This is a roll-call of some of the great and good British singers
of the first half of the twentieth century in recordings ranging
from early - the Furmedge sides aren’t dated - to 1948.
Some of the names are very familiar - Butt, Baillie, Widdop
- whilst others are much less so: Scotney, Furmedge, Anthony.
The theme is operatic and oratorio, predominantly the latter.
Another distinguishing feature is the frequently ad hoc nature
of the orchestral backing - usually anonymous bands directed
by competent directors.
Volume 1
Widdop’s Handel is one of the finest around. This heldentenor
had the gift of real style in oratorio. His recordings of Handel
in fact pre-date those of his sort-of rival, Heddle Nash, and
are every bit as effective, if not, at some moments, more so,
given the greater heft in Widdop’s armoury, and the stronger
placement of his lower register. This confident, masculine singing
is a real tonic in Acis and in the Jeptha extract it exemplifies
the British Oratorio tradition at something near its zenith.
His plangency and pathos belie his Wagnerian reputation. This
is wonderful singing, and one returns to him again and again
with no loss of admiration, though in this transfer the voice
seems fractionally lighter than I’m accustomed to hearing.
Trevor Anthony essays Timotheus in stout, beefy fashion accompanied
by Malcolm Sargent, in the only post-war recording, made in
1948. The voice doesn’t have the amplitude of Malcolm
McEachern, who famously recorded this on a Vocalion in the early
1920s, but the ‘ghastly band’ referred to in the
B section of the aria was not present in 1948, given Malcolm
Sargent’s direction - whilst it assuredly was back in
somewhat chaotic studio circumstances in 1924. Isobel Baillie’s
remarkably modern-sounding voice can be heard in the double-sided
The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation, as it was invariably
known: pure, striking, luminous and accompanied by Arnold Goldsbrough
at the height of the war, in 1941.
I’ve tried very hard over many years to like Norman Allin,
but I just can’t manage it. He’s also to be heard
in volume two of this series. He sounds, to me, as lugubrious
as ever in his two outings. Dora Labette shared something of
Baillie’s purity of tone, though not that remarkable sustained
intensity that came with it. Nevertheless she was an admirable
singer, heard here in Bishop and Haydn; and she has that rather
rare commodity; real charm. We journey backwards with the next
two singers. Clara Butt can be heard in her 1929 recordings.
Obviously she was long past her (remarkable) best - for which
one needs the discs made many years earlier. Heavier, indeed
sometimes marmoreal now, this is still noble and valiant. Edith
Furmedge can be heard in Mendelssohn and Gluck, where the transfers
are too cloudy. She was a solid mezzo, who sang on the abridged
Joe Batten recording of The Dream of Gerontius [Dutton
CDLX7044]. Finally there’s Evelyn Scotney, whose 1926
discs reveal a most attractive singer, though I’m not
so sure about her pitching.
This is another good selection in Dutton’s familiar style.
The transfers are smooth and attractive, though as so often
I find them too airless. No notes.
Volume 2
This is the second in the ‘Cavalcade’ series from
Dutton, a roster of stalwart British singers whose names resonate
down the ages (to those in the know), or are unknowns to those
not versed in singers of this generation from Britain. Talking
of which, Joseph Hislop, of whom more in a moment, would be
getting hot under his sporran to find himself described as an
‘English’ singer.
Things actually begin with a real English bass, Norman Allin.
As I’ve admitted before, I don’t ‘get’
Allin. In fact the pitching here seems to make him even more
lugubrious than usual. It’s a shame, as the intrinsic
roundness and depth of the voice is good. I just don’t
recall him singing anything really mobile. He’s followed
by the charming duo of Miriam Licette and Dennis Noble, a far
more sprightly couple altogether. The translation is frightfully
English, but then things were sung in the vernacular so one
can hardly blame the singers. They make a very plausible pairing
indeed in their Rossini. We head to the stygian depths of 1916
for Frank Mullings, one of the most remarkable and unshackled
of all British tenors. His Gounod doesn’t showcase the
more truculent side of his singing, which never beautiful in
itself, is almost always highly communicative.
Hislop next in a well known Wagnerian pairing presided over
by the knowing Barbirolli. It was made in 1929. Scottish birth
aside, one would never put Hislop above Walter Widdop as a British
Wagnerian. Some people rather dislike his voice in fact, a view
I’ve never shared. It’s a personable, useful bit
of singing. The rest of the disc is given over to recorded extracts
from William Wallace’s Maritana. This has been
reissued before but makes a useful entry here, given that it
includes Licette, Nash, Noble and also Clara Serena in the 1931
highlights set presided over by Clarence Raybould. Licette has
the charm for Of fairy wand had I the power - though
I think her very best singing comes in Scenes that are brightest
- and Noble has the masculine presence for it too. Nash has
the youthful ardour for Yes! Let me like a soldier fall
which is the one piece from Maritana that’s been
extracted for recital reissues devoted to the tenor. Clara Serena
is stalwart but has pitching problems.
An interesting disc then, that presents individual singers then
corrals some of them in that excerpted 1931 production. The
transfers are typical Dutton - very clean and smooth - I like
it less so, with more air. The notes consist of the plot of
Maritana - useful, I suppose, for those unfamiliar with
it. I know this is a lower price release, but artist biographies
would have been better, unless Dutton’s rationale is that
they’re preaching to the converted.
Jonathan Woolf
Performance details
Volume 1
Georg Frideric HANDEL (1685-1750)
Acis and Galatea - Love sounds the alarm [4:30]; Love in her
eyes sits playing [4:52]
Jephtha - Deeper and deeper still [4:12]; Waft her angels [4:40]
Walter Widdop (tenor) with orchestras conducted by Lawrance
Collingwood, and George W Byng, rec. 1925-30
Alexander’s Feast - Revenge! Timotheus cries [6:22]
Trevor Anthony (bass)/LSO/Malcolm Sargent, rec. 1948
Henry PURCELL (1659-1695)
The Blessed Virgin’s Expostulation [7:48]
Isobel Baillie (soprano); Arnold Goldsbrough (organ), rec. 1941
The Tempest - See! the heavens smile [3:49]; Arise, ye subterranean
winds [3:31]
Norman Allin (bass) with orchestras conducted by Robert Ainsworth
and Charles Prentice, rec. 1929
Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
The Creation - With verdure clad [4:23]
Henry BISHOP (1786-1855)
Should he upbraid [4:06]
Dora Labette (soprano) with orchestra, rec. 1932
Georg Frideric HANDEL
Messiah - He shall feed his flock [3:44]
Felix MENDELSSOHN (1809-1847)
Elijah - O rest in the Lord [3:27]
Clara Butt (contralto) with orchestra/Stanford Robinson, rec.
1929
Felix MENDELSSOHN
St. Paul - But the Lord is mindful [3:27]
Christoph Willibald von GLUCK (1714-1787)
Orfeo ed Euridice - Che farò [4:20]
Edith Furmedge (mezzo-soprano) with orchestra, undated
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1759-1795)
Don Giovanni - Mi tradi quell’ alma ingrate [3:27]; Non
mi dir [4:11]
Evelyn Scotney (soprano) with orchestra/George W Byng, rec.
1926
Volume 2
Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART (1759-1795)
The Magic Flute - O Isis and Osiris [3:45]; Within this hallowed
dwelling [4:25]
Norman Allin with orchestra/Lawrence Collingwood, rec. 1926
Gioachino ROSSINI (1792-1868)
The Barber of Seville - Can it be? Dare I believe thee? [5:22]
Miriam Licette (soprano) and Dennis Noble/orchestra/Clarence
Raybould, rec. 1927
Charles GOUNOD (1818-1893)
The Queen of Sheba - Lend me your aid [6:57]
Frank Mullings (tenor) with orchestra, rec, 1916
Giacomo MEYERBEER (1791-1864)
L’Africana “O paradise”
Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797-1848)
L’elisir d’amore “Down her soft cheek a pearly
tear”
Heddle Nash (tenor) with Orchestra conducted by Hamilton Harty
and Lawrence Collingwood, recorded 1926
Richard WAGNER (1813-1883)
Lohengrin “In distant lands” narration
Die Meistersinger “Morning was gleaming” Prize song
Joseph Hislop (tenor) with orchestra/John Barbirolli, recorded
1929
William WALLACE (1812-1865)
Highlights from Maritana
’tis the harp in the air [3:13]; The Angelus [3:06]; Of
fairy wand had I the power [3:28]; Pretty Gitana 3:09]; Alas!
Those chimes [3:15]; Turn on, old time [3:13]; Yes! Let me like
a soldier fall [2:47]; In happy moments day by day [2:40]; There
is a flower that bloometh [3:14]; Scenes that are brightest
[3:00]; Sainted mother [3:25];
Finale (Act II): What mystery? [3:28]
Miriam Licette, Clara Serena, Heddle Nash and Dennis Noble/Orchestra
and Grand Opera Company/Clarence Raybould, recorded 1931
Walter Widdop (tenor) Trevor Anthony (bass) Isobel Baillie (soprano)
Norman Allin (bass) Dora Labette (soprano) Clara Butt (contralto)
Edith Furmedge (mezzo-soprano) Evelyn Scotney (soprano) 
