Soprano Anna Prohaska’s recital with the viol consort Phantasm formed part of the latter’s Byrd Compared, a Wigmore concert series begun last year to mark the 400th anniversary of William Byrd’s death by juxtaposing his viol music with works by his contemporaries and successors. In this instance, his consort songs – by turns sacred and profane, witty and erotic – were placed alongside music written, or arranged, for comparable forces by Tallis, Gesualdo and Dowland, together with a handful of Byrd’s own instrumental pieces.
Prohaska, a exceptionally versatile artist, is noted for a breadth of repertory that ranges from rare and specialist baroque to contemporary via the 18th and 19th century mainstreams, and is perfectly at ease in composers as far apart stylistically as Kurtág, Eisler, Mozart and Bach. At the Wigmore Hall, her way with music from the English and Italian Renaissance was characterised by impeccable assurance and deep sincerity, her tone a mixture of silk and silver, the words etched with admirable restraint.
