This was the final concert of the Season. George is Lincolnshire born and is in his final year of undergraduate studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. Tammy is a Singaporean pianist and is currently pursuing her Bachelor of Music (Honours), also at the Royal Northern College of Music.
George’s first song was Fauré’s Les Berceaux. This, I thought was a splendid beginning to the evening. George then sang Vaughan-Williams’ Four Songs from the House of Life. I was not so keen of this; somehow, I felt that his voice did not quite gel with the music, he didn’t sing a wrong note but there was something.
Tammy then played a piano solo for us; this was Aaron Copland’s Four Piano Blues and this went down very well with the audience.
After the interval George sang Brahms’ Sommerabend followed by Schubert’s Six Songs from Schwabengesang and ending with Loewe’s Song Cycle for Bass Voice. Now we heard a singer! George’s voice is well suited to the German repertoire and he gave it his all. George is still very young and his voice will improve over the years and I believe that he will be one of the finest lieder singers of his generation once he has matured. I should like to hear him again.
George and Tammy gave us an encore and it was that well known folk song The foggy foggy dew. A cheerful end to the evening.
I hope that George will continue with his singing because I feel that he has a lot to give.
CM