Audience spellbound as Terfel triumphs; CONCERT REVIEW Terfel, Howard/ Philharmonic Hall.

Byline: GLYN MON

FOR the Rodewald Concerts Society to book a high-flyer of the calibre of Bryn Terfel was a considerable coup. But here was a singer and accompanist who simply had the audience in the palms of their hands. They chose a superb programme, balancing the unfamiliar with sing-along favourites - something Terfel encouraged the audience to do in the Celtic folk-song settings with which he ended his performance.

The most interesting selection came in the first half: settings of John Masefield from the pens of John Ireland, Peter Warlock, the rarely heard Frederick Keel and Roger Quilter, an almost forgotten English voice fast becoming fashionable again.

But it was that powerful yet gentle Terfel voice which made these interpretations so special. His diction is impeccable and it's possible to hear every word. And, in the warm acoustic of the Philharmonic, every nuance was almost amplified as he caressed the words of Masefield, one of the most evocative of English poets of the 20th century.

From the familiar Ireland Sea Fever, through Warlock's Captain Stratton's Fancy to Quilter's Now sleeps the crimson petal, to the charmingly wistful Three Salt-Water Ballads of Keel, Terfel kept up the pace in a performance which never lacked charismatic charm.

And, having seen him frequently - though from afar - on the operatic stage, it was good to see his facial gestures close to: always apt and ever amusing.

The second half was devoted to Schubert and Schumann lieder. From the bittersweet Two Grenadiers of Schumann, where it is never clear whether this is comedy or tragedy, through two delightful miniatures from the Myrten cycle to Schubert's Litany for the Feast of All Souls, where he recalled singing the same piece in the tiny chapel on Bardsey Island, off the Lleyn, Terfel felt quite at home. And then to finish the section off with a sprightly performance of The Trout, where he ended up singing through clenched teeth, was a perfect balance.

The selection of Celtic folk songs preceded three encores: Androzzo's If I can Help Somebody, a comic setting of Mana-Zucca's I chanced upon a big brown bear, and Britten's fine and suggestively funny Foggy, Foggy Dew ended a fine performance in which pianist Jeffrey Howard proved himself an adept and very fine accompanist.

A real triumph for Terfel - and for the Rodewald Concerts Society. Little wonder Terfel told the audience he wanted to be "artist in residence at the Philharmonic"

CAPTION(S):

That powerful yet gentle voice made these interpretations so special - Bryn Terfel at the Philharmonic Hall last night