Biographical Documentary and bonus of performances.
Sound Format: PCM Stereo, Subtitles: GB, DE, FR, ES, IT, Picture Format: 16:9/NTSC, Region Code: 0
ARTHAUS MUSIK DVD 101 473 [60:00 + 95:00 bonus]
Readers interested in the life and art of George London will be amply
rewarded in this DVD. It’s in two parts. The first, which runs to an hour
in length, examines his life, whilst the second, which clocks in at 95
minutes, presents London in performance.
That said, there are numerous clips of London in performance in the documentary
first part, a few of which recur in the second. It might be best to put
to one side the somewhat portentously subtitled Between Gods and Demons
and instead to concentrate on the documentary narrative of talking heads,
among them London’s own in archive interviews, and the footage of his
concerts and stage performances. His widow says he was ‘tragic and funny
at the same time’. It’s clear that he had a superior gift for languages.
He introduces his German TV performances in German, for instance, but
he was adept at French, Italian and Russian, and not simply one who learned
phonetically or superficially. I don’t know whether this qualifies him
for the title of ‘linguistic genius’, as one contributor describes him,
but he was certainly highly adept in any language in which he sang.
The Canadian-born bass-baritone - of Russian-Jewish background - enjoyed
a significant career in North America and Europe. He was also the first
non-Russian Boris in Moscow. There was an intensity and fervour about
him that prove compelling, and sometimes overwhelming, on stage. It’s
clear, too, that this was part of his emotional make-up. He liked and
understood women and had, it’s made clear, albeit discreetly, a strong
erotic charge.
Both documentary segment and the footage section present rare archive
material. We see his Figaro, Don Giovanni, Boris, Wotan (Rheingold)
and his Scarpia. This last is the famous fourteen minute Act II duet with
Callas, taken from the Ed Sullivan show, with Mitropoulos conducting,
though in terms of the bass-baritone’s own career trajectory it’s just
as interesting to watch his Mephisto (Gounod) and Iago (Otello).
Similarly there are excerpts from musicals, spirituals and recitals and
some examples of his lieder and song repertoire – principally Schubert
and Mussorgsky, though there are also excerpts from Ibert’s Chansons
de Don Quichotte.
He was without doubt a memorable singer, and his later travails make for
sad viewing. As to what extent he was a singer-actor that must remain
something of a vexed question. Like many a famed singer, he ‘acts with
the eyes’ though sometimes the rest of the body fails him, dramatically
speaking but at all times he certainly acts with the voice.
We hear from his widow, Nora, and from colleagues and critics; from Neil
Shicoff, Catherine Malfitano, Deborah Polaski and a number of others.
We don’t truly learn much about his student years and about his steady
ascent of the international ladder until his great successes in Bayreuth
and beyond. We can see that his singing and acting of spirituals was a
touch problematic; he lacks Tibbett’s gravitas, for one thing. His Scots
brogue in Lord Randall doesn’t convince as much as fellow Canadian
John Vickers’ singing of similar songs.
London was nevertheless an admired colleague and artist and this portrait
goes some way towards demonstrating how much he was liked. Importantly,
most of the source material is in reasonable shape and there need be no
worries on that score. I would say the second half is the more valuable,
given its intrinsic artistic merit.
Jonathan Woolf
An admired and much liked colleague and artist.
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