Beth Taylor: The Deeps Have Music album review – seamless legato and a gift for storytelling

The Scottish mezzo-soprano makes this programme of sea-themed songs gleam and shimmer. Her account of Elgar’s Sea Pictures holds its own against classic accounts by Janet Baker and Sarah Connolly.

Scottish mezzo-soprano Beth Taylor was a standout in the finals of the 2023 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and has since become something of a go-to in Handel. Her debut solo album, smartly curated with pianist Hamish Brown, brings together a satisfyingly salty programme of art song, culminating in an intrepid account of Elgar’s Sea Pictures.

Taylor’s is an instantly identifiable instrument. At its ruby-red bottom she has the breadth of a true contralto, yet there’s an upper extension that brands her a mezzo. Her seamless legato, cushioned lower register and gift for storytelling come into their own in Schubert songs like Meeres Stille and in the spellbinding opener, Hamilton Harty’s arrangement of My Lagan Love. Her gleaming top is shown off in delicate musical aquarelles by Hedwige Chrétien. Brown is a resourceful partner throughout, bringing imaginative depths to even the briefest of songs.

Chrétien, a professor at the Paris Conservatoire but barely remembered today, isn’t the only rarity here. Taylor makes an excellent case for Ethel Smyth’s reflective Three Moods of the Sea and Harty’s melancholy Sea Wrack. Cameron Biles-Liddell’s luminous The Breakers, written for Taylor herself, is another find.

The Elgar, with piano accompaniments embellished by Brown, is full of telling details and sung with demonstrable passion. Listen to the lilt she brings to In Haven, or the tempestuous way she attacks The Swimmer. These considered interpretations hold their own against classic accounts by Janet Baker and Sarah Connolly.

Listen on Apple Music (above) or Spotify