Huw Montague Rendall (baritone)
Contemplation
Opéra Orchestre Normandie Rouen/Ben Glassberg
rec. 2023, Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Rouen, France Details of contents beneath review
Sung texts enclosed but no translations
Erato 2173 236378 [76]

This debut recital album was recently glowingly reviewed by my MusicWeb colleague Göran Forsling (and accorded Recording of the Month status) so this is a second opinion on this varied – even eclectic – and generously timed programme by a singer of impeccable pedigree, being the son of celebrated English opera singer parents, tenor David Rendall and mezzo-soprano Diane Montague.

I readily confess that not every item here grabs me; I have never found much to delight me in Thomas’ Hamlet and am not surprised by its increasing neglect, but I fully appreciate how the arias offer a rich interpretative potential to a high lyric baritone and Montague Rendall capitalises admirably upon the expressive possibilities of “Être ou ne pas être”. He can sing softly without losing tonal support, maintains legato and has an excellent command of the French language – indeed, his diction is exemplary; he sings perfect German and Italian, too. Those qualities are equally evident in his smooth rendition of Valentin’s aria from Faust.

My impression is that the voice is resonant and even without being very large; it reminds me in many ways of a young Simon Keenlyside, who possessed a similar instrument but in my judgement soon took on too many heavy dramatic roles and thereby oversang, losing the velour in his beautiful instrument and causing his vibrato to loosen distressingly. As it stands, the choice of arias and songs here focuses more upon soft, subtle singing, allowing him to show off his best vocal qualities. The low notes are there but his baritone still has a “tenorish” quality; perhaps it will become richer and fuller as he matures, just as happened to another silky-voiced “baryton-martin” Robert Massard, as Huw is still only in his early thirties.

The aria from Die tote Stadt is something of a bon-bon, in that it is rarely heard yet is such a gift to a singer with the requisite sensuous qualities in his timbre. Like GF, I knew this aria from Hermann Prey’s singing of it in Leinsdorf’s excellent 1974 recording and Montague Rendall sings it exquisitely – even prolonging his final note rather cheekily  and seemingly endlessly beyond the orchestral playing. The decision to record all four Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen; was a smart one; they provide variety and contrast to the operatic arias and ideally suit both his voice and temperament; you could not ask for more sensitive or ear-caressingly alluring interpretations.

As a non-fan of Britten’s operas, I am happy to concede my enjoyment of his singing of the aria from Billy Budd, which once again demonstrates his adroit way with text. Similarly, I am generally unmoved by Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, but when a singer of this quality delivers the “Queen Mab” aria so adeptly, I put in mind of the old cliché about being happy to hear such a voice sing the telephone directory (if such still exists in this digital age). The Duparc mélodie is, I think, a more sophisticated beast and once again Montague Rendall illustrates his affinity with the French repertoire, investing this brief, surging love song with passionate depth. I like the way he finds some steel in his voice for the Count’s “revenge aria” from Le nozze di Figaro; Mozart demands vocal elegance and he has it in abundance; the same is true for his suave account of Don Giovanni’s seduction aria which he sings with daring, but highly effective, restraint – but I hope he will guard against letting his fast divisions sounding aspirated in the first aria. For the two excerpts from Die Zauberflöte, he is joined by winsome soprano Elisabeth Boudreault and some nifty work on the glockenspiel from Laura Fromentin. 

The Prologue aria from Messager’s now neglected but once popular Monsieur Beaucaire is not great music but it is enticingly sung and its sentimentality is charming. It is something of a jump in mood from that period piece to Billy Bigelow’s Soliloquy from Richard Rodgers’ Carousel. I have an aversion to “musicals” which is wholly my problem, so all I can say is that this is entirely idiomatically sung and testament to Huw’s versatility. 

The programme concludes with another almost wrenching switch of genre to Mahler’s most transcendental of Lieder – and it is exquisitely, delicately sung, with some lovely solo woodwind playing. Indeed, so good is the orchestral accompaniment from the Opéra Orchestra Normandie Rouen directed by Ben Glasberg that I almost forgot to comment upon it, it is so natural and unobtrusive.

Texts in the original languages are provided, which is welcome, although I can imagine that anyone unfamiliar with the sung items or indeed the languages here might be frustrated by the lack of translations into English; old hands like me will be less concerned.

Ralph Moore

Previous review: Göran Forsling (September 2024)

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Contents
Ambroise Thomas (1811–1896) 
Hamlet · Libretto: Michel Carré & Jules Barbier,  
after Alexandre Dumas père & Paul Meurice, after William Shakespeare 
1 “J’ai pu frapper le misérable…Être ou ne pas être” (Hamlet, Act III) 
Charles Gounod (1818–1893) 
Faust · Libretto: Jules Barbier & Michel Carré, after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 
2 “Ô sainte médaille…Avant de quitter ces lieux” (Valentin, Act II) 
Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957) 
Die tote Stadt · Libretto: Paul Schott (a.k.a. Julius & Erich Wolfgang Korngold),  
after Georges Rodenbach (Bruges-la-Morte) 
3 “Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen” (Fritz, Act II) 
Gustav Mahler (1860–1911) 
Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen · Texts: Gustav Mahler 
4 “Wenn mein Schatz Hochzeit macht” 
5 “Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld” 
6 “Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer” 
7 “Die zwei blauen Augen von meinem Schatz” 
Benjamin Britten (1913–1976) 
Billy Budd · Libretto: E.M. Forster & Eric Crozier, after Herman Melville 
8 “Look! Through the port comes the moonshine astray!” (Billy Budd, Act II) 
Kouchyar Shahroudi piccolo
Charles Gounod 
Roméo et Juliette · Libretto: Jules Barbier & Michel Carré, after William Shakespeare 
9 “Mab, la reine des mensonges” (Mercutio, Act I) 
Henri Duparc (1848–1933) 
10 Chanson triste · Text: Jean Lahor (a.k.a. Henri Cazalis)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)
 Le nozze di Figaro K.492 · Libretto: Lorenzo Da Ponte,  
after Pierre Beaumarchais (La Folle Journée, ou Le Mariage de Figaro) 
11 “Hai già vinta la causa!…Vedrò, mentr’io sospiro” (Conte d’Almaviva, Act III) 
Don Giovanni K.527 · Libretto: Lorenzo Da Ponte,  
after Tirso de Molina (El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra) 
12 “Deh, vieni alla finestra” (Don Giovanni, Act II) 
Jacques Marmoud mandolin
André Messager (1853–1929) 
Monsieur Beaucaire · Libretto: Adrian Ross & Frederick Lonsdale,  
after Booth Tarkington; adapt. André Rivoire & Pierre Veber 
13 “Au jardin où les fleurs sont écloses” (Red Rose) (Beaucaire, Prologue) 
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Die Zauberflöte K.620 · Libretto: Emanuel Schikaneder 
14 “Papagena! Weibchen! Täubchen! meine Schöne!”… (Papageno · Drei Knaben) 
15 “Pa-pa-ge-na! / Pa-pa-ge-no!” (Papageno · Papagena, Act II) 
Papagena: Elisabeth Boudreault soprano 
Drei Knaben: Oliver Barlow, Sam Jackman & Benjamin Gilbert trebles 
Laura Fromentin glockenspiel (14)
Richard Rodgers (1902–1979) 
Carousel · Text: Oscar Hammerstein II, after Ferenc Molnár (Liliom) 
16 Soliloquy (Billy Bigelow, Act I) 
Gustav Mahler 
5 Rückert-Lieder · Texts: Friedrich Rückert 
17 Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen (No.3)