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A distinguished BBC lunchtime recital by that rarity, a genuine contralto, whose beautifully modulated voice goes comfortably down into the baritone range. She really has a superb technique, and her voice is secure right from those incredible deep notes up to pianissimos at the top of the range. Her main offering was of 17th C Italian cantatas, and Wigmore Hall supplied all the texts free of charge. Recitative and arioso more than aria in style, I wonder whether the beauty of the singing alone would have held the attention of radio listeners without texts and translations before them? Alessandrini accompanied discreetly, playing an unidentified, modern-looking green harpsichord, angled perversely on the platform so that none of the audience could see the keyboard (not even those on the left side as is favoured in piano recitals to "see the hands" - though the sound is usually better the other side). Harpsichord cases, unlike those of pianos, traditionally do not have a cut-out section. Alessandrini gave a solo interlude, a small Handel suite, in which I thought he milked it somewhat with expressive rubato. Finally, a powerful Italian aria Leave me tormenting thought, that being another take on the vexed issue of fidelity or deceit as between Thyrsis and his lover, whose death had earlier been lamented by Salvatore. Hear them all again Saturday on Radio 3, or the same artists in the same programme on CD [Naive/Opus 111 OP 30395]. Peter Grahame Woolf
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