Dreams & Songs

Songs by Bock, Denver, Chaplin, Ervin Drake, Flanders & Swann, Karl Jenkins, Augustin Lara, Malotte, Wildhorn et al

Bryn Terfel (bass-baritone); with Danielle de Niese (soprano), Katherine Jenkins (mezzo-soprano), Joseph Calleja (tenor); Metro Voices; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/

Paul Bateman

DG 483 5514 47:42 mins

Encores are often selected for their flashy virtuosity, bringing concerts to a close with a crowd-pleasing firework. This collection of encores from the celebrated Bryn Terfel is certainly not short on showmanship, but is at its strongest where the encore is presented less as grand finale and more as a moment of intimacy.

The album is something of a mixed bag, featuring a wide range of repertoire from Celtic folksong to musical theatre hit. Terfel’s heartfelt performance of Welsh classic

‘Ar Lan y Môr’ is a joy, and his rendition of ‘If I Were a Rich Man’ is crisply comic and packed with character. The album has a glitzy BBC Radio 2 ‘Friday Night is Music Night’ feel, but all the same, some of the orchestral accompaniments do still feel rather too syrupy, particularly Karl Jenkins’s ‘The Shepherd Poet of Passchendaele’ (notwithstanding David Childs’s beautiful euphonium solo).

Various starry duets also feature: in a bells-and-whistles arrangement of Amazing Grace, Terfel is rather out-sung by the wonderful Danielle de Niese, while Terfel and Rob Brydon give a suitably amusing performance of ‘The Golf Song’. Terfel brings great warmth and bravura to the album, and even if these rather overblown arrangements may not be to all tastes, the disc nonetheless offers an enjoyable escape. Kate Wakeling PERFORMANCE ★★★ RECORDING ★★★