Cabaret concert by m/s Sarah Walker (live)

[Lance]

Among the great British singers is one Sarah Walker who seems to have an enormous amount of repertoire at her disposal. She seems to do everything very, very well indeed. This is available on a Hyperion 66289] issued in 1989 of a live cabaret recital given at the Wigmore Hall in Lonon on June 17th, 1988. The CD is entitled "Blah Blah Blah and other trifles ..." after George Gershwin's song of the same name. The accompanist, always first rate, is Roger Vignoles. Some of the songs include Lehmann's "There are Faries at the Bottom of My Garden," Bolcom's "Lime Jello Marshmallow Cottage Cheese Surprise," a charming "Usherette's Blues" by Nicholas, Bernstein's "Who Am I," "Wright's Transatlantic Lullaby," "A Word on my Ear" of Flanders & Swann," etc., et al. I believe most of the songs are by American composers. The audience loved it. So did I.

Hyperion's recording doesn't do justice to Walker's voice though. The piano is more in the forefront than it should be, i.e. balances are not great, but from live concert recordings, we can't always expect studio quality sound. The point is, this is a most entertaining CD, and it offers a kind of repertoire that isn't generally performed by artists of such caliber, further indicating the catholicity of Miss Walker's voice and repertoire. A charming way to spend an hour listening to music!

[Corlyss_D]

I liked her back in the 80s when she was all over the British opera stage and part of a small vocal ensemble, whose name escapes me at the moment, that recorded for Hyperion.

That disc is available thru BRO if anyone is interested in getting it.

A useful comparison for kind is Joan Morris' and William Bolcom's After the Ball, one of my very favorite discs of all time.