Susan Graham’s eagerly awaited new ONYX CD is a characteristically wide ranging recital which covers a wide spectrum of female emotions as experienced by the virgins, vixens and one of the most frightening of viragos – Lady Macbeth, all captured here in song. In addition to these emotional extremes, there are also lighter issues for a girl to confront, in the Poulenc, and a fruitless pursuit of a boy in the Sondheim to lighten the mood! Susan is one of the great mezzo sopranos of our time, renowned for her operatic performances, and for her recitals. Her earlier CD for ONYX ‘Un frisson francais – A century of French Song' was widely praised.
“It’s hard to think of another contemporary singer who could pull off the tour de force Graham achieves here, with numbers ranging over a period of almost 300 years...Graham is in her element as the vixens” Sunday Times, 2nd December 2012
“Graham is an artist to treausre, a striking mezzo whose powerful silky voice can achieve Janet Baker-like expressiveness, with a gift for French song but also a mile-wide impish streak...Porter's anatomically witty lament and Sondheim's wicked Girl from Ipanema parody leave one chuckling for all the right reasons. All told, a gem.” BBC Music Magazine, February 2013 ****
“I can't think of another singer today who could match Susan Graham in an eclectic programme ranging across three centuries, four languages and a diverse array of idioms...In glowing voice, Graham opens with a richly imagined, deeply felt performance of Purcell's quasi-operatic scena, culminating in repeated cries on 'Gabriel' of almost excruciating intensity...a recital of rare versatility and panache” Gramophone Magazine, March 2013
“ Her Berlioz performance is wonderful: here she deploys gorgeous, full tone and, as so often on this disc, treats us to some very expressive singing...This is a delicious recital. Susan Graham’s lustrous voice and intelligent approach to a well-conceived and nicely varied programme gave me consistent pleasure, as did the pianism of Malcolm Martineau, which is splendid at every turn.” MusicWeb International, March 2013
