I have to say that I was unreasonably excited to learn about a new CD from Bryn Terfel called Songs of the Sea.  I’ve seen Bryn in recital and, besides being a fantastic singer, he’s a big personality and very good when he steps away from classic art song rep and especially when he sings in Welsh.  There were also some interesting collaborators on the disk; Simon Keenleyside, Calan, Sting and Fisherman’s Friends for example.  Plus there were some interesting language choices.  Besides English and Welsh there are songs in Breton and Norn.It starts well enough with a lively account of Fflat Huw Puw featuring some cool fiddle playing and jaunty singing.  I guess it’s a song that can take a lot of different treatments and this one worked fine.  There were some other good tracks too.  I like Bryn’s collaboration with Calan on Codi Angor which was lyrical with well played accompaniment. There was also a pleasant duet version of Ar Lan y Môr from Eve Goodman and Bryn and Mae’r Gwynt Yn Deg was enjoyable too.  The Welsh songs for the most part are well done and even quite catchy.

That said much of the rest of the album just seemed way overproduced and lacked the necessary bite.  And way too “civilized”.  The version of Sloop John B with The Fisherman’s Friends sounded about as Caribbean as Margaret Thatcher speaking at a Conservative Party conference.  The Halyard shanties were desperately slow.  You would never get a sail set at that tempo!  Other tracks sounded like they were done by one of those fake Irish bands that go down so well in Japan, some had a vaguely New Age Celtic vibe.  So, some nuggets but basically rather a let down.

I’m sure there are people who will lap this stuff up; the sort of people who go to Irish Rovers revival shows perhaps, but not grizzled old folkies (or grizzled young ones either).  For my taste it would have been better if they had duct taped the producer and stuck the musicians in a room with plenty of beer and let them at it.  The music would have been way more satisfying and it would have been more fun for them.

All that said it’s recorded to DGG’s usual high standard and will be available as a standard CD, MP3 and FLAC when it’s released on 16th February 2024 (North America).  There was no digital booklet included with the pre-release and Presto says there isn’t one.  That may change before release though.

Catalogue number: Deutsche Grammophon DGG4864884