Review: Contemplation – Huw Montague Rendall

After training at the Royal College of Music with Russell Smythe, David Rendall and Philip Doghan, Huw Montague Rendall became a member of the Glyndebourne Festival’s Jerwood Young Artist in 2016, where he sang Fiorello (from the opera The Barber of Seville). The following summer he joined the Salzburg Festival Young Artists Programme, where he made his role debut as the Second Companion in Wozzeck. In the last decade, his singing career has taken off and this, his debut album, certainly confirms an extraordinary talent.

The recital opens with Récitatif and Air from the third act of Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet. The dramatic orchestral introduction is brilliantly played by the orchestra, setting up Hamlet’s famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy. This music is new to me, and I found the text setting, especially when performed with such sensitivity, compelling. It also affords listeners opportunity to hear Rendall’s velvety baritone, with a beautifully spun legato and evenness of tone across all registers. 

His ardent interpretation of Fritz’s aria “Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen” from Korngold’s Die tote Stadt is another highlight (track 3). One could easily mistake this music as an unknown Puccini aria (a testament to Korngold’s considerable melodic gifts). 

Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen follows, and while there are moments when there could be more onomatopoeic percussiveness from the text (for instance the imitation of bells in “Ging heut’ morgen über’s Feld”), the radiant bloom of Rendall’s sound is a consistent delight, as is his sotto voce singing at the end of the same song, and un the angst-ridden climax of “Ich hab’ ein glühend Messer.” 

Hearing Britten’s “Look Through the Port” from Billy Budd right after the Mahler draws out similarities in text setting and orchestration between the two composers. And just as one begins to feel a need for something lighter, Rendall offers a delicately playful rendition of “Mab, la reine” from Gound’s Roméo et Juliette. A chaste, inward-looking rendition of Duparc’s “Chanson triste” is followed by two Mozart arias from Le Nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, in which Rendall adopts a more leonine tone. His Don has just the right mix of menace and seduction during “Deh vineni all finestra.” 

Rendall’s characterization of Papageno (‘Papagena! Weibchen! and the duet that follows’, track 14) includes a star turn by soprano Elisabeth Boudreault as Papagena. The first act “Soliloquy”, from Rodgers and Hammersteins’s “Carousel” was an unexpected choice, and I worried the result would be an unidiomatic performance by a classical singer “out of his lane.” But Rendall’s vocal acting is fully convincing (as Billy considers what it will be like to be the father of a son, or a daughter). Comparing this performance to the new complete recording of the musical, led by John Wilson (Chandos), I found Rendall’s performance the most satisfying. 

Obviously, I found little to criticize in these performances. The repertoire is varied and interesting, and Rendall has an extraordinarily beautiful voice. The orchestra, led by Ben Glassberg, follows, and supports Rendall at every turn, ensuring the accompaniments are part of the story telling. And Erato’s engineering is fine.

The ancillary materials do match the excellence of the performances. Rendall’s brief note argues that the repertoire is meant to answer what our purpose is, and what is left of us when we are gone – heady stuff. The argument would be better proven if the music were discussed, including a contextualization of the various selections within their larger works. Moreover, it seems perverse in performances where Rendall strives to make the texts come alive, to not include translations. 

Nevertheless, the beauty and dramatic sensitivity of these performances make this an easy recommendation. 

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