Hamilton Harty: Songs

Harty’s songs, which look back to Ireland from London as Housman did to Shropshire’s borderlands with Wales, were largely written for Agnes Nicholls and Elsie Swinton, the two sopranos he accompanied often in the Wigmore Hall and (not quite successively) loved. There is something Edwardian about Kathryn Rudge’s rich mezzo tone which makes her an ideal interpreter of this Romanticism. She is careful to make it heartfelt without teetering over into sentimentality. Christopher Glyn is allowed a couple of piano solos that show off his prowess without the singer but these are trifles. Harty’s quality is in the songs.

Simon Mundy Read the full review on Agora Classica