  Go to LAN279 - The Curlew
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Classic FM Magazine (****), February 2007
'I first heard Andrew Kennedy six years ago, and was immediately caught by the power and focus of his ample voice. His progress since has proved unstoppable, with success last year in the BBC Singer of the World competition adding to a sack full of rave reviews. The lyric tenor's solo debut disc underlines his considerable qualities, not least of which is a willingness to take expressive risks. Peter Warlock's canny way with words and bittersweet tunes suit Kennedy to a tee. His richly communicative performance is slightly diminished by the recessed recorded balance, although this album's tonal beauty returns handsome compensation.
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Andrew Stewart Gramophone, January 2007
'Kennedy is a singer with fine powers of definition, whether of notes or words. He catches the gaiety of (for instance) that perfect final encore-song Jillian of Berry, as indeed he does the meditative quality of Autumn Twilight and the tenderness of Cradle Song. Simon Lepper is a splendid accompanist, responding to the text as part of his own remit, and delightfully sure in the interplay of staccato and legato, very much a Warlockian characteristic. The songs with string accompaniment are well placed and well chosen so that one appreciates the new and lovely textures. Expert notes by Michael Pilkington.
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John Steane BBC Music Magazine (Performance **** Sound ****), January 2007
'In both of these works [The Curlew & Bethlehem Down] Andrew Kennedy shows an absorption, and an ability to hone in on the details that matter without sacrificing the sense of the longer line, that often feels just right. His sweet English tenor voice can soar enticingly, but also has a strong, dark lower register – first shown to advantage at the start of ‘Autumn Twilight’ and drawn out to great advantage in The Curlew...The sound is…very good, as are the accompanists. Balance is excellent in The Curlew.'
Stephen Johnson The Sunday Telegraph (*****), December 2006
'Andrew Kennedy, one of our best young tenors, has chosen Peter Warlock’s neglected W.B.Yeats cycle The Curlew (and 23 other songs) for his first recital disc. Accompanied by string quartet, the Pavão, flute (Daniel Pailthorpe) and cor anglais (Owen Dennis) – the desolate Curlew shows Warlock at his deepest and most innovative; and Kennedy sings it with plangent and ingratiating tone. The pianist on some of the other songs is Simon Lepper. The best of Warlock is to be found in ‘The Frostbound Wood’ and ‘Sleep’. Kennedy makes a strong case for agreement with Constant Lambert’s estimation of Warlock as one of the greatest of song-writers. Excellent recording quality and balance.
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Michael Kennedy MUSO, December 2006
'Young English tenor Andrew Kennedy won the recital prize in the 2005 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and this is his solo CD debut. He has boldly chosen to devote the entire programme to the songs of Peter Warlock, beloved of specialists but little known among the wider public…Kennedy’s interpretation of the piece [The Curlew] is both intense and self-effacing, rightly trusting the mysterious emotional charge of Yeats’ loss-haunted lyrics and Warlock’s harmonically shadowy settings without undue intervention. His diction is tellingly clear but never effortful, and that also enhances the impact on the listener. Not all of Warlock’s songs are sorrowful. In an Arbour Green is bright and frolicsome, the Shakespearian Pretty Ring Time trips along merrily, and the drinking song Captain Stratton’s Fancy is appropriately hearty. Time and again, however, the darker side of Warlock’s muse beckons – Constant Lambert bracketed him with Dowland and Schubert, and in selections such as the enigmatically brooding Autumn Twilight or the achingly poignant A Sad Song Andrew Kennedy’s immaculately discriminating performances may easily have you believing it.'
Terry Blain Classical Source, December 2006
'Andrew Kennedy brings a varied approach to the 27 songs. He can reduce his tone without spoiling its quality, caressing the meditative or introverted songs, like “The Night” and “The First Mercy”, the latter with some lovely quiet singing, as there is in “Bethlehem Down”, with delicate piano-playing from Simon Lepper. Kennedy manages, however, to bring strength and vigour to more boisterous numbers, such as “Mr Belloc’s Fancy”, showing himself capable of colouring his tone…He can produce a good legato too, as can be heard in the first two stanzas of “My Own Country”…In 1931, the year after Warlock’s death, the National Gramophone Society issued John Armstrong in “Chopcherry”, “Sleep” and “The Curlew”: strange that the setting of W.B. Yeats’s words should be recorded before many more immediately accessible songs. That cycle has the singer supported by flute, cor anglais (almost eerie) and string quartet. A touch of torment inflects Kennedy’s reproof of the curlew in the opening song, a piece in which the voice occupies only a short section, whereas in the brief second song the tone is one of sadness, a subtle differentiation on Kennedy’s part. The very long third song is almost ghostly, and Kennedy augments the haunting atmosphere with skilfully used head-voice in places. The final song, with voice appearing in less than half, finds the poet by the edge of ‘this desolate lake’, and one seizes on ‘desolate’ as befitting the whole poem, to which Kennedy brings great sensitivity, with fine, almost mesmerizing playing from his colleagues…This is an interesting selection, worthy of attention. Simon Lepper does well in his assignment. Writing in 1940, Gerald Cockshott opined, “If Warlock is kind to the singer, he is often exactly the reverse to the pianist". Lepper surmounts the obstacles and makes a valuable contribution to this superbly recorded CD, a fine partner for Andrew Kennedy. The booklet, which commendably includes the song texts, states that Simon Lepper “is building a significant programme of song and chamber music with Landor Records”. This is the first disc, but if future song recitals are as good I want to know of them.’ John T. Hughes
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John T. Hughes The Times, November 2006
'For his debut CD the gifted tenor Andrew Kennedy plunges into the Peter Warlock songbook and emerges with a well-balanced programme of carols, roisterings and the deeply melancholic song cycle The Curlew…Kennedy’s singing is always expressive – The Frostbound Wood is a knockout. Simon Lepper (piano) and the Pavao Quartet lead the responsive accompaniments.
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Geoff Brown The Guardian (****), November 2006
'Tenor Andrew Kennedy won the song prize at last year’s Cardiff Singer of the World competition, and his first solo album is this thoughtful examination of the music of Peter Warlock, who died young in 1930….The centrepiece is the haunting 1920 Yeats cycle The Curlew, in which Kennedy uses whispered half-tones to create a sense of unearthly mystery, while the Pavao Quartet together with flautist Andrew Pailthorpe and cor anglais player Owen Dennis spin eerie sounds around him. Elsewhere, with pianist Simon Lepper, Kennedy gives beautiful performances of Bethlehem Down and The Night.
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Tim Ashley
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