Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Sir John in Love (1924, revised 1928) [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
rec. BBC studio recording, broadcast 12-13 February 1956
LYRITA ITTER BROADCAST COLLECTION REAM.2122 MONO [64:32 + 61:54]
Considering how few recordings there are in the catalogues
of Vaughan Williams operas, there are a remarkably large number of issues
which arise in the scores regarding precisely what is and what is not to be
performed on any occasion. Richard Hickox restored some repeats in his recording
(Chandos CHAN9625(2)) of The Pilgrim’s Progress which Sir
Adrian Boult omitted. In his live performance of the opera in the Royal
Festival Hall made at the same time as his recording and with largely the
same cast, Boult made further massive cuts totalling over half an hour of
music. In the case of Hugh the Drover and Sir John in Love the differences
between recordings are even more considerable. The
first recording of the former opera, for example, demonstrates the remarkably
wide-ranging revisions made by the composer subsequent to the substantial
excerpts recorded by Sir Malcolm Sargent on 78s in 1924 (LP Pearl GEM128).
Neither of the more recent recordings conducted by Sir
Charles Groves and Matthew Best (Hyperion CDD22049) provide the scene
which VW subsequently wrote to begin Act Two. In the case of Sir John in Love
VW composed additional scenes for a 1930 revival, including a Prologue which
finds its way into none of the four sets which have been available from time
to time.
The recording under consideration here, derived from acetates in the collection
of the late Richard Itter, is the earliest of the four. It was taken from
a BBC broadcast spread over two nights and conducted by Stanford Robinson,
who is better known nowadays as an interpreter of light music but who was
far from negligible in other fields – he also at around the same time
conducted a superb BBC radio performance of Alan Bush’s Men of Blackmoor.
Two years after this broadcast, a professional staging of Sir John at Sadler’s
Wells by the New Opera Company was conducted by Brian Priestman, who in the
1970s directed a further BBC broadcast performance, this time in stereo, which
has been available as a ‘pirate’ issue from time to time. Priestman’s
version, despite the superb casting of Owen Brannigan in the title role, is
annoying because of the persistent interference of a radio announcer explaining
the plot over the music; but it does have some points in common with this
earlier broadcast performance, and not only on the occasion where an announcer
again is heard explaining a change of scene to radio listeners over a held
note in the orchestra; other such instances have presumably been edited out.
There are also some actual alterations to the score, which were I imagine
made with the composer’s agreement. One of these comes during the entry
of Mistress Quickly in Act Two Scene One, when she is heard approaching and
singing the folk tune Lovely Joan. Here there are additional comments provided
by Mistresses Ford and Page, which also featured in the Priestman
recording; where there were other additions also. Although these help
to clarify the stage action, they are a serious error because they obscure
the beautiful folk melody; and because this recording, like all its rivals,
makes two swingeing cuts totalling 72 bars in the following interlude, this
is the only opportunity in the opera that we get to hear a tune which VW clearly
rated so highly that he incorporated it into the middle section of his Fantasia
on Greensleeves drawn from the score.
The cut in the interlude really should not be made, because it also combines
Lovely Joan in counterpoint with the motif which has featured prominently
throughout the previous scene and which is left unmotivated in the Fantasia
where the scoring is also less colourful. Even Richard Hickox did not include
this passage in his recording (Chandos
CHAN9928), the most recent of the four in the catalogue, although he did
restore some cuts made in other versions. VW inexplicably recommends in the
score that the abridgement should be made “unless required by the stage”.
He was wrong and, even without cuts, the time allowed for a complete change
of scene is under four minutes, which if further abbreviated would surely
be impracticable in any traditional staging. It should also be noted that
this recording does make one further cut, the dance Half Hannikin in the final
scene, which was also authorised by the composer, but which is included in
both the Davies and Hickox recordings - although Priestman also omitted it.
The text in the booklet implies that it is included; but it is not.
What does make this recording particularly valuable, despite its mono sound,
is the fact that it features many of the singers whom the composer particularly
prized in their roles. Also Stanford Robinson’s conducting, less rumbustious
than any of his rivals, makes many subtle points that are missed elsewhere
– listen to his sly inflection of the trio Sigh no more, ladies, for
example. The broadcast sound, forward and clear, sounds dated; but it is remarkable
how quickly the ear adjusts, and the playing of the orchestra – the
Philharmonia at the peak of its form – trounces all rivals, even Hickox
on Chandos with the London Symphony Orchestra. By comparison with Robinson
and Hickox, the direction of Priestman and Meredith Davies (on
the EMI recording) is relatively uninflected — efficient rather
than affectionate. The recordings by Davies and Hickox, being studio performances
intended for commercial issue, have no truck with any additional explanatory
lines of dialogue spoken or sung.
Those who want to hear the score in all its glory will already have either
the Davies or Hickox recordings in their collections. What will interest them
will be the interpretations of the roles in the opera. Davies
probably has the best all-round cast, a roster of major British singers from
the 1970s; but Stanford Robinson here has some important voices, albeit not
in the most important roles. Owen Brannigan is rather wasted in the relatively
small role of the Host, Forbes Robinson is definitely suited to more prominence
than Pistol, and it is odd indeed to find James Johnston — a celebrated
exponent of the heroic title role in Hugh the Drover — consigned to
the small-scale lyricism of Fenton, where he is partnered with April Cantelo,
who has a stronger voice than any of the merry wives themselves. Another point
to note is the appearance of Heddle Nash in the role of Shallow, although
his voice at this late stage in his career sounds decidedly worn.
Brannigan is the only singer in all these recordings to obey the composer’s
instruction that his love song “Oh that joy so soon should waste”
with “exaggerated sentiment” – unless Roderick Jones’s
assumption of a Pontius-Pilate delivery (courtesy of Michael Palin in Life
of Brian, 1979) of his Rs is meant to convey affectation. Indeed some of the
singers here are very strait-laced in their delivery: Pamela Bowden lacks
much sense of merriment as Mistress Quickly, and Francis Loring as Doctor
Caius only intermittently sounds French. On the other hand Denis Catlin’s
Nym goes to the other extreme, his rustic accents spilling over into a very
approximate rendering of his sung notes. The jealous husbands are well cast,
with Denis Dowling and John Cameron well inside their roles. It is good to
hear Cameron’s declamation of the word “cuckold” made to
sound like “cuckoo” with the first vowel lengthened, as is clearly
demanded by the text but which is overlooked in all the other recordings.
The diction throughout is generally very good, although in more confused passages
the listener will need to have reference to the supplied text. There are a
number of differences between the words in the booklet - mainly, though not
invariably, those in the vocal score - and those we hear. Some are the result
of mistakes by the singers — as in Page’s dismissal of Fenton
— and others are clearly deliberately inserted to explain stage action
as in Caius’s reference to his letter.
There are indeed two booklets supplied with this set, one containing the text
(English only) and the other with a wide-ranging seven-page introduction to
the score by Paul Conway. The transfer from the acetates betrays some slight
unsteadiness at the very beginning, but otherwise the recorded quality is
very good for its period and a conscientious attempt is made by the engineers
to convey the sound of voices approaching from offstage and receding into
the distance which is such a feature of the score. There are some moments
when singers appear to be more accidentally ‘off mike’ but otherwise
everything is as clear as one would wish. Those wanting to make a first acquaintance
with a still underestimated score would be better advised to begin with either
of the sets in more modern sound by Meredith Davies or Richard Hickox. Those
who have already fallen in love with the opera will find many points here
of interest and subtle differences of interpretation that will produce their
own rewards.
Paul Corfield Godfrey
Previous review: John
Quinn
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