Andrew Staples / Reviews

Staples plunged valiantly into the first stanza of The Drinking Song of Earthly Sorrow, his voice easily soaring above the orchestral tapestry with its trumpet (a powerful, yet subtle Chris Martin) and horns. [...] Not at any point did Staples give the impression that he was summoned for the role on such a short notice. His Of Youth had the same suave, porcelain-like transparency as the introductory triangle sound. In The Drunkard in Spring, he easily switched gears from the powerful insouciance of a character ready to drink the whole day – “den ganzen lieben Tag” – to melancholy, when evoking – in dialogue with concertmaster Frank Huang and the piccolo – a twittering bird announcing the arrival of Spring.