Rachmaninoff's Vespers
The second movement, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul’ introduced us to the mezzo soloist, Martha McLorinan. I remember that at last year’s Three Choirs Festival, singing with Tenebrae, she took the crucial solo role in Judith Bingham’s ‘A Walk with Ivor Gurney’. She impressed me then and here, in a very different musical context, I admired her singing once again. Her tone was lustrous, and she voiced the music in a gently expressive way that was entirely appropriate.