⭐⭐⭐

Fatma Said and Joseph Middleton | Photo: Mark Allan / Barbican

The soprano Fatma Said is a performer more than capable of constructing thoughtful, intelligent song programmes to go alongside her operatic work in Europe’s biggest halls. Her recent recordings underline that versatility: 2022’s ‘Kaleidoscope’ is a case in point, though music recorded on ‘El Nour’ from 2020 featured more in her recent Milton Court recital. But working so eclectically can only be pulled off if there is a strong thread, or an underlying point to it all, and too much of this recital felt like it was travelling around the periphery of an argument.

Not that erring on the lighter, shorter side necessarily makes for a less enjoyable evening. None of Manuel de Falla’s 'Siete canciones populares' stick around for very long, a quality that makes them all the more moreish. Opening a second half which was a marked improvement on the first, Said excelled in her ornamental additions to the collection’s lullaby centrepiece, Nana. Always the characterful performer, whose flashes of drama at times verge on camp, Said and pianist Joseph Middleton found true intimacy in 'Nana' and the collection’s post-script 'Tus ojillos negros'.

A similar breakthrough came in the evening’s final printed song. Najib Hankash – actor, TV host, and composer – wrote 'Give me a flute and sing' for the famed Lebanese singer Fayrouz. Again, more ornamentation, and more time and space generally led to the programme’s most profound moment, in music that longs, aches, and searches.

Said took a while to get to this expressive peak. Her opening set of Mozart song rarities – including 'Als Luise die Briefe ihres Liebhabers verbrannte' and 'Abendempfindung' – suffered a little by way of intonation, and there were a few corners where the usually excellent ensemble between Said and the very fine Middleton came unstuck. (None of the Mozart set lacked character however, especially her wide-eyed then terribly affronted 'Der Zauberer', as the narrator’s lusty escapade is interrupted by her mother.) The familiar and rare selections of Schubert and Schumann songs were more controlled, with Said emphatic through the latter’s 'Liebeslied', and charmingly emotive – perhaps slightly too emotive – in Friedrich Rückert’s great paean to love, 'Widmung'.

Hankash’s delicious finisher felt like an arrival at the point of the recital, but, rather than underlining their conclusion, an odd encore crossed it out. Neither Said nor Middleton made the necessary gear-shift into the world of Jerome Kern, and The Way You Look Tonight sounded like chewed-up lieder. Do it properly, or not at all.

barbican.org.uk | fatmasaid.com