Rufus Wainwright: Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets review – engaging and sumptuous

Listen to a snippet of Unperfect Actor (Sonnet 23)

A few years ago, Rufus Wainwright mused publicly about shifting his focus further from pop towards opera and more esoteric musical projects. His newest record revisits a side project from 2009, setting a collection of Shakespearean sonnets to largely classical accompaniments, supported by guests including Florence Welch and soprano Anna Prohaska. It’s an engaging idea, sumptuously arranged and with a puckish wit on the classical cabaret of All Dessen Müd. But if this is really where his heart now lies, it’s hard not to feel a tinge of sadness when you hear his honeyed vocals on A Woman’s Face, a reworking of a track from 2010 that recalls the swooning, symphonic pop of old.