Kathleen Ferrier Award 2008 Final: Various singers and accompanists. Wigmore Hall, London. 25. 4.08. (ED)


Habitual attendees of competition events will know that sometimes it is just as worth listening to the audience before and during the event to get a sense of how competitors come across and how the competition is shaping up. The first thing to catch my attention was a conversation about the number of female winners there have been of late. Then a well known critic mentioned to her companion “this is a jury I think I could trust”.

Derek Welton (baritone) and Anne Larlee (piano)
Derek Welton’s programme began with Handel’s Revenge! Timotheus cries (Alexander’s Feast). Initially somewhat dry of tone, this improved along with his articulation of the taxing presto runs upon repetition. Mozart’s Non piu andrai (Figaro) was smoother of tone and caught the sentiment well. Best of all was the rapt quality found in Vaughan Williams’ Silent Noon. Larlee still did not quite convince as a wholly convivial partner for Welton.

Elizabeth Donovan (soprano) and Caroline Jaya-Ratnam (piano)

Poise and feeling inflected Porgi amor from the start, and Strauss’ Ständchen was hardly less well thought through. Delius’ To Daffodils made a subtle nod to Donovan’s Welsh roots, whilst Debussy was sung with equal fluency of language. Johann Strauss’s Czárdás (Die Feledermaus) had authority in tone and stage delivery that sold the performance completely. Caroline Jaya-Ratnam accompanied most successfully: unobtrusive yet setting exactly the right ambiance for each piece.

Ben Johnson (tenor) and James Southall (piano)*

Ben Johnson got the evening under way with a somewhat hesitant run-through of Schubert’s Willkommen und Abschied. Handel’s Fatto inferno (Rodelinda) was similarly sung. Some of the required floated head voice came into Mozart’s Dies Bildnis (Die Zauberflöte), though more would have been preferable. Quilter’s Love’s Philosophy found Johnson at his most relaxed and therefore most convincingly musical also. James Southall’s accompaniment was solid throughout.

Ida Falk Winland (soprano) and James Southall (piano)*

All the positive and not so endearing points noted in the semi-final round were present here.  That’s only to be expected as it would be too much for any singer to change completely within 48 hours. Lower and middle registers fine; upper register I’d rather not ever hear again. Strauss’s Fruhlingsfeier made me fear for my sense of hearing as it was so painfully attacked.

Alexander Robin Baker (baritone) and Francois Salignat (piano)*

As the youngest competitor this year Alexander Robin Baker faced something of an uphill challenge to acquit himself on a level equal to his elders. This was not for want of trying though. The promise of his voice is undeniable and he certainly is musical in his thinking, which is great. More than anything his programme bothered me: Schubert’s Der Zwerg, two Wolf lieder, Finzi’s Clock of the Years (a really strange choice) and Yeletsky’s aria from Eugene Onegin. The Wolf suffered from some unusual tempo choices, but the Tchaikovsky was definitely a step or two too far for him at this stage, even though it clearly shows Alexander Robin Baker’s aspirations for the future.

Adrian Ward (tenor) and Francois Salignat (piano)*

Britten’s Happy were he (Gloriana) and Bridge’s Come to me in my dreams were probably the best sung English language items of the final, with excellent enunciation of words. Mozart’s Il mio tesoro (Don Giovanni) was decently projected and afforded glimpses of character.

The results

1st: Ben Johnson

2nd: Alexander Robin Baker     

Song prize: Ida Falk Winland

MBF Accompanists’ Prize: James Southall

These are results I take some issue with. Johnson was in my view inferior to Elizabeth Donovan, and I have made my thoughts on Ida Falk Winland absolutely clear already. Good that Alexander Robin Baker was encouraged with a second prize and James Southall too, though Salignat had an edge, I thought. So, male winners this year. But this is not a jury I would absolutely have trusted.

Evan Dickerson

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