William WALTON (1902-1983)
Scenes from Troilus and Cressida - An Opera in Three Acts [53:50]
Partita for Orchestra [15:49]
Troilus - Richard Lewis (tenor); Cressida - Elisabeth Schwarzkopf (soprano);
Evadne - Monica Sinclair (alto); Peter Pears - Pandarus; Watchmen: Geoffrey
Walls, John Hauxvell, Lewis Thomas.
Philharmonia Orchestra/Sir William Walton
rec. 18 April - 20 May, 1955 (Troilus), 6 and 16 February, 1959 (Partita)
Kingsway Hall, London
First issued as Columbia 33CX1313 (Troilus), 33CX1679 (Partita)
PRISTINE AUDIO PASC286 [69:37]
Troilus and Cressida was Walton’s grand opera; there were to
be no more after this. Its first performance was a Covent Garden gala affair
in December 1954. Sargent conducted and Magda Laszlò, was Cressida
with the tenor here, Richard Lewis, as Troilus. Rather like Barber’s
Antony and Cleopatra it launched into a world pitilessly unforgiving
of such romantic extravagance. And this no matter how gloriously voluptuous
- and both are glorious! Walton and London tried again in April 1963, again
with the unsympathetic and ailing Sargent with Marie Collier as Cressida and
Andre Turp as Troilus. If anything the musical world had hardened its heart
even further against such effusions. It had to wait until November 1976 yet
again at Covent Garden for a further and more sympathetic milieu. Janet Baker
sang Cressida - the composer having arranged the role for a mezzo. Richard
Cassilly was Troilus and Lawrence Foster conducted. Foster had deputised for
Previn - the later riding high and seemingly unable to do any wrong - who
had dropped out due to illness. A Previn-conducted Troilus is one of
the great unknowns of the gramophone. With his eager eye and passionate heart
for Walton his Troilus would have been a major force to be reckoned
with. He had already more than won his spurs with the as yet unmatched 1966
RCA version of the First Symphony, and various pieces for EMI (Symphony No.
2, Belshazzar’s Feast). The Foster was issued on EMI CMS5 65550-2
- again deleted. Chandos recorded yet another revision in full on CHAN 9370-71
during the early 1990s.
Andrew Rose’s XR re-mastering does indeed lend these Troilus
scenes a brighter and more open treble. However for this pair of ears playing
the Pristine by the side of the EMI 1992 reissue (EMI CDM7 64199-2) reveals
the strengths of the EMI. The latter has more bloom and less treble emphasis
- less of the razory deckle-edged metal. I hear it first in Richard Lewis’s
heady Puccinian squilla which opens out superbly in the Kingsway Hall as does
the needlessly criticised Elisabeth Schwarzkopf who sounds magnificent throughout
- a steady aureate stream of tone. Pristine have to work with prime quality
LPs while EMI have access to the master-tapes. While the 1992 reissue in the
British Composers series is rare and has long been deleted. In fact
the excerpts are about to be reissued again and this time ill-matched with
the composer in the two Façade suites on Heritage HTGCD223.
I would guess that Heritage will also be relying on LP recorded materials
rather than having access to EMI originals. We shall see.
The Pristine sounds good but not as good as the EMI original. The Partita
makes for a generous compensation but does not ameliorate an edginess in the
vintage Walton scenes when a lusher but by no means hazy sound can be yours
if you can find the EMI original. Make no mistake the Pristine will please
but cannot stand comparison with the EMI re-mastering.
Rob Barnett
see also 'This unfortunate opera' by Len Mullenger