This
comic opera was the last to be fully
completed by Sullivan before his untimely
death in 1900. One might assume that
his musical gifts were by then on the
wane, but despite his ill-health and
the likelihood of being in continual
pain during composition, the Rose
of Persia contains delightfully
warm moments. It certainly deserves
a worthy place in the Savoy Opera repertoire.
Its libretto by Basil Hood is written
in Gilbertian style and has some typically
amusing dialogue. The plot is modelled
on The Mikado where the Lord
High Executioner, Ko Ko, is replaced
by Hassan. The twist here is that to
escape death for flirting, Hassan has
to tell the powerful Sultan (a Mikado
substitute) an original story that must
have a happy ending. If so, his life
will be saved. In telling the story
of his own life, Hassan reveals that
his happy ending is in being pardoned
by the Sultan, and so Hood’s Gilbertian
predicament is resolved.
There
are places where we hear a pleasingly
different Sullivan who clearly is displaying
his ability to move with the advancing
musical trends of the time. One number
could easily have come from an Edwardian
music-hall written ten years later:
it is Musical Maidens (tr. 1/11)
with its elegantly moving opening. On
the negative side, there are a few uninspired
and mundane numbers like We have
come to invade, and a few monotonous
ones including Dancing Dervish.
Nevertheless there’s plenty to refresh
the lover of Gilbert & Sullivan.
Prior
to this recording only one LP recording
of Rose of Persia existed; that
by the Prince Consort of Edinburgh in
1986. At the time theirs was a gallant
reading, but their resources did not
allow full justice to the musicality
of work. The CPO version is a good modern
recording made possible by sponsorship
from members of the Sir Arthur Sullivan
Society and initially released by BBC
Music Magazine in 1999. I was interested
to compare this commercial release by
CPO to see whether adjustments had been
made. Not so, the same acoustic and
mastering seem to have been used and
my hope that certain numbers might have
been speeded up meets disappointment.
The set may well have been pressed from
identical masters.
There
is a strong cast who give excellent
performances with good diction. The
blend of voices in If you ask me
(tr. 1/6) is particularly lovely and
well balanced. The innocence of Rose
in Bloom (lead soprano) comes across
well with Sally Harrison’s bright tone
and light unobtrusive vibrato. Yet because
this is a comic opera where a lot of
the female voices are given equal weighting
Rose has less solo work to do than is
usually found in the genre. Richard
Suart, now well known for his portrayal
of the comic roles in G&S, is on
form here and portrays a convincing
Hassan. The hit is Drinking Song, I
care not if the cup I hol (tr. 1/10)
here well delivered by an energetic
Ivan Sharpe. Marcia Bellamy, whose roundedly
warm mezzo makes her rendering of
O Life (tr. 1/4) and I’ve always
known (tr. 2/2) quite special.
The
choice of orchestra, the Hanover Band,
is unusual yet they read the score with
good accuracy although at times I found
the pace disappointing. I don’t know
the background of Tom Higgins’ theatre
experience, but there is a noticeable
lack of energy caused by dragging out
certain numbers. This is particularly
so in sections of the Act I finale.
A Moderato marziale written in
the score with a change to Allegro
agitato will understandably be read
differently by different musicians,
yet one has to carry thought of stage
action if one is to provide a convincing
imaginary performance.
The
bonus of this set is that it carries
excellent performances of two lesser
known Sullivan overtures, Macbeth
and Di Ballo. The Macbeth
is suitably atmospheric and is as good
a reading as the benchmark recording
by David Lloyd-Jones on Hyperion CDA
66515. However a much better speed for
Di Ballo is found in the 1960s
Reader’s Digest Classical LP box set
which seems more appropriate to Sullivan’s
intentions.
The
notes contain a full libretto, and although
CPO is a German company it seems strange
that they have put the English notes
last when it is an English work and
the libretto is only given in English.
Sadly the names of the many sponsors
and subscribers who made this recording
possible have been omitted from the
booklet, an error made at the time of
the first release.
Raymond J Walker
Hanover Band/Tom Higgins 
