Presto Recordings of the Year
Finalist 2025
Gramophone Magazine
December 2025
Editor's Choice
Hugh Cutting (countertenor), Audrey Hyland (piano)
P. C. Kennedy: Rough Rhymes: No. 1, Wait
Howells: Come Sing and Dance
Ravel: Cinq mélodies populaires grecques. No. 1, Le réveil de la mariée; No. 3, Quel galant m’est comparable; No. 4, Chanson des cueilleuses de lentisques
H. Wolf: Mörike-Lieder: No. 10, Fußreise
H. Wolf: Goethe-Lieder: No. 29, Anakreons Grab
H. Wolf: Mörike-Lieder: No. 46, Gesang Weylas
R. Hahn: Études latines. No. 3, Néère
Dvořák: Biblical Songs, Op. 99. No. 4, Hospodin jest můj pastýř & No. 10, Zpívejte Hospodinu píseň novou)
P. C. Kennedy: Rough Rhymes: No. 2, Two Worlds
Vaughan Williams: Linden Lea
Bonis: Un soir, Op. Posth. 77
A. Beach: Three Browning Songs, Op. 44.No. 1, The Year’s at the Spring & No. 2, Ah, Love, But a Day)
Rodrigo: 3 caniónes españolas: No. 1, Adela
G. Lama: Reginella
P. C. Kennedy: Rough Rhymes. No. 3, Trees
Tom Lehrer: Poisoning Pigeons in the Park
Schubert: World, Farewell (After Abschied von der Erde, D. 829)
In his debut recital album, countertenor Hugh Cutting presents Refound with pianist Audrey Hyland. This programme revolves around songs that are the product of two roots, seen through two lenses. Cutting and Hyland build a recital celebrating rediscovery and reinterpretation, presenting songs that blend old and new in their construction, text, or context. It is a testament to the beauty of interpretation and revival. This theme unfolds in folk-inspired songs by Ravel and Vaughan Williams; ancient texts in Howells and Dvorak; an imagined past in Wolf and Hahn; emotional education in Beach, Rodrigo and Lama; Lehrer's parody; the recently rediscovered Mel Bonis; Piers Connor Kennedy's improvisation-adjacent Rough Rhymes (world premiere recording); and Jeremy Sams' new translation of Schubert's Abschied. Noted for his 'exceptional voice, lustrous and rounded' (The Times), Cutting is fast establishing a reputation for his narrative skill and vocal prowess. He cites Audrey Hyland, Head of Vocal and Opera at the Royal College of Music, as invaluable in his artistic development; Refound honours that relationship.
"With his resplendent mezzo-soprano-ish tone quality and ease of vocal production, the much-awarded Hugh Cutting represents a new level in the evolution of the countertenor voice in this debut recital album." - Gramophone Magazine, December 2025
