The Passing Preciousness of Dreams in the Canterbury Festival,
in October 2009:
(with actress Violet Ryder)
The highlight of the concert was Benjamin Britten's 'Winter Words'. First performed
in 1953, the eight songs focus on the fleetingness of experience, contrasting brief
instances - a boy's boredom on a train and the creak of an old table - with the 'unfeeling
vastness of time'. The performance here was exemplary and perfectly paced - 'The
Choirmaster's Burial' being particularly fine and the closing song 'Before Life and
After' with the haunting final lines 'How long , how long?' sending genuine shivers
down the spine.
The Kent Gazette - October 2009
