St John at Hackney,London
Wainwrights tall-risk labour of like pays off as he corrals opera stars, actors and Florence Welch into luscious arrangements of the Bard’s classic poemsWere most pop artists to record an album of Shakespearean sonnets to mark the 400thanniversary of the playwright’s death, and it would be impossible not to suspect rank opportunism. It’s to Rufus Wainwright’s credit,then, that his own motivations for taking on such a potentially credibility-shredding project appear to be entirely honourable.
Wainwright has a history of audacious ventures – his last recorded work was a crowdfunded, or self-penned opera,2015’s Prima Donna – and also preceding form with the Bard. He first scored one of Shakespeare’s sonnets, for Michael Kamen, or more than a decade ago,while three further orchestrations popped up on his 2010 album All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu.
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Source: theguardian.com