I first heard Lionel Monckton’s
music many years ago – it was the enchanting ‘Charming Weather’ from The Arcadians, which is included in this
excellent retrospective of the composer’s music. Many years later, I came
across the Overture to the same opera – this was issued on ASV as one of the
series of British Light Overtures conducted by Gavin Sutherland. I have to confess that I have never gotten
around to hearing the entire operetta. However,
there are a couple of well-regarded editions currently available. It is a
project for the future.
The present CD includes a
generous selection from three of the composer’s best-known works: Cingalee, The Arcadians and The Quaker
Girl.
A brief note about Lionel John
Alexander Monckton may be of interest He was born in London in 1861. His father
Sir John was a town clerk and his mother Maria was an ‘amateur’ actress. After
studying at Charterhouse School and Oriel College, Oxford he pursued a career
as a lawyer. However, he turned to music and began to write songs and review
operas. Soon Monckton turned his hand to
writing theatre scores, in particular for the Gaiety Theatre and its director
George Edwardes. Successes (apart from the three highlighted on this CD)
included The Spring Chicken, Our Miss Gibbs, The Girls of Gottenberg, A
Country Girl and The Dancing Mistress.
After the Great War, he refused
to reinvent his compositional style to include jazz, ragtime and other American
dance music. After contributing some numbers for the then-popular revues, he
gave up composing. Lionel Monckton died
in 1923 London, aged 62.
The format of this CD is
interesting. Most ‘selections’ from operas and operettas tend to reflect the
batting order of the score/libretto. In
this present CD Mart Sander has decided to order the numbers so as to provide a
continuous, but always satisfying and attractive ‘narrative-less’ presentation
of the music. The plot of each operetta is largely irrelevant to this CD; however,
a few observations may not go amiss.
Cingalee or Sunny Ceylon
dates from 1904. The action takes place
in Harry Vereker’s Tea Plantation and in Boobhamba palace. It concerns a young lady who resists the
attention of the potentate and who wishes to remain a tea-girl.’ The music is attractive, however the plot
seems weak and there are certain sentiments that may have been appropriate in
colonial days but no logger seem quite so witty. However the music is
consistently good.
The Arcadians (1910) is Monckton’s best-known work. The plot revolves round innocent folk from a
faraway land who are ‘infected’ by a crashed aviator who
introduces ugliness, lies and jealously to these happy people. The Arcadians
are appalled by the stories of London life and decide to visit the city
themselves. Fortunately, all ends up
happily – with the aviator back in ‘The Smoke’ and the Arcadians in their
paradise.
Finally, there is The Quaker Girl, which was first heard
at the Adelphi Theatre, London on 5th Novemeber 1910. It concerns
the dichotomy between a dour Quaker community with the high-life of Parisian
society. Its most famous number was 'Come to the Ball'. The ‘girl’ eventually ends up in the USA
with her admirer Tony Chute.
The general musical sound world
of Monckton is ‘sub’ Sullivan. This does not mean that the music is second rate
or lacks craftsmanship – simply that the style and the plots owe something to
the genius of G&S. Occasionally, there are ‘patter songs’: for example the
fine ‘Back your Fancy’ from The Arcadians.
What is typically lacking is the wit and subtlety of the earlier duo. Yet the
music is full of attractive tunes, evocative, if retro, sentiments in the
librettos and a good balance between solo, ensemble and chorus. There is a
sense of fun from virtually the first note to the last.
Divine Arts Recording Group has
made a major contribution to British Light Opera with this fine exploration of
Lionel Monckton’s music. I noted in an earlier review of the same group’s release
of Herman Finck’s music that they have managed ‘to capture the mood and the
spirit of the Edwardian and Georgian times’. Other reviewers have noted the ‘Germanic’
and ‘Michigan’ accents as opposed to that of ‘Mayfair in the performance of
these numbers. However, true as this may be, it is a trifling matter. The
enunciation, clarity and mood are near-perfect. Besides, my ‘Estonian’ is not
so dusty.
The performers, led by Mart
Sander are all members of the Bel-Etage Theatre in Tallinn, which was itself an
old music hall. In addition, let us not
forget the orchestra who make such an important contribution to the success oft
his disc.
I was delighted by the sound
quality of this CD: the ambiance is ideally suited to this kind of music. The
CD liner notes include the texts of all the number recorded, alongside the
briefest of synopses of each operetta. One small point – I found the text
difficult to read –in both size and the fact that some of it is printed on a
blue background.
I was recently reading Alan
Hyman’s Sullivan & his Satellites
where he outlines the achievements of a large number of lesser mortals than
G&S. These include, Sidney Jones, Edward
German, Frederic Clay and (although not specifically noted there) Montague
Phillips. Surely all these composers have material that would be grist to the
mill for this outstanding ensemble?
Track Listing:
Track Listing:
Lionel MONCKTON (1861-1923)
La Cingalee (1904)
The
Arcadians (1909)
Quaker Girl (1910)
Pirjo Levandi (sop), Jeanne Servchenco (sop), Mariliina von
Uexküll (sop), Julie Lill (cont),
Oliver Kuusik (ten), Annika Tonuri (mezzo sop), Mart Sander (bar)
Chorus and Bel-Etage orchestra/Mart Sander
DIVINE ART 2-4110 [69:08]
With thanks to MusicWeb International where this review was first published.
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