Gemma Lois Summerfield (soprano) Simon Lepper (piano)

This recital began excellently with six Mendelssohn songs, including one by sister Fanny. I for one don’t hear enough of them. Summerfield’s sensitivity and quality of voice, the top notes in particular, shone even more in Debussy’s subtly nuanced ‘Ariettes oublieés’, of which Lepper is an acknowledged expert.

In Strauss’s ‘4 Lieder Op. 27’ we heard indications of a richness of voice yet to come. The order was changed to end triumphantly with the rapturous ‘Cäcilie’, although the climax for me was their ecstatically sustained ‘Morgen’. The encore, by Roger Quilter, showed how beautifully Summerfield sings English song – more please.

Studio Theatre, Brighton Dome, 20 May 2016

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