BaL 22.09.18 - Vaughan Williams: On Wenlock Edge

[Cockney Sparrow]

..........My only wish was that he'd chosen to play Decca's own, much superior home transfer of the Pears/Britten/Zorian Quartet recording. This is currently available in Decca's 'Peter Pears - An Anniversary Tribute' 6-CD box set (a tremendous treasure-trove, incidentally) and puts the fuzzy, distant and gritty Pearl transfer completely in the shade.

As for that performance itself ... once heard, never forgotten............

I'm intrigued by your thorough admiration for that recording - and glad to find it also included in the "Britten: The Performer" Decca Box Set. I'm not a great admirer of Pears vocal qualities on the whole, but I know that in the right piece he is worth a listen - and also in his earlier years.

Fortunately the Anniversary tribute is to be found on Google Play Music (which I subscribe to) so I can perhaps re-appraise Pears without buying the set. I'm sure its also on other services such as Spotify but I also found it on Naxos Music Library (free via Library service - see http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...-library/page2 - Label - Decca - Initial "P" page 5 ; Cat No 00028947823452. (Incidentally searching "On Wenlock Edge" on NML brings up numerous recordings including the Kennedy, Padmore, Gilchrist, Rolfe-Johnson etc.

[Lordgeous]

I couldn't agree more with those of you who praise DON's review of On Wenlock Edge - full of a performer's insights, specific and using many short examples brilliantly to demonstrate his points. His perception about the two alternative ways to sing 'Bredon Hill', one with hindsight from the beginning, the other "in the moment", struck me as particularly revealing.

My only wish was that he'd chosen to play Decca's own, much superior home transfer of the Pears/Britten/Zorian Quartet recording. This is currently available in Decca's 'Peter Pears - An Anniversary Tribute' 6-CD box set (a tremendous treasure-trove, incidentally) and puts the fuzzy, distant and gritty Pearl transfer completely in the shade.

As for that performance itself ... once heard, never forgotten. I'm in the camp which finds it strikes deeper and more daringly into RVW's extraordinary music than any other, before or since; but I recognise it is not to all tastes. Otherwise, despite the strange pronunciation slips at the end of 'Clun', Andrew Kennedy's recent version does indeed sound a worthy "winner". I must catch up with it, next time I have an Amazon gift voucher!

I marvelled at DON's spotting of some wromg piano notes in one version! Yes, I enjoy his presentations very much.

[Nick Armstrong]

DoN is the master communicator so he can sing, stand on his head if it helps getting across what he’s saying. A great BAL, a model of how it should be done, or attempted, by others.

Completely agreed (caught up today, I'm a week behind).

I do think the 'r' sounds are a legitimate subject for comment (I find the period 'r's a bit of a barrier to be honest) - and I liked the highlighting of Pears's different diction for the two characters in "Is my team..." (my gel heppy).

That said, I thought Partridge's version (with its mildly period 'r's) was the stand-out for me of this review.

Also glad to hear about Andrew Kennedy, as I'd been vaguely aware of him being out of the picture for a while.

[DracoM]

Oh, dear, oh dear.
Am listening to Sir Thomas Allen being wrestled to the ground by RVW Songs of Travel - he really shouldn't be doing this.
BBC NOW in decent enough form, but I fear this is way past what Sir TA can now do.

[Nick Armstrong]

Oh, dear, oh dear.
Am listening to Sir Thomas Allen being wrestled to the ground by RVW Songs of Travel - he really shouldn't be doing this.... I fear this is way past what Sir TA can now do.

Yes I heard a little of it, and thought the same. It's possible that in the hall, it worked as a result of his sheer force of personality and communication.

It did put me in mind of hearing Robert Tear doing the Britten John Donne Sonnets very late in his career - and wishing I (and he) hadn't....

[BBMmk2]

He should retire.

[Cockney Sparrow]

He is, has been a very fine artist. Its a shame. I though it was Rec review I heard something from a 2018 release - into Gershwin/Broadway territory - and thought, as I heard it "Oh dear ....."

https://www.challengerecords.com/products/15302612906095

(I also avoid Placido D. as a baritone these days - I don't want to overlay his magnificent performance of Otello (and a couple of others) with the sound of a singer who wasn't, and isn't a Verdi baritone).

[verismissimo]

He should retire.

He has a growing career as an opera director, it seems.

[DracoM]

...................'he' says......ahem..............

[Stanfordian]

Personally, I’d have gone for Partridge, Rolfe Johnson or Ainsley over Kennedy. I’m allergic to his voice and his mannerisms (and am I right in thinking that he’s rather disappeared from the scene - or is he making a career abroad). A model BaL marred, for me, by a surprise and barely justified final choice.

You write "I’m allergic to his voice and his mannerisms" - And you would say that to his face?

[BBMmk2]

Very odd way of saying things!