Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Sir John in Love - an opera in four acts (1924-28) [126:26]
Heddle Nash (tenor) - Shallow; Parry Jones (baritone) - Sir Hugh Evans; Gerald Davies (tenor) - Slender; Andrew Gold (tenor) - Peter Simple; Denis Dowling (baritone) - Page; Roderick Jones (baritone) - Sir John Falstaff; John Kentish (tenor) - Bardolph; Denis Catlin (baritone) - Nym; Forbes Robinson (bass) - Pistol; April Cantelo (soprano) - Anne Page; Laelia Finneberg (soprano) - Mrs Page; Marion Lowe (mezzo) - Mrs Ford; James Johnston (tenor) - Fenton; Francis Loring (baritone) - Dr. Caius; Ronald Lewis (bass) - Rugby; Pamela Bowden (alto) - Mrs Quickly; Owen Brannigan (baritone) - The Host of the ‘Garter Inn’; John Cameron (bass) - Ford
Sadler’s Wells Chorus, Philharmonia Orchestra/Stanford Robinson
BBC studio recording, broadcast 12-13 February 1956. Mono. ADD
English libretto included
LYRITA ITTER BROADCAST COLLECTION REAM.2122 [64:32 + 61:54]
Here is another release of great importance from the treasure
trove of off-air recordings made by the late Richard Itter using his
state-of-the-art recording equipment at home.
As Paul Conway observes in his admirable essay accompanying these discs,
Vaughan Williams’ operas have not fared terribly well, yet “he
was incontestably a man of the theatre.” When I finally got to
see a staging of Pilgrim’s Progress a few years ago (review)
I found that, in the hands of a generally sensitive producer, music
that I had loved for some forty years came vividly to life on the stage.
So Mr Conway’s judgement is spot-on. However, that remains the
only staging of a VW opera that I have ever seen, so thank goodness
I’ve been able to get to know all of them through recordings.
There are two fairly modern recordings of Sir John in Love
in the catalogue. The most recent is from Chandos and is conducted by
Richard Hickox (review
~ review).
In 1974 Meredith Davies conducted it for EMI. Reviewing
the EMI set back in 2003, Rob Barnett commented “Of this recording
and performance golden opinions remain …” and that’s
a judgement with which I concur (see also
second review). For one thing, Davies had a very strong cast which
reads almost like a Who’s Who of British singers of that era.
Among those to be found in Windsor on that occasion were John Noble
(Page), Richard Van Allen (Pistol), Felicity Palmer (Mrs Page), Wendy
Eathorne (Anne Page), Robert Tear (Fenton), Helen Watts (Mrs Quickly)
and Robert Lloyd (Ford). Dominating the proceedings as the Fat Knight
was Raimund Herincx. I doubt if any of the EMI cast had essayed their
roles on stage because Paul Conway tells us that there were no professional
stagings between 1958 and 2006 (review).
Nonetheless, the Davies recording was a fine achievement and filled
a major gap in the Vaughan Williams discography.
The cast assembled by the BBC in 1956 was also a strong one –
note the presence of such luminaries as April Cantelo, Owen Brannigan,
John Cameron, Forbes Robinson, Parry Jones and Heddle Nash. The singer
portraying Falstaff had taken the part on stage: Roderick Jones
was Falstaff in the first professional staging, mounted by Sadler’s
Wells Opera in 1946. James Johnston and Owen Brannigan also appeared
in that 1946 production, taking the roles that they reprised for the
BBC in this present recording.
VW compiled the libretto for Sir John in Love himself. His
main source was Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor,
the text of which he abridged, but he also added words from a number
of English poets and playwrights besides some passages from other plays
by The Bard. The music is delightful - and often sparkling - from start
to finish and Paul Conway is right to point out the score’s “joyous
songfulness”. As he also reminds us, in the period that he was
composing the opera VW wrote a number of works in which he moved from
the easy lyricism of Hugh the Drover to a more austere, even
acerbic style in works such as Sancta Civitas and the Concerto
Accademico (both 1925) – or to the mystical expression of
Flos Campi (also 1925). It would not be long after the completion
of Sir John in Love that the powerful utterance that is Job
appeared, in 1930. That’s a very well made point. Much of Sir
John in Love is, on the surface, a delightful entertainment but
there are passages that point to the future; I’m thinking particularly
of the eerie orchestration when, in Act IV, Scene 1 Mrs Page relates
the legend of Herne the Hunter (CD2, track 9).
Vaughan Williams included a large cast of characters when adapting Shakespeare’s
play and the result is that many scenes feature busy ensemble writing.
I’m unsure how well this would work on stage but in a recording
and with the libretto to hand one can follow the action with ease. Most
of the time VW’s touch is sure though I think the opera has a
few passages that are dramatically weak. Chief among these is the opening
of Act III, Scene 2 where it’s hard to see that Sir Hugh Evans’
reading from the Bible serves much useful purpose. Earlier in the opera,
during Act I, the first appearance of Dr Caius (“Vere is dat knave
Rugby?”) with the character singing in cod French is a passage
that I wish VW had excised. Overall though the dramatic pacing is sure-footed
and the principal characters make their respective marks.
In this it helps very much that the singers are demonstrably ‘inside’
their characters and that Stanford Robinson conducts the score extremely
well. I very much enjoyed Roderick Jones’ portrayal of Falstaff.
He seems to me to convey the various aspects of the central character’s
make-up, including his faded chivalry, his pomposity, his mistaken belief
that he is still a ladies’ man, and his genial roguery. At all
times I found Jones to be believable and he also sings very well. So
too does John Cameron as Ford – his splendid, courtly tone as
he portrays Ford’s contrition towards his wife (Act IV Scene 1)
is a splendid example of his excellence. Owen Brannigan is ideal as
the genial Mine Host; you can just imagine him dispensing ale and sack.
April Cantelo is a charming Anne Page. She would have been just short
of her 28th birthday when this recording was made and her
lovely tone is well suited to this music and to the portrayal of a young
girl. James Johnston sings Fenton and his singing has appropriately
ringing ardour. However, as I listened I wondered if his voice really
suggested a young man and, on looking up his biography, I found that
he was 52 at the time of this performance. The scenes between the two
of them – especially in Act I and in Act III Scene 1 - go very
well but Wendy Eathorne and Robert Tear are perhaps better matched on
the Meredith Davies recording.
Among the rest of the large cast Pamela Bowden (Mrs Quickly) gives a
very strong performance and Denis Dowling is excellent in the role of
Page. In truth the whole company does well. The Philharmonia plays with
sparkle and precision for Stanford Robinson – and with pleasing
warmth in the many lyrical passages. The chorus doesn’t make an
appearance until Act III but thereafter they make a good contribution.
The performance was well recorded by the BBC though, inevitably, one
is conscious that the sound is six decades old – in fact on the
day that I am writing this review it will be sixty years tomorrow since
the first instalment of the broadcast. The singers are in the foreground
with the orchestra behind them. Occasionally when the orchestra is playing
loudly – in the Prelude to Act II Scene 1, for instance –
one is aware of the limitations of the recording but overall I think
we get a pretty good aural picture of the performance. There’s
one small oddity: at the change between Scenes 1 and 2 of Act II we
hear the second scene introduced by a perfectly modulated BBC announcer.
This is the only time that an announcement intrudes and at first I wondered
why this had been left in. I soon realised, however, that there is a
very soft sustained note on the double basses between the scenes –
I suspect it was prolonged during this performance to coincide with
the short announcement – and it would have been impossible to
edit out the announcer.
As is their wont, Lyrita have gone to town on this release. There are
two booklets. The first contains an excellent introductory essay by
Paul Conway and a synopsis of the action. The second has the full libretto.
Richard Itter’s recording of the BBC broadcast has been transferred
from acetates and restored by Norman White. He’s done an excellent
job.
I think that anyone who wants to discover Sir John in Love
will turn first to the Meredith Davies recording. That’s only
natural because the EMI studio sound gives a much fuller, more detailed
representation of VW’s score. Davies also benefits from a very
fine cast headed by the ebullient and nuanced Falstaff of Raimund Herincx.
Roderick Jones is a terrific Falstaff but for me Herincx just edges
it. Compare the two, for example, in Falstaff’s exhausted, indignant
monologue at the start of Act IV Scene 2 (“The Windsor bell hath
struck twelve”). Jones is very characterful here, as he is throughout,
but Herincx finds even more both in the words and the music.
However, even if the Davies recording remains the obvious library choice
there’s a huge amount to be gained – and great pleasure
to be derived – from listening to this 1956 performance. It’s
a cause for celebration that the first ever recording of this delightful
score should have been made available and once again collectors are
hugely indebted to Richard Itter and to the Lyrita Recorded Edition
Trust. This important release is a mandatory purchase for lovers of
Vaughan Williams’ music.
John
Quinn
see also review by Paul
Corfield Godfrey
Editor's Note: Readers may recall that there
was one other BBC Radio 3 production of Sir John in Love. There
the conductor was Brian Priestman and Sir John was sung by Owen Brannigan.
The BBC Chorus was joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra. This was first
broadcast on 28 June 1970 but was repeated during RVW centenary year
on 15 October 1972. The cast comprised Shallow, a country Justice -
Leslie Fyson, Sir Hugh Evans - Alan Opie, Slender - Roger Norrington
(yes), Bardolph - Robert Thomas, Pistol - Eric Stannard, Peter Simple
- Leslie Fry, Fenton - David Hillman, Doctor Caius - Raymond Hayter,
Rugby - Harold Lum, Mistress Quickly - Helen Watts, Ford - Gordon Farrell,
Mistress Ford - Margaret Lensky and Mistress Page - April Cantelo. The
producer was Brian Trowell. RB
