The Valentine’s Day recital in the RBA was given by Simone McIntosh and Rachael Kerr.  They served up fare appropriate to the occasion unlike in 2013 when Franz-Josef Selig gave us a Valentine recital mostly about Death!  It was an interesting mix of material starting with two of the Britten folk song arrangements; “The trees they grow so high” and “The miler of Dee”.  Quite a bold choice in some ways as the first one is almost, but not quite, a capella so there’s nowhere to hide.  It was good.  Not only was Simone’s voice accurate and expressive but she gave herself some metrical freedom.  There is nothing worse than a singer singing this material as if they have a broomstick up their ass.

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