“Laura Claycomb and Marc Teicholz celebrate their long friendship and collaboration with this scintillating collection of songs for soprano and guitar.…Many sopranos have recorded the Cantilena from Villa-Lobos’s Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5, but Claycomb’s timbre and the blend of melancholy and hopefulness with which she infuses the soaring line are hard to top. Her tonal precision and warm tone tease accessibility from the Walton songs. The elasticity of her coloratura is an asset as the vocal line scampers up and down the scale in “O stay, sweet love” and ”I gave her cakes and I gave her ale,” in which the guitar doubles as percussion. … Claycomb’s voice is pliant and rich, while Teicholz gets an opportunity to dig enthusiastically into the strings. She matches his percussiveness in the staccato sections of “Seguidilla murciana,” and the closing “Polo” finds both performers unleashing controlled fire.…” —Opera News
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