This is very definitely
Handel as edited and arranged by Beecham.
There are reorchestrations and wholesale
removals, reordering and reshaping.
Out goes the Levite, and the whole tenor
of the work sheds ecclesiastical trappings;
love is the theme of Part I and those
familiar with modern editions will note
that Zadok doesn’t intercede his recitative
and aria between Solomon and the Queen
in Part I. Choruses are reassigned –
not least From the censer curling
rise and the dramatic Praise
the Lord with harp and tongue
which now serves as the finale. All
these things Beecham outlined in a note
for the original LP edition, faithfully
reprinted here (I was amused to see
how what the rest of us call the Judgement
of Solomon Beecham oratorically and
rather sarcastically designates as the
scene of Solomon with the two women
contending for ownership of the child).
So let us put to one
side talk of comparative versions and
enjoy this Handel-Beecham Solomon for
what it is; a work refashioned not to
suit the conductor’s whims or caprices,
but thoughtfully and elegantly revised
in the interests of perceived naturalness
and compactness. There are a huge number
of things to enjoy. Firstly of course
the grandeur and magnificence of Beecham’s
treatment of the orchestral score –
the colour, nobility and clarity. Then
the excellent singing of his eponymous
choral Society whose veiled and reverent
singing of With pious heart and holy
tongue is moving. If this isn’t
how we do it now then so much the worse
for us. Alexander Young is clarion voiced
and inflects his recitative Imperial
Solomon with great subtlety (the
similarity of his voice here with the
young Robert Tear’s is notable). Sacred
raptures is taken quite slowly which
forces Young to break every now and
then; I sense he wanted to move it on
but Beecham holds steady - a quicker
pace would have made the divisions easier
to take. This is actually a test case
of Beecham’s personalised perception;
he might be somewhat ungenerous to his
singer but his rallentandi are full
of expressive and explosive depth and
he allows great, almost operatic, characterisation;
when Young sings too fierce to be
expressed it really does sound that
way for once; no bluster, just a steadily
inward, very interior phrase.
Elsie Morison’s Bless’d
the day is clear as a bell and agile
and she lives the Beecham aesthetic
with palpable enthusiasm. John Cameron
is both noble and a lover; he is prayerful
in Thus the rolling surges rise and
duets characterfully with Morison in
Welcome as the dawn of day. In
her two smaller roles Lois Marshall
proves every bit as adept as her colleagues;
her Act II aria Will the sun forget
to streak is especially fine. How
typically Beechamesque though is the
mighty cymbal crash that at the end
of the chorus Now a diff’rent measure
try and, no less, the proud trumpet
that courses thrillingly through the
Double Chorus that Beecham has placed
to end Part I, From the censer curling
rise. And indeed the extra phalanx
of low brass he asks for in Praise
the Lord where he inspires a chorale
type sound very different from, say,
the magnificently thrilling approach
of John Eliot Gardiner, amongst the
"moderns." I dare say hair
shirted brethren will berate the vulgarity,
but I loved it.
This set was presumably
taken from commercial LPs. There is
hiss at a high playback level and a
few very trivial ticks. One part of
the original recording that couldn’t,
obviously, be dealt with is the sometimes
abrupt change of acoustic, reflecting
the different recording dates (six days
in November 1955, three in December
of the same year and three in 1956).
It’s quite jarring to move from the
Nightingale Chorus to The
Arrival of the Queen of Sheba
(with an edit glitch separating them).
But never mind all that; this is the
first time Beecham’s Solomon has appeared
on CD. It’s a heartfelt, noble and stirring
achievement and, like the Boy King’s
tomb, full of wonderful things.
Jonathan Woolf
Beecham Choral Society 