‘Nobody dislikes a Gershwin tune’, says Steven Gilbert
in his book about the composer’s music. True, but it does depend on
how it’s presented, and Barbara Hendricks does not have the ideal voice
so to do. It frankly sounds too trained and operatic, the text delivered
in a mannered fashion. She is no Ethel Merman. The arrangements have
been doctored by Geoffrey Keezer who has added string parts duly played
with a sheen to their sound by the 16-strong Guildhall String Ensemble,
a distinguished group not normally associated with this style but who
do a pretty efficient job of it, nothing more. Of the ten songs which
start the disc it’s Fascinating Rhythm and I got rhythm,
which Hendricks does best in foot-tapping renditions once she’s through
the formulaic introduction.
The second half of the disc consists of a medley of
tunes from Porgy and Bess, a serious operatic work which should
suit Hendricks down to the ground, though her diction of the word ‘Summertime’
sounds like ‘Soomerthayme’, and much of the rest of this song is as
incomprehensible. It’s all too precious, the vowels all too modified
out of any discernible shape, and the arrangements (an awful one of
Bess, you is my woman now, introduced by a raucous anonymous
saxophonist) crass. Opera singers really do have to take care singing
in this style, because it is fair to say that ‘it ain’t necessarily
so’ that they can.
Christopher Fifield