Chandos has been assiduous in reissuing classic recordings from
Richard Hickox’s legacy. The artwork places the original
cover in the centre, handily reminding one of its first appearance,
whilst taking the opportunity to expand the performer details
toward the bottom of the page; a nice compromise.
This is a VW disc offering the first ever recordings of A
Cotswold Romance and The Death of Tintagiles. The
Romance is a cantata crafted out of the ballad-opera Hugh
the Drover (1910-14) by Maurice Jacobson in collaboration
with the composer, the ‘new’ conflation appearing
for the first time in 1951. VW had been lucky back in 1924 when
highlights had been recorded on 78 with Tudor Davies and Mary
Lewis in the title roles, and Malcolm Sargent taking what I
think was his first conducting job in the studios: Pearl GEM128
LP and Pearl SHECD9468. Lucky because this wasn’t an obvious
recording project, but the work had only just had its first
public performances and its then newness had clearly made it
an attractive proposition. Though VW revised it over the years,
it had fallen by the wayside; so this VW-Jacobson rejuvenation
was an effective solution.
The oratorio is in ten discrete sections, and is full of the
expected heartiness and rustic vigour. Hearty street cries prove
invigorating and so does, in the opening The Men of Costall,
one of those dyed-in-the-wool folk melodies that it turns out
VW invented. The bustling and vigorous opening sets the tone
for what follows. There is a yearning ballad, a big-boned
example of VW in Songs of Travel mode, a charming duet,
tenderly affecting but not too sickly, and plenty of gutsy writing
for the excellent chorus. Alone and Friendless - an Anglicisation
of the German Romantics’ favoured motto, though I doubt
the allusion was meant - offers a mini slow movement of
sorts, before VW unleashes his famous boxing match, followed
by its exultant crowing and choral celebration. After the drama
and turnabouts, the work ends in quiet resolution, ushered in
by the harps. There’s many an up and down in the plot,
conveyed convincingly by Thomas Randle and Rose Mannion, with
Matthew Brook as the baritone, heard but briefly. Randle doesn’t
have Tudor Davies’ heft but 1924 is a long time ago.
The companion work was written as incidental music to Maurice
Maeterlinck’s The Death of Tintagiles in 1913.
It’s fascinating to hear cross-currents from A London
Symphony as well as some lightly sweeping Nordic violin
writing in the opening scene, by some distance the most extensive
single piece of music. The forlorn quality of the writing, and
its evocative archaisms are apposite, given the story’s
subject matter. VW evokes pregnant foreboding well, though the
other sections offer little more than scene setting. That said
one can hear ghostly hints of the Tallis Fantasia and
even, at one point, Dives and Lazarus, yet to be written;
indeed the embryonic seed of moments from the Fifth Symphony
to come.
These are hardly essential acquisitions even for British music
lovers. VW admirers need to be ardent lovers to want this disc.
But if they are they will be rewarded with outstanding performances
and recordings, and guaranteed permanency on their shelves.
Jonathan Woolf
See also reviews by Ian
Lace, Michael
Cookson and Rob
Barnett
Vaughan Williams
review index
Rosa Mannion (soprano) - Mary