Robert SAXTON (b. 1953)
The Wandering Jew (2010) [93:35]
Roderick Williams – (baritone) (Wandering Jew)
Tim Mirfin – (baritone) (Jesus/Beggar)
Teresa Cahill – (soprano) (Widowed Mother)
Hilary Summers – (mezzo) (Fortune Teller)
Louise Winter – (mezzo) (Kundry)
Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts – (tenor) (Faust)
Brindley Sherratt – (bass) (Mephistopheles)
Graeme Danby – (bass) (Odin)
Jeremy White – (bass) (Old Man).
Actors: Simon Paisley Day, Jennie Staller, Lydia Kalian, Rudi Goodman
BBC Singers and BBC Symphony Orchestra/Andre de Ridder
rec. 18-19 December 2008 and 12-16 October 2009, BBC Maida Vale Studio I,
London
NMC RECORDINGS NMC D170 [75:14 + 22:21] 
Robert Saxton’s track record with this genre was established to a certain
extent with the 1991 chamber opera Caritas,
and his catalogue includes numerous vocal works both religious and secular.
The Wandering Jew is an opera recorded for BBC Radio 3, and, as a work
specifically created for this medium rather than the stage, is ideally suited
for CD release.
The title comes from a book by Stefan Heym, an East German author who, as
Robert Saxton outlines in his booklet notes, “used the legend of the Wandering
Jew and, in his version, his travelling companion Lucifer - likewise expelled
from Heaven - to expose the corruption, emptiness and hypocrisy of the German
Democratic Republic by means of a multi-levelled narrative.” Saxton doesn’t
use this narrative directly, but its resonances inform Saxton’s adaptation
of the classic tale of the Jewish cobbler who turns Jesus away, refusing to
aid his suffering under the weight of his own cross on the way to Golgotha.
This is a superb production, and quite easy to follow even without the libretto
to hand, though this is printed in full in the NMC’s excellent and extensive
booklet. This includes a well written synopsis, and some description of the
electronic sound treatment by Anthony Pitts. The cast is very strong, and
Roderick Williams in the title role deserves particular mention, keeping everything
together and maintaining dramatic interest as the vital central character,
his spoken narration perfectly in keeping with the BBC ethos of quality for
which this opera stands as a prime example. There are a few moments where
the text could be just about anything however. I’m aware of the diction problems
for sopranos at extreme registers, and it’s a mystery to me why Saxton makes
Teresa Cahill as the Widowed Mother sing so high for her conversation with
our Wandering Jew as the Children sleep in CD 1 track 8, which inevitably
results in some purple patches of remarkably vague textual delivery.
Largely conventional in terms of the voices and orchestra setting, there are
some sections where electronics enhance the sense of mystery or define the
character of deities. The voice of Odin for instance, “This mortal god”, is
given an ocean of resonance, his cries given some filtering and upper harmonic
boost to heighten the superhuman drama. These effects are used relatively
sparingly however, and Robert Saxton’s idiom is richly colourful in terms
of his harmonic pallet and orchestration. The spirit of Tippett is never too
far away in this piece, and while I would hesitate to point to derivative
elements in Saxton’s score, those who appreciate Tippett’s musical language
and transparency and directness of expression will find much to relish here.
There’s perhaps a whiff of Stravinsky as well later on, and it’s hard not
to hear some kind of link with The Rake’s Progress during the scene
at the Mystery Play.
Any minor dramatic or technical weaknesses in The Wandering Jew are
by far outstripped by its many strengths, and Saxton’s master stroke is in
bringing his central character through two thousand years of time and history,
confronting him with the German death camps of World War II. The chorus of
spirits stands not only for the victims of that holocaust, but represents
all such victims both past, present and future. In the end, the Wandering
Jew’s function is movingly acknowledged and accepted as the electronically
ethereal Angels sing, “Go, wander, journey, witness / Today and tomorrow.”
This is a powerful and extremely rewarding contemporary work which deserves
the widest possible audience.
Dominy Clements
Powerful, rewarding, and deserving of the widest audience.