Edward ELGAR (1857-1934)
Cello Concerto in E minor Op.85 (1918) [27:27]
The Dream of Gerontius Op.38 (1900) [95:05]
Jian Wang (cello); Mark Tucker (tenor); Lilli Paasikivi (mezzo); David Wilson-Johnson
(bass-baritone)
Sydney Philharmonia Chorus and TSO Chorus
Sydney Symphony/Vladimir Ashkenazy
rec. Concert Hall of the Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, 31 October
2008 (concerto); 19-20 November 2008
ABC CLASSICS 476 4297 [63:39 + 58:53]
Here is a little paradox about this most personal of Elgar’s great choral
works; its early performances – both the good and the bad – were entrusted
to non-British conductors. Indeed, after the infamous debacle of Hans Richter’s
first performance in Birmingham it was another German, Julius Buths, who recognising
the genius of the work gave it the performance it deserved. Yet since that
time, with its popularity and stature ensured within the British Isles, it
has struggled for sustained international recognition. If that is true in
the concert-hall it is especially true in the recording studio. A far from
rigorous examination of the catalogue would seem to suggest that prior to
the version considered here there seem to be only two performances conducted
by ‘foreign’ conductors; Sakari Oramo in Birmingham and Leon Botstein with
his American Symphony Orchestra. Remarkably, neither Leonard Slatkin nor Georg
Solti for all their extended catalogues of Elgar’s works have commercially
recorded Gerontius. So, all the more reason to want to welcome
this new non-British interpretation from an Australian orchestra and chorus
with the slight surprise of Vladimir Ashkenazy on the podium. Ashkenazy has
no extended history of performing British music let alone Elgar but this disc
is one of a series that he has made recently implying some kind of Damascene
conversion. It enters a crowded fielded with classic versions from Boult and
Barbirolli jostling for supremacy with recent successes from Elder, Davis
and Hickox. That is not forgetting the special insights Britten and Pears
brought to their version.
I really wanted this performance to be an unqualified triumph if only to prove
that there does not need to be any special pleading for Elgar, that his music
is not parochial and limited. At its best this is a very good version – curiously
at either end of the work. In both the Prelude and the closing Angel’s
Farewell Ashkenazy finds a perfect sense of solemn majesty with long-breathed
phrases lovingly sustained. In the latter he is helped, no inspired, by the
singing of Finnish mezzo Lilli Paasikivi. Her performance throughout is the
stellar contribution to this recording. Her voice has exactly the right contralto
richness with none of the matronly wobble. Her pronunciation is perfect but
at the heart of her interpretation is a sense of gentle ecstasy that graces
every passage she sings in Part II. David Wilson-Johnson is as safe a pair
of hands as might be expected of a singer who has recorded all the major Elgarian
roles for baritone. My only surprise was that I do not think he has recorded
Gerontius before. I prefer his Angel of the Agony to his Priest – his engagement
with the supplicating text of the former is more palpable and he cannot match
the likes of Robert Lloyd for Boult for sepulchral majesty in the latter.
Mark Tucker in the title role is more of an acquired taste. His biography
in the liner focuses on his remarkable career as a singer of major baroque
and classical roles. This might imply that the larger romantic roles would
find him underpowered at climaxes. This is exactly how it sounds to me here.
The quiet reflective passages are quite gorgeous, sung with a beautifully
floated tone and complete identification with the text. As soon as Tucker
has to ‘fight’ the orchestra the tone hardens, the clarity of the text is
swallowed up and a disfiguringly wide vibrato emerges. It is an object lesson
in why Boult turned to Nicolai Gedda. The decision was much questioned at
the time but the fact remains that many fine British lyric tenors have foundered
on the operatic rocks of this role. Many other fine tenors have not dared
to try.
The Sydney Symphony and their associated choruses play well; indeed the orchestra
sound considerably more alert than they do in the coupled concerto. The chorus
are well trained and disciplined although they are not as crisp or characterful
as some. Although Decca flagged this seems to be an ABC managed recording.
The sound is very good in the modern day fashion for rather efficiently anonymous
concert-hall engineering. The audience is occasionally audible but not in
a majorly distracting fashion and there is no applause. I say efficiently
anonymous coming to this recording from a recent bout of listening to classic
Decca recordings from the 1950s to the 1970s. There was such personality as
well as clarity to those recordings that modern efforts seem well … efficiently
anonymous. Try Britten’s take on Gerontius as just one example. This
was never deemed one of the great Decca recordings technically but the layering
of the choir and semi-chorus, the impact of the orchestra and the general
handling of the sound field is so much more interesting before you even begin
to debate the actual interpretation. In defence of the ABC engineers I should
say that the brass are very well caught as is a pleasingly tummy-rumbling
organ.
The Dream of Gerontius is an elusive and uneven work and one that
is not easy to make work – ask Hans Richter. As mentioned before, Ashkenazy
at his best is very good but as a whole I feel he does not yet have the Elgarian
idiom fully absorbed. Aside from the overtly Catholic text the elements of
the work that disturbed the Anglican-centric sensibilities of the early establishment
were the explosions of emotionalism which seemed quite at odds with the English
Oratorio tradition and as such ‘not quite nice’. The best conductors understand
that this is music that needs to simmer before erupting into the most passionate
music any British composer had written at that time. Whether because technically
he cannot take the choir with him or the mood eludes him Ashkenazy underplays
these eruptions – Praise to the Holiest and the Devil’s Chorus
are two of the most obvious examples. I raise the issue of technique because
there are several momentary lapses in co-ordination throughout the performance
that would seem to indicate a lack of total clarity from the stick. Interestingly,
there is very little that is controversial here; an oddly jaunty Be Merciful
in Part I and a staid Devil’s Chorus in Part II seem miscalculations
rather than anything else. Ashkenazy commendably avoids the greatest Elgarian
sin of slowing up before the composer marks a slowing up but conversely he
does obsess over some of the textual detail such as giving too much prominence
to occasional shortenings of notes which were there to make sure that they
were not played too long not extra short! In direct comparison with Oramo
the latter is a performance that challenges convention far more blatantly.
Whilst I might not agree with every aspect I admire the through-thought and
conception there far more than the offering here. If this were not directed
by Ashkenazy this performance would not be released as it is; just because
it is by Ashkenazy does not mean it should be released as it is.
The coupling – placed first on the disc – is another masterpiece, the late
great Cello Concerto. This was recorded some weeks before Gerontius
and although it seems to be the same technical team the orchestral sound is
not as well caught – too prominent trombones and the strings seem recessed
although the principal clarinet plays with supreme beauty. These days it is
a given that technically any performance will be up to the mark and so it
proves here. The soloist Jian Wang is an international soloist with a biography
listing most of the world’s major orchestras. For all his competence I find
him a strangely unengaging soloist. Again, it is that elusive sense of aching
regret expressed through a veil of emotional reserve that seems to elude him
and indeed the orchestra. The opening flowing 12/8 theme has rarely sounded
so diffident and indeed cool than it does here. Part of the problem is that
when Wang tries to inject some passion he runs fractionally ahead of the orchestra
[first movement figure 5]. In the second movement he chooses to ignore most
of Elgar’s carefully graded pushes and pulls to the tempo, then adds some
unmarked of his own and worst of all hares off at a tremendous lick leaving
the orchestral strings in his wake. There are moments of beauty – the third
movement Adagio can never fail to move but conversely the tear-laden
reprise of that material just before the concerto ends is a relative disappointment.
Again, the sense of a performance lacking real vision or coherence is inescapable.
The concerto need far less ‘special pleading’ from non-British players than
the oratorio and has received many fine and famous recordings. This performance
does not challenge that list. The liner includes the full text of the oratorio
in English only as well as an interesting article linking Gerontius
with General Gordon in Elgar’s eyes.
Ultimately a rather disappointing set. Oramo proves that there is no ‘secret
formula’ to Elgar or indeed any English music that limits its appeal or comprehension
to international interpreters or audiences but conversely Ashkenazy’s decided
mixed performance proves its no easy ride either. Worth hearing for a magnificent
Angel but thereafter only fitfully engaging.
Nick Barnard
Ultimately a rather disappointing set. Fitfully engaging.
see also review by John Quinn