Kathryn’s new CD recordings of Songs by Eric Coates with pianist Christopher Glynn has been released on the Somm Recording Label.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE MAY 2019 – ****Review
“Once upon a time the songs of Eric Coates were sung and recorded by the world’s most prominent artists. Nowadays they are roundly neglected, which is one reason why this interesting new anthology is welcome…the warm empathetic advocacy of Liverpudlian singer Kathryn Rudge. Her creamy generous mezzo-soprano affectionately cossets the languorous melody of ‘In a Sleepy Lagoon’ and caresses the delicate ‘Bird Songs at Eventide.’ In songs which seem perilously sentimental to the modern ear – ‘The Fairy Tales of Ireland’ and ‘The Green Hills of Somerset’ are two – Rudge is deft at dialing back the whimsy, and distilling genuine emotion. Her excellent diction is particularly in ‘Reuben Ranzo,’ a jaunty story-song whole comic turns of fate are colourfully painted. The Four Old English songs have texts by Shakespeare, and show Coates to be considerably more than a writer of facile parlour melodies. Rudge’s vibrant interpretation makes a persuasive case for them and Christopher Glynn’s fluid accompaniment is a model of supportive sensitivity.”
Terry Blain – BBC Music Magazine
CD available now from the Somm Recordings website
“SOMM Recordings is delighted to announce the release of star-in-the-making mezzo-soprano Kathryn Rudge’s celebration of the songs of ‘light music’ master Eric Coates, accompanied by pianist Christopher Glynn.
Fresh from rave reviews for The Hills of Dreamland (SOMMCD 271-2), a ravishing collection of Elgar’s orchestral songs, Kathryn Rudge returns with a delectable recital of era-defining songs by the composer of the stirring The Dam Busters March, exuberant Knightsbridge march and the timeless By the Sleepy Lagoon, familiar to radio audiences around the world as the theme to BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs since 1942.”