This collection is something of a treasure, not just because Stephen Powell sings the songs superbly but because in so many of them he is accompanied by the composers. We know we are getting what the composers intended: especially valuable in the case of the pieces by Ricky Ian Gordon, which are mostly first recordings…
This disc is becoming something of a guilty pleasure for me. I keep putting it on when I should be reviewing something more serious. In truth there is nothing in the nine pieces on it that can be described as anything other than easy listening, though that does not mean they are bad or trivial. There is an abundance of gentle melody, as in the wistful title track, Veracruz by Lara, and an irresistible lilt to the music…
I have known Richard Blackford since we were at school together fifty years ago so I should, in those Parliamentary words, declare an interest. Whatever that interest, I still think he is one of the finest composers in Britain, unusually far better known in the rest of Europe and America than he is here, which is to his credit…
Don’t be put off by the title of this record. While the music is all slow (or slowish), thankfully it is not all religious; in fact none of it is, not even the movement from Korngold’s Serenade from which the title is lifted…