Oriental Song-Cycles

A welcome release for anyone interested in popular song from the era but a release that can only be made with reservations about the singer's voice. Although the accompanying notes cite Michael Halliwell's pedigree of teachers and performing history, his voice is a baritone gritty in the middle and low register and weak higher up. What's more his intonation is poor and pitch suspect too often for enjoyable listening. He is also lacking in imagination when it comes to colouring the words. He just sings through words and notes with no attempt to point their meaning. "Pomegranate Is Your Mouth", for example, is sung with no sense or feeling and the famous `Kashmiri Song' is hampered by lack of feeling and proper singing diction.David Miller's piano playing is as thoughtful as Halliwell's is not.A pity a more convincing singer could not be found to advocate for these songs.

These song-cycles have beautiful moments and should be better known. This is a more than serviceable recording, although personally I find the singing-style too 'old-school' operatic. I wish there were orchestral accompaniments rather than just piano, although it is understandable that this was likely the only way an 'unknown' composer could get them published at first. Anyway, this was fine music about which I did not know previously, and I'm very glad to have found it. It's so well worth a listen! By the way, ignore the kow-towing to Edward Said in the sleeve notes; his unfortunately much-celebrated book on "orientalism' was a thoroughly biased and unfair polemic, an example of bad historiography because of its sin of total omission of counter-evidence.