I really don’t
listen much, these days, to show recordings. Especially new recordings of my
beloved older shows. Those, in particular, having no surprises to spring as to
exciting discoveries, are inevitably unpleasant. Pretentious. Stuffy. And overcast
or miscast… I mean, an operatic contralto as
Letty Lind in The Geisha? What a w***
…
So, I just don’t
listen to them.
For me, there
isn’t a wholly satisfying recording, even, of the super-well-known works of the
Gilbert and Sullivan repertoire, which has been made in the last hundred years…
This week,
however, I got caught by surprise. I was sitting quietly in my seaside
bolthole, researching Pauline Markham, burlesque princess, and Charles Lyall of
the Carl Rosa, when a CD arrived at my theoretically unknown hideaway address.
A double CD even. It sat for a few days, but I had to unwrap it. Because it was
Tom Jones. Not the Green Green Grass
of Delilah. The real Tom, as in Henry Fielding and Edward German. And one of
the very, very first shows I ever saw. Directed by my father circa 1953 in
Wellington, NZ.
I still remember
that eightish year-old feeling: ‘I knew that he looked, I knew that he looked,
I knew that he looked at me’. I was in love.
I’d listened to
the existing recordings of the show when writing my Musical
Theatre on Record, and thrilled (as one must) to Frederick Harvey’s Tom. Then June Bronhill and Joan Sutherland. How could a new recording equal that?
Well, lay me down
with a rolling pin. This one did.
This is, without
any question, the best 21st century recording of a classic English musical cum
light opera that I have heard. I sat, waiting (as I do) to find something to
dislike and … it just didn’t happen. The whole two discs were nigh on perfectly
in line with my conceptions as an historian and my very narrow preconceptions
as a casting director.
Number one.
Orchestra and chorus. How often is THAT number one? Delicious. Full-bodied but
light, with a bright-and-sparkling feeling that G&S choruses inevitably
fail to find. They gave the tone to the whole affair … ‘Don’t you find the
weather charming…’
I knew I’d get snooty
about the soloists. I always do. But … here comes Squire Western … woofy bass?
No! Deliciously clear baritone! Like, like, like hugely. Then Tom. Rich-voiced
Frederick Harvey? A sylphic Hayden Coffin? No! A zingy crystal clear high
baritone … Wow! Like, like, like huuuu….gely. Well, Sophia will surely be a graunchy prima donna robusta. Groan. No!!!!!! A splendid voice of just the right weight,
and even when the music tempts her to go wooooooo she manages (sometimes just!)
to keep it bright, light and sprightly. This is, after all, Sophia Western and
not Lady Macbeth! My teensy disappointment came with a mezzo soubrette. ‘I knew
that he looked..’. But she certainly added shape to the ensembles and hey,
maybe I was, 60 years on, still in love with Dad’s teenage Honour.
All I can say, in
summary, is that this grumpy old hidebound critic and ex-caster says yayyy! And
whoever cast this recording, and whoever produced it (eight years ago, I
gather), are my soulmates. This is how it should be done. This company and
these soloists should be immediately signed up by Britain’s Arts Council (if
they have one) to record the whole 19th-early 20th century repertoire of
English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish theatre music – G&S included. That is,
if said Arts Council has any money left from sponsoring trendy American
musicals at the National Theatre.
I’m off to bed.
Feeling joyous. Thanks, folks, for giving me so much enjoyment …
I'd expect nothing less than sensational any production the Researcher/Conductor Dr. David Russel Hulme is involved with.
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