This is indeed a great story enshrining the real values based on racial equality. It is sometimes revolting to read the ways of the past, in which Negroe slaves were treated as if they were pieces of cattle or furniture to be sold at a bid like dogs. I would go as far as saying that this was America's shame and in particular representative of the Southern states cruelty to the black race. Beecher Stowe's narrative is magnificent, it weaves its way through the lives of many and discusses the importance of freedom in the context of a spiritual deliverance.

Indeed Tom is De Grieux's master for if the latter breaks the spirit and the bones with his brutality, the former remains the winner as he does not give in to torture. The story progresses with remarkable fluency from the very vestiges of the horrors of family separation up to the end of the tearful reunion, the only logical conclusion to such a tale of passion. Slavery is a destructive factor, it limits the possibilities whilst demonstrating the limits of man's inhumanity to man. However all is not sad and dark as the characters of George Shelby and Augustine St Clare demonstrate.

St Clare is the particular fulcrum of the story with his unflinching love for Tom and his sense of desolation in being alone after the death of little Eva who in her pious simplicity is Tom's sister in the faith. And Tom's benevolent character is a lifeline to all, even if the devilish brutality of De Grieux is only momentarily quelled. Tears must be shed in the wonderful conclusion when the wheel turns full circle with George and Eliza Harris free in Canada and the whole Shelby estate freed by their benevolent master, a turning point in the history of America that was to follow so bitterly in the Civil War. The figure of God, in love and benevolence is also a constant leitmotif, indeed Tom's martyrdom is definitely not in vain.

Liza Ross's reading is absolutely exceptional, quite simply the greatest I've ever heard (and that includes David Timson). She turns on that Negro accent with astonishing vitality and her heart-rending enunciations have to be heard to be believed. The music is also delightful with Berwald, Rubenstein and Hartmann making distinctly ideal bedfellows to the American story. This is indeed a classic and deserves to be heard by all, as a lesson of the horrors of slavery and of the beauty of love and redemption.

Reviewer

Gerald Fenech

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