MusicWeb International One of the most grown-up review sites around 2023
Approaching 60,000 reviews
and more.. and still writing ...

Search MusicWeb Here Acte Prealable Polish CDs
 

Presto Music CD retailer
 
Founder: Len Mullenger                                    Editor in Chief:John Quinn             


REVIEW

Some items
to consider

new MWI
Current reviews

old MWI
pre-2023 reviews

paid for
advertisements

Acte Prealable Polish recordings

Forgotten Recordings
Forgotten Recordings
All Forgotten Records Reviews

TROUBADISC
Troubadisc Weinberg- TROCD01450

All Troubadisc reviews


FOGHORN Classics

Alexandra-Quartet
Brahms String Quartets

All Foghorn Reviews


All HDTT reviews


Songs to Harp from
the Old and New World


all Nimbus reviews



all tudor reviews


Follow us on Twitter


Editorial Board
MusicWeb International
Founding Editor
   
Rob Barnett
Editor in Chief
John Quinn
Contributing Editor
Ralph Moore
Webmaster
   David Barker
Postmaster
Jonathan Woolf
MusicWeb Founder
   Len Mullenger

alternatively
Crotchet

 

Henry PURCELL (1659-1695)
King Arthur - opera in 5 Acts (1691) [93:15]
Gerald Finley (baritone) – Grimbald/Pan; Jamie MacDougall (tenor) – Shepherd; Julia Gooding (soprano) – Shepherdess/Siren/Nereid/Honour; Linda Perillo (soprano) – Philidel/Shepherdess/Siren; Nancy Argenta (soprano) – Cupid/Venus; Brian Bannatyne-Scott (bass) – Genius/Aeolus; Mark Tucker (tenor); Nigel Short (counter-tenor); Angus Davidson (counter-tenor); Jeremy Birchall (bass); Stephen Alder (bass); Caroline Ashton (soprano); Rachel Bevan (soprano); Carol Hall (soprano); Simon Davies (tenor) – Man; James Oxley (tenor) – Man; Simon Birchall (bass) – Man
The English Consort Choir
The English Consort/Trevor Pinnock
rec. June 1991, Libretto available at: www.brilliantoperacollection.com
BRILLIANT CLASSICS 93928 [54:23 + 38:52] 
Experience Classicsonline


Although I have described “King Arthur” above as an Opera in 5 Acts, it is really a play by John Dryden which required elaborate scenic effects and had occasional sections with music by Purcell. Dryden described it as “A dramatick opera” but that should not be understood in a modern sense. Performing the music on its own gives little idea of any drama that there is in the original. The musical sections consist indeed of a series of disconnected scenes for characters who are for the most part peripheral to the action of the play. Many modern stage performances have tended to alter or even abandon much of Dryden’s text, thus giving little idea of the intended effect of the original. A fascinating article by Professor Curtis Price with these discs explains the complex history of the play which was written first to celebrate the silver jubilee of King Charles II and later revised to express a very different message after the Glorious Revolution.
 

The action derives from episodes in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s “History of the Kings of England”. Despite Dryden’s complaint that he had been “oblig’d to cramp his Verses to make them rugged to the Reader, that they may be harmonious to the Hearer” it can seem to listeners today that it is a pity that he did not go even further by allowing Purcell to write music for some of the more inherently dramatic scenes. In concert performance it is common to interpose a brief spoken narrative between the various sections. The notes with these discs supply that function, and the libretto is available on line. Although I find this an inherently extremely inconvenient device it is certainly better than not having it available at all. 

As you might expect from a cast largely drawn from singers with much experience in singing music of this period, and with the English Consort’s choir and orchestra, the performance is idiomatic and often extremely beautiful. Only rarely, however, could it be described as dramatic. The long first scene, for instance, depicts a heathen sacrifice by the Saxons before battle. In form, as Prof. Price remarks, it resembles a verse anthem. Unfortunately in this performance it also sounds like one, with the Saxons sounding like a particularly genteel Anglican cathedral choir. Without wanting anything approaching coarseness it is possible to inject greater urgency and sense of drama into this scene, which goes for very little. It ends with an exhortation to “quaff the juice that makes the Britons bold”. There can be little doubt here that the Priestess can be referring to nothing stronger than tea. 

I was therefore disappointed in the overall impact of this recording. However I must emphasize that there are moments, indeed much more than moments, of considerable musical beauty and character. The Chaconne at the start, sometimes included in other performances at the very end as The Grand Dance, is played with both vigour and grace, as is the succeeding Overture. “Fairest Isle” is sung slowly but with mesmerizing control and beauty of tone and phrasing by Nancy Argenta, and the two daughters of the stream manage to make their invitation to Arthur to join their naked swimming extremely and appropriately seductive. Nonetheless the lack of much in the way of dramatic feeling remains a problem. Oddly all of the otherwise sober approach is set aside for “Your hay it is mown” which is sung with rustic accents and cries of “ouh, ah” and so on. Perhaps by the time this was recorded something stronger had been substituted for the tea.

However, despite all my negative comments, this remains a very well recorded and never less than efficiently and idiomatically performed version of a work that deserves to be in every collection. It is only because it is one of Purcell’s works which seems to have the most potential for effective dramatic performance that I complain at anything less than that. If you do not have a recording of it in your collection this would fill that gap inexpensively, but I very much hope that a version will appear during this anniversary year which does so much better. 

John Sheppard




 


Advertising on
Musicweb


Donate and keep us afloat

 

New Releases

Naxos Classical
All Naxos reviews

Hyperion recordings
All Hyperion reviews

Foghorn recordings
All Foghorn reviews

Troubadisc recordings
All Troubadisc reviews



all Bridge reviews


all cpo reviews

Divine Art recordings
Click to see New Releases
Get 10% off using code musicweb10
All Divine Art reviews


All Eloquence reviews

Lyrita recordings
All Lyrita Reviews

 

Wyastone New Releases
Obtain 10% discount

Subscribe to our free weekly review listing

 

 


EXPLORE MUSICWEB INTERNATIONAL

Making a Donation to MusicWeb

Writing CD reviews for MWI

About MWI
Who we are, where we have come from and how we do it.

Site Map

How to find a review

How to find articles on MusicWeb
Listed in date order

Review Indexes
   By Label
      Select a label and all reviews are listed in Catalogue order
   By Masterwork
            Links from composer names (eg Sibelius) are to resource pages with links to the review indexes for the individual works as well as other resources.

Themed Review pages

Jazz reviews

 

Discographies
   Composer
      Composer surveys
   National
      Unique to MusicWeb -
a comprehensive listing of all LP and CD recordings of given works
.
Prepared by Michael Herman

The Collector’s Guide to Gramophone Company Record Labels 1898 - 1925
Howard Friedman

Book Reviews

Complete Books
We have a number of out of print complete books on-line

Interviews
With Composers, Conductors, Singers, Instumentalists and others
Includes those on the Seen and Heard site

Nostalgia

Nostalgia CD reviews

Records Of The Year
Each reviewer is given the opportunity to select the best of the releases

Monthly Best Buys
Recordings of the Month and Bargains of the Month

Comment
Arthur Butterworth Writes

An occasional column

Phil Scowcroft's Garlands
British Light Music articles

Classical blogs
A listing of Classical Music Blogs external to MusicWeb International

Reviewers Logs
What they have been listening to for pleasure

Announcements

 

Community
Bulletin Board

Give your opinions or seek answers

Reviewers
Past and present

Helpers invited!

Resources
How Did I Miss That?

Currently suspended but there are a lot there with sound clips


Composer Resources

British Composers

British Light Music Composers

Other composers

Film Music (Archive)
Film Music on the Web (Closed in December 2006)

Programme Notes
For concert organizers

External sites
British Music Society
The BBC Proms
Orchestra Sites
Recording Companies & Retailers
Online Music
Agents & Marketing
Publishers
Other links
Newsgroups
Web News sites etc

PotPourri
A pot-pourri of articles

MW Listening Room
MW Office

Advice to Windows Vista users  
Questionnaire    
Site History  
What they say about us
What we say about us!
Where to get help on the Internet
CD orders By Special Request
Graphics archive
Currency Converter
Dictionary
Magazines
Newsfeed  
Web Ring
Translation Service

Rules for potential reviewers :-)
Do Not Go Here!
April Fools




Return to Review Index

Untitled Document


Reviews from previous months
Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details
We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board
Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.