Long after their deaths composers like Tovey benefit from advocates
– the angels who bring about the renaissance of their otherwise
lost music. For Tovey that angel has been Peter Shore. Without
his advocacy – his commitment of time and expense and powers
of persuasion – Tovey’s music would hardly have struggled free
from the dust. Now we have Tovey’s Symphony
and his Cello
Concerto (the one derided by Constant Lambert) recorded
in new recordings from Martin Anderson’s Toccata and from Symposium
in historical and technologically flawed acetates from the 1930s.
His Piano Concerto shares a Hyperion
CD with the Mackenzie Concerto. There are quite a few chamber
works and the two piano trios can be heard on Toccata (review;
review).
I trust that someone will pick up the other chamber works including
the two string quartets. The score for the violin sonata seems
to have disappeared from sight – unless you know better.
The Prelude rises through smooth and serene foothills to assertive
heroic heights. This is an ascent also experienced in the orchestral
opening to Act 2 Part 2. It’s a triumphant blend of majestic
tributaries from Wagner and Brahms Fourth Symphony. The ticking-chugging-buzzing
energy of this score is remarkable. As illustration try the
start of the Act 2 Part 2. The heroic voices of Robert Johnston
and Michael Bundy place them securely in the helden realms of
Franz Schmidt’s Johannes in The Book of the Seven Seals.
Sally Silver and Yvonne Fontane have silvery pure voices, strong
on clarity of diction yet imbued with humanity and with the
ability to act with the voice. Sally Silver is also the ideal
soprano for the RVW operas. There is the same high nobility
in this opera as in that work – again Act 2 Part 2 makes the
case. The mastery of the brass benches and their roaring aureate
tone make you think of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. It
also for me reminded me of the exalted brass writing in Bruno
Walter’s First symphony (CPO 777 163-2). Tovey time after time
shows his mastery of pacing and timing of ideas and orchestration.
While I have mentioned Brahms and Wagner there are also some
deftly euphoric pages (tr. 6) that point towards the operatic
Korngold. It’s not all perfervid passion; Act 3, Part 2, Scene
6 is deliciously serene. The long Act 3 Scene 9 and finale rings
out with something approaching religious fervour constantly
lit by the blow-torch of white hot passions. There are times
when Tovey’s writing looks across the heights to the more possessed
pages of Delius’s A Mass of Life. That he could sustain
such invention across such a mammoth score is a matter of wonder.
The Ulster Orchestra do not sell short the majesty and mystery
of this score and attain and hold that level throughout approaching
eighty minutes. The Belfast Philharmonic Choir are simply magnificent
in grandeur of tone and in the most immaculately accurate unanimity
of singing as can be heard for example near the start of tr.
9 where the Dionysian atmosphere communicates in the most lustrous
tone.
A truly grand opera in which passion and Brahmsian nobility
commingle amid the most exalted lyrical writing.
The libretto is by Robert Calverley Trevelyan and the sung texts
can be down-loaded from the Dutton
Vocalion website.
The uphill gradient of getting this recording made can be traced
in Peter
Shore’s article. The journey has been well justified. The
disc serves to underline the need for a full and no doubt very
expensive recording of the whole opera. It also has intrinsic
and all-conquering satisfactions. It’s an extraordinary work.
Rob Barnett
Full Tracklist
Act 1, Prelude – Orchestra [5:47]
Act 1, Scene 1 – Ariadne, Phaedra, Theseus, King Minos, Chorus [12:20]
Act 2, Part 1, Scenes 6 & 7 – Ariadne, Theseus [5:20]
Act 2, Part 2, Opening – Orchestra [6:24]
Act 2, Part 2, Scenes 10, 11 & 13 – Orchestra, Theseus, Phaedra [7:28]
Act 3, Part 1, Scenes 1 & 5 – Phaedra, Chorus [13:37]
Act 3, Part 2, Scene 6 – Chromis [6:27]
Act 3, Part 2, Scene 7 – Ariadne [6:05]
Act 3, Part 2, Scene 9 & Finale – Dionysus, Ariadne, Chorus [14:15]
Sally Silver (soprano); Yvonne Fontane (mezzo); Robert Johnston
(tenor); Michael Bundy (baritone) 
