Splendid first half outdoes the second

ENGLISH baritone Simon Keenlyside made his second recital appearance in Dublin last night, once again courtesy of an Opera Theatre Company recital series.

His programme consisted of Schubert and Wolf (replacing the originally announced Schubert Winterreise) and, as at last year's event, he was strongly partnered by the resourceful and responsive Malcolm Martineau.

The most rewarding performances were found in the first half.

Keenlyside's singing here was well focused, pointed in expression but without excesses of emphasis.

In spite of the placing of the powerful, strikingly dissonant Schiller setting, Gruppe aus dem Tartarus mid way in the Schubert group, Keenlyside still contrived to end with an agitated Rastlose Liebe which crowned all that had gone before.

The selection of Morike setting by Wolf were, happily, undertaken without much of what you might call interpretative finger wagging.

But, counter balancing this and in spite of the consistent musicality of both singing and playing, there was not quite the sharpness of response that Wolf really calls for.

Although chronologically built programmes have a legacy of success, I wonder if this one might not have worked better if the order of the halves had been reversed.