return to form from the classical crossover genre's true original diva.
Source:
www.allmusic.com
The charismatic singer tackles Britain’s folk song tradition for St George’s Day.
Lesley Garrett's A North Country Lass, released for St George's Day, celebrates the English folk song tradition from as far back as Pastime With Good Company, by Henry VIII, to such relatively recent fare as the Welsh tune Suo Gan, dating from the early 1800s.
“This album,” to quote the star adorning its sleeve, “is intensely individual and very personal and it will surprise you.” And Garrett’s words are worth keeping in mind as you read on.
The South Yorkshire singer’s soprano voice has changed little since she won the Kathleen Ferrier Award in 1979. Her sure technique is at the root of it, and that guarantees her exemplary tuning and extraordinary ability to produce a myriad of hues. Her voice sounds young and her attention to words is a great asset in these songs.
Her operatic lineage is manifest as at the beginning of He Moved Through the Fair, but the abiding impression is of a voice where the purity of tone is always at the service of the line of the song.
More questionable, to this mind, is the concept of this CD, on which one too many overblown arrangements compete for attention. The sophisticated orchestration is sometimes a deterrent to enjoyment.
Bloe the Wind Southerly has a surge halfway through in the accompaniment suggesting a film soundtrack. Fine Knacks for Ladies, written for lute accompaniment by John Dowland, might have been better as he left it. Other titles, like Suo Gan with its multi-tracked choral backing and Dance to Your Daddy with a newly composed middle section à la Riverdance, are along the same lines.
He Moved Through the Fair and the song that gives the album its title show how it can be done. All Around My Hat, with an accordion introduction and the enthusiastic Crouch End Festival Chorus, goes with a swing – as does Pastime With Good Company, in a fun contemporary arrangement yet still evoking the Tudor spirit. The finale, On Ilkley Moor, arranged as an operatic spoof, is very entertaining, likewise Garrett's Gracie Fields take on The Collier Lad.
Lesley Garrett is such a charismatic singer that the thought crossed this writer’s mind that maybe this album should have been released with a DVD, too, for the full experience.
Source:
BBC
We're more used to hearing folk ballads sung with a finger in the ear these days, but there's a possibility that their origins were more akin to the demure, precisely enunciated delivery adopted by Lesley Garrett on this collection.
After all, "Pastime with Good Company" was written by Henry VIII, rather than a horny-handed son of toil. Yet, although she negotiates some of these most poignant of melodies with great care, at times her classical training serves as a straitjacket. Most alarmingly, the upright manner of "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies" and "Blow the Wind Southerly" revives unwelcome memories of The White Heather Club.
Source:
The Independent
Timed to coincide with St George’s Day, Yorkshire soprano and sometime Loose Woman star Lesley Garrett has put together a collection of traditional English folk tunes from through the ages.
There’s no arguing with the songs or the music which are lush and lovely and there’s obviously no arguing with the voice which is still a thing of beauty.
It’s just that sometimes the three elements don’t seem to quite hang together, with simpler songs occasionally feeling flattened.
Source:
Express
