The added value of this CD is that “for the first time” the listener can explore original recordings from the sixteen artists who were well-known and popular in their day. As the liner notes state, “before you get to the Serenade, which is track 17, you can hear each of the sixteen voices for whom it was written.” The repertoire heard ranges from drawing room ballads to grand opera, by way of Scottish folksong and English “lieder.”
The final track, Keith Falkner’s rendition of George Butterworth’s
Is my Team Ploughing? from A Shropshire Lad is a bonus. Falkner would have been
one of the Sixteen if he had not been touring in the United States. He would
have replaced Robert Easton.
The listener will need to be aware of differing singing styles prominent ninety-odd years ago. For example, John Francis, Chairman of the Vaughan Williams Society, told me that RVW and others hated the rapid vibrato that certain professional singers used. He exhorted music festival competitors not to imitate it. That said, all the performances on this CD are important historical documents that must be judged on their own terms.
Highlights for me included the Mull Fisher's Love Song set for contralto and harp, which was one of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser songs collected in the Highlands of Scotland. Hubert Parry’s restrained setting of John of Gaunt’s dying speech in Shakespeare’s Richard II (“This royal throne of Kings, this sceptred island”) is nowadays likely to be a casualty of cancel culture. There is a beautiful performance of Puccini’s aria Vissi d'arte from Tosca by Eva Turner. Heddle Nash gives a characteristic interpretation of RVW’s Linden Lea.
As for my familial connection, Walter Widdop’s rendition of A
Request by Amy Woodforde-Finden is a pot-boiler from back in the day. And
Isobel Baillie does a sterling job with the hackneyed Bach-Gounod Ave Maria.
One discovery was Granville Bantock’s Serenade from Six
Jester Songs, sung beautifully by Muriel Brunskill. Surely there must be some
singers/pianist prepared to do a complete edition of Bantock’s songs.
It is especially important to me to have the original Henry Wood recording of RVWs Serenade to Music. This was made on 15 October 1938 at the HMV Abbey Road Studio No.1 with the sixteen soloists listed in the contents below, with Sir Henry Wood conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Although I have heard this performance, I did not have a copy in my record library. I was introduced to this work by the wonderful 1972 release by Sir Adrian Boult and the New Philharmonia Orchestra (ASD 2847). This has remained my “go-to” version.
All tracks have been remastered by Peter Reynolds: they have “scrubbed up” extremely well. The detailed liner notes by Stephen Connock are excellent and provide both commentary and context. All texts are printed. On the CD cover is a remarkable colour photograph of the sixteen soloists, the composer, and the conductor at the Abbey Road Studios on the day of recording.
Normally, I am not an enthusiast of historical recordings, especially those from the days of 78rpm. Yet, I found this CD absorbing and often most moving. Several of these pieces brought a tear to my eye (Elgar, Parry, and Kennedy-Fraser). There is a magic in these tracks that defies time, stylistic parameters, and logic.
Track Listing:
Isobel Baillie (soprano), Berkeley Mason (organ), cello and harp
rec.1930
Arthur Somervell (1863-1937)
Shepherd's Cradle Song
Elsie Suddaby (soprano), Madame Adami (piano)
rec. 1926
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924)
Vissi d'arte from Tosca
Eva Turner (soprano), Sir Thomas Beecham and Orchestra
rec. 1928
Pietro Mascagni (1863-1945)
Santuzza's Song from Cavalleria Rusticana,
Lillian Stiles-Allen (soprano), John Barbirolli and Orchestra
rec. 1927
Granville Bantock (1868-1946)
Serenade from Six Jester Songs,
Muriel Brunskill (contralto), with piano
rec. 1926
Marjory Kennedy-Fraser (1857-1930)/Kenneth MacLeod (1871-1955)
Mull Fisher's Love Song
Astra Desmond (contralto), Maria Korchinska (harp)
rec.1941
Edward Elgar (1857-1934)
Angel's Farewell from Dream of Gerontius
Margaret Balfour (contralto), Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, Royal Choral Society/Edward Elgar
rec.1927
Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918)
England
Mary Jarred (contralto), with Massed Choirs/Hugh Allen
rec. 1938
Amy Woodforde-Finden (1860-1919)
A Request
Walter Widdop (tenor), Percy Kahn (piano)
rec.1926
Peter Warlock (1894-1930)
There is a Lady Sweet and Kind
Parry Jones (tenor), W.T. Best (piano)
rec.1934
Giacomo Puccini
Ah! Mimi, tu più non torni from La Boheme
Frank Titterton (tenor), Roy Henderson (baritone) and orchestra
rec.1929 or 1930
Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Linden Lea
Heddle Nash (tenor), Gerald Moore (piano)
rec.1948
George Butterworth (1885-1916)
Loveliest of Trees from A Shropshire Lad
Roy Henderson (baritone), Gerald Moore (piano)
rec.1941
Charles Gounod
Heavenly Vision from Faust
Robert Easton (bass), Heddle Nash (tenor), BBC Choir, BBC Symphony Orchestra/Thomas Beecham
rec.1929/30
Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919)
Prologue from I Pagliacci
Harold Williams (bass-baritone), British National Opera Company’s Orchestra/Eugene Goossens (snr)
rec.1929
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Silent Noon
Norman Allin (bass), with piano
rec.1926
Serenade To Music
Isobel Baillie, Lilian Stiles-Allen, Elsie Suddaby, Eva Turner (sopranos)
Muriel Brunskill, Astra Desmond, Mary Jarred, Margaret Balfour (contraltos)
Heddle Nash, Frank Titterton, Walter Widdop, Parry Jones (tenors)
Harold Williams, Roy Henderson (baritones)
Robert Easton, Norman Allin (basses)
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Henry Wood
rec.1938
George Butterworth
Is my Team Ploughing? from A Shropshire Lad
Keith Falkner (bass-baritone), Gerald Moore (piano)
rec.1940
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