{TABLE} Spanisches Liederbuch (part 1) ...... Wolf {/TABLE} WOLF'S Spanish song book is full of Mediterranean heat and colour but he cannot be accused of reinforcing a Spanish stereotype, for the songs are far more German than Spanish. Nevertheless, they offer an opportunity for an expansive performance which is what they received in Sunday's recital at the NCH John Field Room. Most expansive of all was perhaps Hugh Tinney who made sure the piano part was no mere discreet background to the singers but as important if not more so. This is as it should be and it, was done without in any way intruding on the singers: Tinney's crisp articulation made every note tell, and the piano part, shone with unaccustomed light.

The 44 songs of the collection had been rearranged to make two satisfactory recitals (the second will be on Sunday, October 20th) and some of the most appealing have yet to be heard. As Wolf did, the singers separated the songs into a group of spiritual songs and a group of secular songs.

Despite the Spanish tendency to excess, exemplified in this performance, the spiritual songs would have benefited from a greater sense of inwardness and the two Nativity songs, beautiful as they were, would have had a greater impact. The secular songs, (for secular, read love ) were a wonderful mixture of passion and irony and here the singers most skilfully showed how one can act with the voice alone. Philip O'Reilly (baritone) for example, put infinite meaning into the repeated line "Weil die Weiber Weiber sind" (Women will be women) and Colette Gahon (mezzo soprano) cunningly mixed coyness and realism in "In dem Schatten meiner Locken" (In the Shadow of my Tresses).

The whole recital was a treat and the second part promises to be the equal of the first.