Bryn Terfel made an impressive non-opera debut on records with
Something Wonderful, his album of songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Their operetta style was not so foreign from his usual work, though he also performed well on some of their more pop-oriented tunes.
If Ever I Would Leave You is a logical follow-up, consisting of songs by lyricist Alan Jay Lerner, most of them written with Frederick Loewe. Loewe was also a student of Viennese operetta, and it's no surprise that
Terfel is right at home with the title song from Camelot as well as with highly dramatic songs such as "They Call the Wind Maria" from Paint Your Wagon and "Come Back to Me" from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever (composed by Burton Lane). And though "On the Street Where You Live" from My Fair Lady was written for tenor voice, it works just fine in his bass-baritone treatment. But
Terfel also handles the comic numbers "Get Me to the Church on Time" and "With a Little Bit of Luck" well, giving them the sense of wry humor they need, even if his Cockney accent doesn't quite work. He avoids the many patter songs Lerner wrote for his non-singing leads -- none of Henry Higgins' songs from My Fair Lady, nothing at all from Gigi -- but he digs deep into Lerner's catalog for some rarely sung songs that do both the songwriter and himself credit. There are a couple of tracks from The Little Prince that are worth remembering, as well as one from Lerner's final show, Dance a Little Closer. And
Terfel ends the album with a real tour de force, Kurt Weill's "This Is the Life" from Love Life, the boastful soliloquy of a lonely man. These are discoveries that show music fans will welcome. ~ William Ruhlmann