Christine Brewer, Roger Vignoles, Wigmore Hall

Unqualified rapture - Strauss songs find their voice

by Edward SeckersonWednesday, 09 December 2009

American great: 'Christine Brewer in Richard Strauss is about as right as it gets'

Wigmore Hall does not always take kindly to big voices; it’s an easy hall to over-sing. But when the singer is the American soprano Christine Brewer and the sound so open, so rich and effulgent, hall and voice become one resonance. It’s almost as if Wigmore is selective in its response. It warms to the right voice in the right music. Brewer in Strauss is about as right as it gets. And besides, regardless of the venue, Brewer has never sung to be heard; she sings to be understood.

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