No 42 -- Summer 1994 Edited by Michael Walters
Robin White, former MD of I.C.O.S. and repetiteur of the Old DOC, sent me a review copy of this CD of Edwardian music. My views on it were sent to him in a letter, and I am sorry the review is so long appearing in print. I have to confess that while I am a great admirer of Marilyn Hill Smith in Viennese operetta, I have never felt her voice to be suited to G&S and other English music. I do feel that English light opera requires a particular type of voice (different from the ideal type for continental operetta) and this type of voice is difficult to find these days. I also felt at a bit of a disadvantage in that most of the orchestral music on this CD is music with which I am not all that familiar - my interest is mainly in vocal music - and thus I am not able to comment on these pieces in the same way. For the vocal numbers, I was cruel enough to make comparisons with other earlier recordings of the various songs.
1. Percy Fletcher: Bel Masqu.
2. Fletcher: Demoiselle. There has always been a tendency in recent times to play Edwardian music rather blandly and "correctly". I believe it was not necessarily intended to be so performed. Neither of the Fletcher pieces sound bland, they sound very lively and elegant, but then I have no other performamces with which to compare them.
3. Haydn Wood: Montmartre march. Much the same remarks apply. These three pieces are played with great charm.
4. German: Merrie England: O who shall say that love is cruel? cf. Alice Lilley (conducted by composer) The pulling about of the time must have had the sanction of German and makes for a brilliant recording. This is the best performance I have heard. Lilley is a grossly underrated (and now forgotten) soprano. cf.Bessie Jones: Specially selected by German for the first "complete" recording. Also very good.
Marilyn Hill Smith: A very creditable performance if one follows the score and blots out all recollections of former interpretations. But the voice is sweet, not brilliant or exciting. By comparison, sounds dull and oom-cha.
5. Ernest Bucalossi: Grasshoppers Dance. Sounds rather modern as here played.
6. Montague Phillips: The Rebel Maid: Sail my ships. There seems to me to be something stylistically wrong with this performance, though I can't put my finger on what it is. I have not heard Clara Butterworth's (creator) record, but from what I know of her other records, she would have sung it very differently. She was a mezzo, I think! Marilyn Hill Smith spreads on her top notes. The number is taken very strictly as written - this was not the Edwardian style. The vocal tone and tessitura is somehow wrong. Much too full-voiced on the last note - singers of the period would be more glacial.
7-9. Edward German: Three Nell Gwyn Dances. Struck me as too slow and lethargic. Too elegant, not gutsy enough. They sound like the echoes of a haunted ballroom reeking of lavender and lace curtains, rather than merrymaking peasants. The last (Merrymakers Dance) comes over best of the three.
10. Sydney Baynes: Destiny. This sounds fine. Although the tune is very well known (usually in arrangements?) I have no other record of it, have not studied it, and cannot offer any opinion as to how it ought to go.
11. Lionel Monckton: Our Miss Gibbs: Moonstruck. Marilyn Hill Smith: Strict adherence to written notes makes this a very dull rendering, even without comparison with the others.
c.f.Gwen Catley Listen to "look at you". There is personality and charm completely lacking in the previous performance.
c.f.Gertie Miller (creator): What can you say about this incredible performance, except that it illustrates the style of performance when these pieces were first performed.
12. Caryll: Pink Lady waltz. The Pink Lady is a show I confess I don't know at all (I would certainly query that it was Caryll's best known piece, as the sleeve notes claim). The performance seems charming.
13. Monckton: The Arcadians: The Pipes of Pan.
Florence Smithson (creator): Listen to the crystal elegance and poise, and the way she sings "catch me if you can". This performance can not be bettered. The slides and rits are fully part of the performance style of the period.
Eleanor Jones-Hudson: This is an example of how not to do it. The lady was a famous performer of the World War One period (and a contemporary of Smithson) with a big and "brilliant" voice (Bessie Jones's description of her) but evidently no stage feeling. This is a pedestrian performance.
Winnie Melville (ex D'Oyly Carte): I don't think she ever played the part, but she understands the idiom in a way that Jones-Hudson does not. She is more operatic less musical comedy than Smithson, but nevertheless very good.
Helen Hill: I don't know much about her (she died a few years ago) and I have heard no other records by her. She was apparently a pierrot-type performer. The accompaniment is bizarre, but apart from that her rendering is acceptable.
Marilyn Hill Smith: Bland. (this record was played by Desmond Carrington on Radio 2, 3 Jan. 1993). Too much dependence on the printed notes, she sounds as if she is almost sight-reading. The voice spreads horribly on the top notes. Lacks precision.
Cynthia Glover: Has presence, and emphasis which M H S lacks. Has the clarity on the top notes which M H S also lacks, but has not the artistry of Smithson or Melville, though she comes pretty close.
June Bronhill: One of the best performances.
14. Finck: In the shadows. I have never heard the proper version of this piece before, but as a child had an old (battered) 78 with a glitzy arrangement of it in which the glockenspiel figured prominently. It is a delightful piece, and here is charmingly played.
15. Monckton: A Runaway Girl: Soldiers in the Park. Difficult to comment on this famous, but hackneyed piece, which exists in many arrangements and performances. In the show it is sung by a soprano. There is probably no right or wrong way to perform it, but it is here stirringly done.
16. Ancliffe: Nights of Gladness. This is another piece of which the tune is extremely familiar, but I do not know it as a piece. Sounds excellent, splendidly ballroomy.
This CD is an admirable and very brave attempt on the part of the dedicated Robin White to bring unfamiliar music to the notice of the public. However, if the rehabilitation of such music is to succeed, I do feel that more study of the ambience of the original is advisable. Still, the CD is a step in the right direction, and deserves support.
MICHAEL WALTERS
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