Beth Taylor Releases Debut Solo Album With Hamish Brown

Beth Taylor was a standout in the 2023 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World finals. After the finals, Taylor became sought-after in relation to Handel. Taylor has now prepared a debut solo album with pianist Hamish Brown. The album consists of art songs, culminating in a bold interpretation of Elgar's Sea Pictures. Presented with a piano accompaniment enriched by Brown, the Elgar work is performed with vivid detail and passion.

Taylor's smooth legato and storytelling ability are evident in Schubert's Meeres Stille. Both the smooth legato and the storytelling ability are also evident in Hamilton Harty's arrangement of My Lagan Love. The art songs on the album also feature Hedwige Chrétien, a Paris Conservatoire professor who is a name little remembered today.

On the album, Taylor successfully interprets Ethel Smyth's Three Moods of the Sea, as well as Harty's Sea Wrack. In addition, Cameron Biles-Liddell's work The Breakers is included, having been written directly for Taylor. These art songs constitute the debut solo album prepared by Taylor and pianist Hamish Brown.