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These days, mezzo-sopranos are stealing the limelight from their soprano counterparts, and baritones have begun to attract the kind of attention usually reserved for superstar tenors. No baritone has risen so quickly -- and deservedly -- as Welshman Bryn Terfel. His recording The Vagabond is made up entirely of songs by British composers. Terfel, who grew up singing in his Welsh village church, has a strong affinity for these songs by Gerald Finzi, George Butterworth, John Ireland, and Ralph Vaughan Williams. From stirring call-to-arms to moody ballad, Terfel's characterizations are commanding, and sung with a beauty of tone that's seldom encountered. Aided by Terfel's fleet-fingered frequent collaborator, pianist Malcolm Martineau, this is a jolly good introduction to British song. Matt Dobkin, Barnes & Noble