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Frederick Delius (1862-1934) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) Delians and Beecham enthusiasts will probably continue for...
Frederick Delius (1862-1934)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Sir Thomas Beecham (1879-1961)
Delians and Beecham enthusiasts will probably
continue for ever to debate the relative merits of the
earlier recordings made by the conductor in the 1930s,
mostly with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in
comparison with those of the 1940s and 1950s
recorded with handpicked players of the Royal
Philharmonic Orchestra. Following these two major
periods of activity, the famous EMI stereo remakes
made even later in his career allowed a third bite of the
cherry, which at last allowed Beecham's subtle
balance of dynamics and layered textures to be
appreciated with something approaching sonic
authenticity and truth. At the height of his powers in
his first trail-blazing recordings, the younger Beecham
strove for a livelier and fresher response that the
orchestra was not always able to match. The special
relationship with the Royal Philharmonic, very much
Beecham's own orchestra immediately after the
Second World War, brings an even subtler, more
flexible response, occasionally compromised by less
than ideal recording quality. Most listeners however
remain grateful that such a close match between
composer and interpreter is documented so
extensively and with such consistently magical
inspiration.
Unlike some received opinions, this special,
almost unique, partnership continues to survive the
critical re-evaluation of succeeding generations,
frustratingly perhaps when subsequent conductors
have been so reluctant even to begin to try to foster a
continuing performing tradition for the composer.
Detractors have suggested that the music of Delius is
all effect with little substance, and the nagging fact
remains that few composers are so inescapably
dependent upon the creation of atmosphere. Unlike so
many contemporaries, both then and more especially
now, he was remarkably sparing with expressive
annotation, frequently content with just the notes. A
score of a work by Delius marked by Beecham,
however, tells a different story, instantly revealing a
most sympathetically engaged music editor at work.
Pulse, dynamics, phrasing, expressive nuance and
articulation, together with an acute sensitivity to
constantly changing orchestral balance, are annotated
with painstaking practical detail to compliment what
can seem a surprisingly naked, almost template,
original score. The end result in performance requires
levels of intensive rehearsal to test any orchestra's
powers of patience and concentration. There are no
quick short cuts to success.
A Village Romeo and Juliet is Delius's fourth and
most successful opera. Work started in 1897 in a
decade that saw the stage as a prime focus for his
compositional activity. The previous seven years had
seen the completion of Irmelin, The Magic Fountain
and Koanga, all large-scale works much influenced by
Wagnerian music drama. The new opera was to be the
final instalment of what started out as an operatic
trilogy highlighting different ethnic cultures, Native
Americans, Negroes, and Gypsies or Vagabonds.
Although both the two preceding operas basically
fulfilled their objectives on a local colouristic level,
the choice of Gottfried Keller's immensely popular
and well-established story from Die Leute von
Seldwyla radically altered the trajectory and dramatic
potential of the new work. His transference of
Shakespeare's timeless and cautionary tale of
outlawed young love to an unforgiving everyday
provincial environment offered far deeper exploration
of fundamental aspects of the human condition than
anything Delius had touched upon so far. Although
vagabonds do feature prominently in the scenario, it is
the study of individual freedoms, both physical and
spiritual, that transforms the psychological reach of
the piece, allowing the composer to combine leitmotiv
technique and tone-painting with potent resonances of
Tristan und Isolde.
Originally entitled Le Jardin du Paradis (the
French possibly due to the fact that one of the earliest
sources was the first vocal score prepared by the
composer Florent Schmitt), the opera was planned as a
prologue and three acts. Having commissioned drafts
from two different librettists, Delius eventually
abandoned both and wrote his own in English, not
completing a definitive text until 1899. By this time he
had the considerable advantage of having heard
concert excerpts from Koanga in London, the first
time he had been able to assess his mature operatic
style and orchestration in live performance. The result
was a surge of confidence and inspiration that
prompted completion of the music in early 1901, the
change of title and a transformation into an extended
through-composed lyric drama in six scenes.
Paradoxically the work's most famous passage, The
Walk to the Paradise Garden, was composed much
later in 1906 to replace a considerably shorter 45-bar
interlude that would not have been long enough to
accommodate a substantial scene-change for the
premiere of the opera in Berlin in February 1907.
Beecham met Delius for the first time later the
same year. Although he had not attended the premiere,
he was eager to stage the work for the first time in
England, an event that duly took place at Covent
Garden three years later on 22nd February 1910 with
Walter Hyde, Ruth Vincent and Robert Maitland in
the leading roles. It was this work more than any other
that cemented their friendship and Beecham always
retained a special affection for it. He revived the work
for three performances at Covent Garden in 1920,
gave an early BBC broadcast performance in 1932
with Dora Labette, Jan van der Gucht and Dennis
Noble, and also conducted a series of three more
performances on consecutive nights at the Royal
College of Music in London in June 1934. This
complete recording from 1948, the first of any Delius
opera, took place immediately after another BBC
broadcast with essentially the same forces, apart from
the notable exception of Lorely Dyer, who replaced
Vera Terry as Vreli. It has remained a landmark
performance ever since, with Beecham's evangelising
conviction, passion and experience shining from every
bar.
The closing scene of Koanga was not included in
the 1899 London concert of excerpts conducted by
Alfred Hertz, but this was the first of Delius's operas
to be staged complete in 1904 at Elberfeld under the
direction of Fritz Cassirer, who also conducted the
premiere of A Village Romeo and Juliet. Beecham
eventually gave the British premiere of this opera as
well, but not until 1935 at Covent Garden with John
Brownlee and Oda Slobodskaya in the principal roles.
The production was immediately taken on tour to
Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford and
Leeds, and Beecham regularly performed his own
compilation of the closing scene as a concert item.
Hills and mountains were abiding places of
fascination for Delius. As part of his Pantheist ethic,
their changing climate, isolation and awesome
grandeur were perfect sounding-boards for pondering
the advantages of non-human presence. No other
composer has captured their silent wonder and
imposing endurance in quite the same way. The early
and amazingly assured orchestral work On the
Mountains, the Ibsen melodrama Paa Vidderne, Over
the Hills and Far Away, On Craig Ddu, Appalachia
and In den Bergen, the second part of A Mass of Life,
had all previously visited the upper regions, but Delius
reserved his most significant and accomplished
expose of their qualities for The Song of the High
Hills, composed in 1911. He encapsulated the spirit of
the work in a letter to Norman O'Neill written in
1920: 'I have tried to express the joy and exhilaration
one feels in the Mountains and also the loneliness and
melancholy of the high Solitudes and the grandeur of
the wide far distances. The human voices represent
man in Nature; an episode, which becomes fainter and
then disappears altogether'. Note that for Delius,
'man' does not warrant the capitalisation of
'Mountains', 'Solitudes' or 'Nature' and that his
chorus remains wordless and mostly remote
throughout. The innovative spatial qualities of the
music are without parallel in his output. Beecham
literally rises to the challenge to go several steps
beyond with compelling authority.
When it comes to the orchestral miniature,
whether by Delius or anyone else, Beecham remains
unrivalled. The endearing sentiment and sheer beauty
of the touching little Irmelin Prelude or the
deceptively simple pleasures of the Intermezzo and
Serenade from Hassan, composed in 1920 as part of
exotic incidental music for James Elroy Flecker's
Arabian play, demonstrate Beecham's complete
mastery of what became affectionately known as
'lollipops'. Whatever happened to them? Have we
lost our taste or do they still have 'The Personal
Property of Sir Thomas Beecham' too resolutely
stamped upon them?
Ian Julier
The Song of the High Hills (more info)
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The Song of the High Hills - 24:46:00
A Village Romeo and Juliet (more info)
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Scene 1 - 16:19
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Scene 2 - 9:44
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Scene 3 - 12:28
Irmelin (more info)
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Irmelin: Prelude - 4:36
Hassan (more info)
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Intermezzo - 1:57
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Serenade - 2:08
A Village Romeo and Juliet (more info)
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Scene 4 - 24:40:00
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Scene 5a - 8:14
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Scene 5b: The Walk to the Paradise Garden - 8:36
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Scene 6 - 21:10
Koanga: Final Scene (arr. T. Beecham) (more info)
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Koanga: Final Scene - 9:07