The Gay Photographer
(1870)
I am so Volatile (1871)
The Muddle-Puddle Porter (1877)
A Juvenile Party - Humorous Musical
Sketch (1879)
Mistress and Maid (1881)
The Speaker's Eye (1882)
The Parrot and the Cat - A Humorous
Scena (1882)
The Bay of Battersea - A Little Yachting
(1886)
The very much Up to Date Mama (1889)
The Truth, or Something near It (1889)
Keep the Baby Warm, Mother (1889)
Thou of My Thou (1889)
I've Loved Another Girl Since Then (1893)
The Shop Girl, ‘Beautiful
Bountiful Bertie (1894’
Johnnie at the Gaiety (1895)
I was Born upon a Sunday (1897)
William S. GILBERT
(1836-1911) and Arthur
S. SULLIVAN (1842-1900)
The Sorcerer, ‘My
Name is John Wellington Wells’ (1877)
Ruddygore, ‘I
once was as Meek as a New Born Lamb’.
‘Away Remorse/Henceforth All the Crimes
(1887)
Supplement: sung by George Grossmith
junior. (Recorded 1909. Originally issued
on Gramophone 02255 and 02219)
Our Miss Gibbs, ‘Bertie
the Bounder’. ‘Yip-I-addy-i-ay’
As the informative
sleeve-note relates, George Grossmith
was born into a theatrical family with
three uncles who were child prodigies
on the stage. His father combined courtroom
journalism with frequent forays into
solo entertaining, a state of affairs
in which his son, in his turn, followed.
Father and son made their debut as a
double act in Birmingham in 1873. This
followed the commercial success of ‘I
am so volatile’ (tr. 2) of 1871 that
was taken up by other performers and
concert party promoters. It was of course
the period of the Victorian ballad,
home entertainment, concert parties
and the light operettas of Gilbert and
Sullivan. The inclusion of compositions
by the latter rather stretches the sub-title
of ‘The Songs of George Grossmith and
Family’, but their appearance here provides
a musical context and contrast with
the Grossmith pieces. It can be argued
too that their inclusion is fully justified
by the involvement of George senior
in original productions of the Savoy
operas. I don’t doubt also that the
support of the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society
helped in the recording of these works.
The performance of
works such as those included here requires
the singer to have exemplary diction
even when the ‘patter’ flows swiftly
from tongue and lips (tr. 4). Allied
to this skill must be the capacity to
switch to the spoken word, and back
again (tr.5), as well as varying the
weight of tone and vocal colour to convey
the nuances of the words. These qualities
are found in abundance in Leon Berger’s
interpretations and characterisations.
He is well known in Gilbert and Sullivan
circles, having performed all the lyric
and patter roles in the oeuvre. Britain
is fortunate in its tradition of fine
singers such as Berger who, whilst treading
the boards of Covent Garden and other
‘serious’ opera stages, do not consider
it beneath their dignity to lavish their
skills on musically lighter works. It
is interesting to compare and contrast
the equally entertaining two ballad
volumes of ‘Songs My Father Taught Me’
performed by the renowned operatic lyric
baritone Sir Thomas Allen (Hyperion)
in terms of diction and characterisation
with that here; both are excellently
realised. Those Hyperions, and the present
disc, complement each other in content
and the juxtaposition of the two singers
can be no greater recommendation of
Berger’s performance. The two songs
sung by Grossmith junior, recorded in
1909, also show how true to style these
performances are (trs. 20-21).
The recording is clear
and well balanced and when Berger duets
with himself (tr. 10) this is managed
without noticeable change in the acoustic.
All in all, this issue is a very worthwhile
addition to the recorded stock of Victorian
songs and ballads - a genre whose qualities
are slowly being re-discovered.
Robert J Farr
See
also review by Robert Walker
Leon Berger (bar), Selwyn Tillett (piano)
