Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff, Vol. 1

Rachmaninoff confers with Eugene Ormandy

The composer's own performances can be uniquely authoritative when the composer is also a superb performer. This is just what we have with Sergei Rachmaninoff's recordings of his four piano concertos and the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini.

His electrical recordings of these works took place periodically from 1929 to 1941. The composer, born in 1873, died two years after the final session.

All the recordings were with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the earlier ones led by Leopold Stokowski, the later sessions by Eugene Ormandy.

I'll present these concerted works in two posts: today, the Concertos No. 1 and 2, and the Rhapsody; the subsequent post will cover the third and fourth concertos.

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Concerto No. 1

Rachmaninoff's disembodied head appears to be emerging from a dust storm over the steppes in the cover of this LP reissue. The album combines:

• The Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, written in 1934 and recorded shortly after the work's premiere by the composer with Stokowski conducting.

• The first concerto, written in 1891 and revised in 1917, here conducted by Ormandy in 1939-40 sessions.

The Rhapsody vies with the second concerto as Rachmaninoff's most popular work. The first concerto is the weakest of the group - but it's a student composition.

The Rhapsody theme by Paganini is from the last of his 24 Caprices for solo violin. It is related to the Dies Irae, which Rachmaninoff duly quotes. The famous slow Variation XVIII is an inversion of the Paganini theme.

Rachmaninoff, circa 1933

Irving Kolodin greeted this reissue in the Saturday Review as follows: "Priceless documentation of the way a standard work of the literature sounded when new, and as played by the composer. The sound is tubby and without much resonance, but the artistic experience is there." To my ears, the sound is fairly good, after some encouragement.

Ray Ericson wrote in High Fidelity: "One of his best works, the rhapsody has been well described as 'musical champagne,' and its effervescence should last for some time. The playing is actually not as brilliant or note perfect as in many of today's concert performances of the work, and the composer could treat rather cavalierly his own dynamic markings in the printed score. Still, this is a definitive performance, in that Rachmaninoff wrote piano music to suit his style and technical specialties. Delicacy and complete lack of sentimentality mark the total performance, with its finely tapered phrases, glittering filigree, bell-like tones, and exact rhythms."

Neither reviewer was overwhelmed by the early concerto. Kolodin: "Much of it anticipates ideas more powerfully expressed in other works, but it has its melodic moments. This recording is more satisfactory." Ericson: "Somewhat dull in musical content, it is a characteristic work, characteristically played, and as such should appeal to Rachmaninoff's idolaters."

LINK to Rhapsody and Concerto No. 1

Concerto No. 2

If the Rhapsody's eighteenth variation is the composer's most popular melody, the Second Concerto is his most popular complete work. Unlike Rachmaninoff's earlier compositions, it was a success from the time of its 1901 premiere: the concerto made him famous.

This 1929 recording is perhaps the definitive performance, despite disagreements between composer and conductor. Amazingly, Stokowski insisted on disputing points of interpretation with Rachmaninoff, and the sessions were fraught with tension. None of this is apparent in the final product (nor is any residual resentment noticeable in the 1934 recording discussed above).

Leopold Stokowski

Kolodin: "I would describe as unique the leonine, infinitely expressive performance by Rachmaninoff of his Second Concerto, with a Stokowski conducted accompaniment of incomparable richness."

Philip Hart in High Fidelity: "Rachmaninoff's interpretation - and Stokowski's too - is wonderfully authoritative: The resolute solidity of cadential chords, the tenutos on the first notes of those quasi-cadenzas in the third movement, the triumphant expansiveness of the brass fanfare announcing the first-movement development, the fast albeit perfectly maintained tempos. the elegant rubato and tapered phrasing - these and many more such felicities add substance and form to by far the best of the Rachmaninoff concertos. It's too bad the composer didn't record this just one more time, with reasonably modern engineering."

Actually, as realized here, the recording is impressive for nearly 100 years ago. The piano tone was problematic, but some adjustments have improved it. To me, the sound does both composer/pianist and conductor more than credit.

LINK to Concerto No. 2

Victor Young at the Movies, Part 1

The composer-conductor Victor Young made a long series of recordings, both of instrumental music and with the best singers of the day. He also scored a great number of films, finally winning an Oscar for Around the World in 80 Days in 1957. The award was posthumous - he had died in late 1956.

In the 1950s Young recorded several LPs that collected theme music from lesser-known films, including his own work. In general, these short pieces came out first as singles, then were gathered into album form.

Perhaps the biggest hit from this group was Dimitri Tiomkin's famous theme from 1954's The High and the Mighty. Young's recording features the otherworldly whistling of Muzzy Marcellino. The latter was a former big band singer - I believe he had worked with Young when Victor was writing arrangements for Ted Fio Rito. 

The High and the Mighty can be found in two previous posts - this tribute to Tiomkin and in the LP Night Music, which is largely film themes, similar to today's main attraction. Night Music is newly remastered; more about it and ȧ link below.

Below you'll find the film collection Hollywood Rhapsodies, along with several LPs of Young's film music in newly refurbished editions.

Hollywood Rhapsodies

The Hollywood Rhapsodies recordings come from October 1953 and January 1954 sessions.

Most of the films represented - with a few notable exceptions - are not well remembered, which to me makes this collection even more interesting.

Much of the music represents almost the last gasp of the sweeping romantic style that had been in vogue since the 1930s.

Here is a rundown of the works and the composers involved.

The album begins with one of the well-remembered films: The Robe. It's a Biblical epic based on a Lloyd Douglas novel that focuses on a Roman military unit responsible for Jesus's crucifixion. The 20th Century-Fox film was the first released in the widescreen process CinemaScope. The memorable music is by Alfred Newman.

Another Hollywood legend - Max Steiner - was responsible for the score of So Big, based on an Edna Ferber novel about the life of an immigrant schoolteacher. Steiner's "Selena's Theme" is named for the main character.

The title Gog sounds like it should involve a monster eating Cleveland, and it actually is a horror film, but one that involves robots trying to destroy a nuclear facility. Machines running wild, huh? Hard to believe.

The music is by Harry Sukman. His "Nightfall" turns out to be a late-in-the-day "Warsaw Concerto" type piece, with the composer as pianist. The theme is a kissing cousin of Charles Williams' "Dream of Olwen."

Gog was made in the 3-D process, back when that was a thing.

Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Theme Romantique" does not appear to be from a film. If anyone recognizes it, please let me know. The piece may be here due to Korngold's eminence among Hollywood composers. The music is a prime example of his plush style. Anatole Kaminsky is the violin soloist.

[Update: reader NikZ informs us: "The Korngold Theme Romantique is from the film 'Another Dawn' (Errol Flynn stars) and Korngold later used this opening theme for the main theme of the 1st movement of his violin concerto; the second theme here (with the beautiful solo violin solo) forms the main theme of that concerto’s slow movement." Thanks, Nik!]

Young himself makes the first of three appearances with his "Jubilee Trail" from the film of the same name. This is one of several on this disk from the B-picture factory Republic Pictures. Star Vera Hruba Ralston, a former figure skater, was married to Republic honcho Herbert Yates. The film's a Western with a labyrinthine plot, but Victor's music is a pleasingly simple rustic tune.

The Moonlighter is another 3-D film and another Western, with Hollywood cowpokes Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. The music is by Heinz Roemheld, a prolific composer who had recently had a pop hit with "Ruby" from the film Ruby Gentry.

One of the best-known numbers in this collection is the theme from The Glenn Miller Story, which is also called "Too Little Time," although not here. It was Henry Mancini's breakout as a film composer.

We go back to Republic, Westerns and Vera Hruba Ralston for Belle Le Grand, which involves the adventures of Ralston as a gambler and casino owner, with the usual rivalries and complications, some of which are garishly depicted at left. Leo Shuken, who worked on many of Young's films, was the composer. He is perhaps best known for his orchestrations of the Magnificent Seven films. Harry Sukman returns for the piano part both in this number and the next.

Another well known orchestrator was Eddie Powell, who Young has included here with his "Theme for Cynthia," which does not seem to be from a film.

The label doesn't mention it (there are no cover notes), but Young's "Geraldine" was actually used in a film of that name. It was another Republic picture, but not a Western. It has something to do with the music industry, involving John Carroll as a professor and Mala Powers as a co-ed, while also involving Jim Backus and Stan Freberg. No Vera Hruba Ralston, though. I vaguely remember a 1930s film with a similar plot.

Agnes Moorhead, who got all the glamorous parts, plays a 105-year-old woman who holds the key to the film noir The Lost Moment, also starring Robert Cummings, Susan Hayward and a spooky old house. The excellent Daniele Amfitheatrof provides the score. (His music from The Mountain can be found below.)

We end the LP with more of Young's music, this time "Bon Soir" from A Perilous Journey, yet another Vera Hruba Ralston flick involving her trying to find the man who done her wrong. Meanwhile Scott Brady steers the ship with his shirt off.

The cover at top seems to be an unsigned Alex Steinweiss creation. He apparently thinks the music is Liszt/Brahms style Hungarian rhapsodies, what with a miniature gypsy fiddling on the screen siren's knee.

LINK to Hollywood Rhapsodies

Victor Young Remasters

Five earlier Victor Young posts have now been redone with better sound and complete scans. The composers Daniele Amfitheatrof and Alex North also are represented. 

The links below take you to the downloads.

Night Music. As mentioned, this is mainly a collection of film themes. They include The High and the Mighty (Tiomkin), "Passion Tango" from Passion (Forbes), "Smile" from Modern Times (Chaplin), the theme from Rear Window (Waxman), "The Song from The Caine Mutiny" (McHugh), the theme from Magnificent Obsession (Skinner), "Glamour Waltz" from Lady in the Dark (Dolan) and the theme from Female on the Beach (Burke). LINK

For Whom the Bell Tolls; Golden Earrings. This is perhaps the first LP devoted to Victor Young's film scores; it was a repackaging of material that had been recorded for 78s in 1943 (For Whom the Bell Tolls) and 1947 (Golden Earrings). Both are fine scores - and the theme from Golden Earrings was a major hit - but the LP sound was miserable. Since first posting the album eons ago, both the technology and my skills have improved, and now it all sounds surprisingly good. LINK

Omar Khayyam; The Mountain. This album splits the composing credits between Young (Omar Khayyam) and Amfitheatrof (The Mountain). The former is Hollywood's idea of what the legendary poet-statesman was all about; the latter is about mountain climbing and brotherly love. The supposed siblings were Spencer Tracy and Robert Wagner, who were 30 years apart in age. Good music throughout. LINK

The Brave One. This one is the tale of a young boy and his bull. It's set in Mexico, although Young's music sounds more Spanish to me. (But what do I know about it.) The record contains excerpts from the original soundtrack, as performed by the Munich Symphony Orchestra. While today there is such a body, back then it was usually called the Graunke Symphony after its founder and conductor, Kurt Graunke. The band specialized in soundtrack recordings, making hundreds of them. As with many scores of this time, the sound was dry, perhaps because it was designed to be played on big ol' Voice of the Theater speakers in the big ol' movie houses of the day. I've opened out the sonics. LINK

Written on the Wind; Four Girls in Town. Young plays a relatively minor role in this LP. He provided the theme for Written on the Wind, as sung here by the Four Aces, whom I just don't like. I owned the single 70 years ago and didn't like it even then. (I also couldn't figure out what "written on the wind" meant; figurative language not being my strength when I was seven.) The rest of the score is by Frank Skinner. Alex North's Four Girls in Town is terrific film jazz, here presented as the "Rhapsody for Four Girls in Town" with soloists André Previn on piano and Ray Linn on trumpet. What could be better? LINK

Boult Conducts Walton, and Related Reups

I recently remastered an old post of Sir William Walton conducting his own music - which led me to working on another LP of his compositions, this one conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. This led me in turn to remastering a Boult recording of Elgar's music.

All three are presented below; let's start with the new transfer of Sir Adrian's Walton record.

Boult Conducts Walton

Boult devoted most of three October 1954 recording sessions in Kingsway Hall to a program of Sir William's most popular works - adding Elgar's Three Bavarian Dances to one day's schedule.

The Walton pieces all ended up on the LP shown above, with an unattractive cover that contrasts with the British 10-inch issue shown below, which contains Siesta and the overtures Portsmouth Point and Scapino.

The Decca album neatly depicts the themes of these three works - the seaport of Portsmouth Point, the lazy mood of Siesta, and the amorous adventures of Scapino. Of the latter, the composer wrote the following:

Scapino is one of the less familiar characters of the Commedia dell'Arte, the hero of Molière's Fourberies de Scapin, who may figure in the complicated ancestry of Figaro. We owe him the word "escapade", which is descriptive of the character's stock-in-trade. Callot's etching portrays him in his traditional costume.

Walton is referring to the 1619 Jacques Callot etching below.

Scapin by Jacques Callot

Portsmouth Point was also inspired by another piece of art - Thomas Rowlandson's 1814 etching of that name, which depicted the port's lively goings-on.

As for Siesta, it reflects Walton's love of Italy. According to musicologist Christopher Palmer, Siesta depicts "an Italian street-scene drawn or sketched in deftly evocative strokes."

The London LP also includes The Wise Virgins, a ballet suite that Walton wrote in 1940 for Sadler's Wells and Sir Frederick Ashton, utilizing themes from Bach's music. The sources of the selections are as follows (they are not outlined in the LP's notes):

What God hath done, is rightly done (Cantata 99)

Lord, hear my longing (Chorale Prelude 'Herzlich tut mich')

See what His love can do (Cantata 85)
Ah! How ephemeral (Cantata 26)
Sheep may safely graze (Cantata 208)

Praise be to God (Cantata 129)

 

F.W. Schadow - Die kluge und törichten Jungfrauen (detail)

The "wise virgins" are characters in the parable of the wise and foolish virgins found in the book of Matthew, which concerns preparedness, spiritual readiness and faith. Ten virgins await the coming of the bridegroom (Jesus), who is delayed. The wise virgins have included enough oil to light the vigil; the foolish virgins have not.

Andrew Porter greeted the LP in The Gramophone as follows:

This is a most welcome collection, a record to have; the first LP Scapino and Siesta, and the definitive Portsmouth Point, I would say, despite the composer’s own version being available [see below]. How wonderfully fresh Portsmouth Point (after Rowlandson) and Scapino (after Callot) still sound; the former dates from 1925, the latter from 1940. Siesta, a piece that seldom seems to be given in the concert hall, is contemporary with the final version of Façade (1926). I hope Sir Adrian’s record will give it a new lease of life, for it is well worth hearing - like a more extended and elaborate version of a Façade slumber piece. All this side of the disc is most brilliantly recorded, and admirably played.

LINK to Boult conducts Walton

Walton Conducts Walton

As mentioned, my notion of transferring the LP just discussed came from remastering a "Walton conducts Walton" record. The latter was prepared for the Coronation of 1953, and included the composer's march Orb and Sceptre written for the ceremony. That 10-inch record also includes Walton's 1937 coronation march Crown Imperial, the Portsmouth Point Overture, and the "Sheep may safely graze" section of The Wise Virgins.

It was the latter that caused me to seek out more Walton - I wanted to transfer the entire suite.

The two Walton marches, of course, are well within the tradition of such works as most famously represented by those of Sir Edward Elgar - and are brilliant examples of their own.

Elgar's music also makes an appearance in this collection, directly below.

LINK to Walton conducts Walton

Elgar's Three Bavarian Dances

As mentioned, Sir Adrian's Walton sessions also yielded a tape of Elgar's Three Bavarian Dances. It so happens that recording has appeared here before, so I decided to remaster it for this occasion.

The Bavarian Dances were coupled on the 10-inch LP with two other light pieces - the Chanson de Nuit and the Chanson de Matin, which had been recorded earlier in 1954.

Sir Adrian Boult

It's a fine effort. Trevor Harvey said of it in The Gramophone: "An attractive record of some of the best of Elgar’s light music (and how good the best of it is). The Bavarian Dances are played with both charm and gusto, and the Chanson de Nuit is particularly distinguished by its feeling, as well as by the quality of sound Decca have given it. Light music done as well as this should give pleasure to everyone, whatever the expanse of their brows."

LINK to Boult conducts Elgar

Matt Dennis' First Two LPs, and More

It's a pleasure to present the first two LPs by singer-songwriter Matt Dennis, who is a favorite around here, but had never been represented by one of his few albums. This post begins to set that right by offering Matt Dennis Plays Matt Dennis in a transfer from an original 1954 Trend pressing, along with his first RCA Victor album, 1955's She Dances Overhead, a tribute to his favorite songwriters, Rodgers and Hart.

The latter comes with two bonus tracks taken from a Treasury Department Guest Star transcription, where he performs two of the Rodgers-Hart numbers. (The complete show also is available.)

Finally, I've remastered two of my older Dennis posts: his complete Capitol recordings with Paul Weston, and the various artists LP Night Out Music for Stay-at-Homes on Coral. Information is below.

Matt Dennis Plays and Sings Matt Dennis

The best introduction to Matt Dennis is listening to him playing his own songs. This Trend album is one of two such entities; a companion on RCA is coming up. (Pay no attention to the hideous cover above; this is quite a good record.)

Many of these numbers are from Matt's early career as a staff composer for the Tommy Dorsey band, where he wrote for the young Frank Sinatra. Songs such as "Violets for Your Furs," "Let's Get Away from It All" and "Everything Happens to Me" come from that era, as does "Will You Still Be Mine," introduced by Connie Haines. 

Another classic, "The Night We Called It a Day," was Sinatra's first solo recording, in 1942. All these songs have lyrics by the gifted Tom Adair. The pair broke up when Dennis joined the Army Air Force. Postwar he worked with other lyricists as well as Adair.

Tom Adair in later years

One early postwar effort was the quintessential saloon song, "Angel Eyes," which Matt wrote in 1946 with lyricist Earl Brent. For her 1953 film noir Jennifer, actor-director Ida Lupino had Matt perform the number as she danced with her real-life husband Howard Duff. This is another song that Sinatra made his own, which he had a habit of doing, although it was not written for him.

That same year Lupino directed and starred in The Bigamist, and called on Dennis for "It Wasn't the Stars," a very good song with words by Dave Gillam.

Dennis makes fun of his Hollywood experience in new lyrics for "Everything Happens to Me," claiming that he ended on the cutting-room floor, which really isn't true for Jennifer (you can see for yourself) but may be for The Bigamist.

Matt and Ginny Dennis

Dave Gillam also wrote the words for Matt's song "When You Love a Fella," which is performed on this record by Virginia Maxey, who became Dennis' spouse in 1953. She later joined his act as Ginny Dennis, and can be heard on a set of The Navy Swings programs that I posted a few years ago. Ginny was a former big band singer who had a tendency to belt, probably reflecting that experience.

On this record, the couple duets on "We Belong Together," a fairly well known piece with lyrics by Don Lodice, a saxophonist and veteran of the Dorsey band. "Junior and Julie" is a postwar domestic reverie about having children that is entirely reflective of the times. The Dennises had three children, one of whom was named Julie.

The other songs are "Compared to You" (lyrics by Paul Herrick) and "Tired Routine Called Love" (words by Ted Steele).

Dennis accompanies himself on piano, assisted by bassist Gene Englund and drummer Mark Barnett. The recording was done in the Tally-Ho club in Los Angeles.

LINK to Matt Dennis Plays and Sings Matt Dennis

She Dances Overhead

In contrast to the album above, She Dances Overhead has no songs by Dennis, and his accompaniment is by an ensemble directed by Harry Geller, who has appeared here before backing Anita Ellis and in his own For Cat Dancers Only LP.

As noted, She Dances Overhead is a tribute to Rodgers and Hart, the title being a reference to the song "Dancing on the Ceiling," one of the duo's most celebrated (and best) songs. It comes from the 1930 West End show Ever Green, where it was sung by Jessie Matthews.

Two songs are derived from the pair's 1932 foray into Hollywood, where they supplied the numbers for Rouben Mamoulian's famed Love Me Tonight, which starred Maurice Chevalier and Jeannette MacDonald. Chevalier introduced both of the songs heard here, "Isn't It Romantic?" and "Mimi," although in the film others joined in as well. Dennis includes the seldom-heard verse of the former, and does it wonderfully well.

The remarkable "Nobody's Heart" and "Wait 'Til You See Her" are from By Jupiter from 1942, the final Rodgers and Hart show. There's more about these songs and the score in this post from earlier this year.

For such a famous song, "Blue Moon" had a difficult gestation. Here's the explanation from SecondHandSongs: "The song was originally titled 'Prayer,' and written for Jean Harlow to sing in the movie Hollywood Party. However, it was never used in this movie. The lyrics were then rewritten for the movie Manhattan Melodrama where it was sung by Shirley Ross [as 'The Bad in Every Man']. Finally, the lyrics were again rewritten and the song released as the famous pop song 'Blue Moon' in 1935."

"I Married an Angel" is a good but overlooked item from the 1938 show of the same name. That musical also has had a post devoted to its songs, which you can find here. Matt does the verse of this tune particularly nicely.

One song that continues to be overdone is "Mountain Greenery," which appears in seemingly every Rodgers and Hart collection. This, however, is a relatively recent phenomenon. The number comes from a 1926 Garrick Gaieties revue, but was little recorded from then to the 1950s. Dennis is highly effective, particularly in his jaunty verse. He launches into scat singing, too - and for some reason I don't mind when he does it.

"Give Her a Kiss" is a comparative obscurity from the 1932 film The Phantom President, itself obscure. I haven't seen the film, but IMDb tells us the tune was "sung by chorus of wildlife (uncredited voices) and tenor."

"I Didn't Know What Time It Was" is one of the pair's greatest songs. It derives from Too Many Girls, the 1939 show that is the subject of this post from a few years ago.

The 1926 Ziegfeld show Betsy gave us the little-known "This Funny World," but the biggest hit from the score was the interpolated "Blue Skies" by Irving Berlin.

"Have You Met Miss Jones?" completes the collection. Although I am a major Rodgers and Hart fan, this enthusiasm does not extend to this overdone number.

This is another excellent LP, with pleasing charts played by a large orchestra and fine singing. It's also well recorded. There are two bonus songs, too, discussed below.

LINK to She Dances Overhead and bonus songs

Treasury Department Guest Star

Possibly to help with promotion of the Rodgers and Hart LP, Dennis appeared on the US Treasury Department's transcription program Guest Star in 1956. He sang two numbers with the Harry Sosnik Orchestra - "Mimi" and "Blue Moon."

I've added those songs to the She Dances Overhead download above, but the entire program also is available, including a brief interview of Matt, a Savings Bonds spot and two instrumentals by the Sosnik band.

This transfer is from my copy of the 16-inch transcription disk.

LINK to Treasury Department Guest Star

Remasters - Capitol Recordings and Night Out Music for Stay-at-Homes

The links below take you to the downloads.

The Capitol Recordings. Dennis made nine recordings with Paul Weston for Capitol in 1946-47 - unfortunately not including any of his own material. This is still a worthwhile collection with, for the most part, good songs and excellent arrangements. Beside the two songs in the ad at left, the collection includes "So Would I," "At Sundown," "Linda" and "(Love's Got Me) In a Lazy Mood." The latter is a enjoyable number by Johnny Mercer and tenor saxophonist Eddie Miller, who solos on the record. All the sides are newly remastered with smoother sound and improved vocal quality. LINK

The Coral Recordings. Matt made four single sides for Coral in 1949-50. Three were included on this compendium LP from circa 1956. Also in the album are two early King Cole Trio recordings from 1940-41, three Erroll Garner sides from 1945, two Billy Taylor recordings from 1950, and what I believe were the two earliest recordings by famed songwriter Cy Coleman, when he was a virtuoso pianist. The latter numbers also were from 1950. The sound on many of these sides is now greatly improved - particularly the Garner recordings, which had made his piano sound like a banjo. LINK

Vaughan Williams' 'The Pilgrim's Progress'

Here from the original HMV pressings is Ralph Vaughan Williams' adaptation of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, an important setting that is nonetheless neglected. This 1970-71 production was the first recording of just two to date.

The work is certainly an opera, although the composer did not call it that, yet it may be unlike any other example of that genre because of its source material.

Based on a 1684 portrait of John Bunyan by Thomas Sadler

Bunyan was a 17th century nonconformist preacher. The full title and subtitle of his book explains its premise: "The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come. Wherein is Discovered the Manner of His Setting Out, His Dangerous Journey and Safe Arrival at the Desired Countrey."

It is one of the most significant and influential works of the English language, although hardly fashionable in the mid-20th century, when it had its unsuccessful premiere at Covent Garden. This recording's producer, Christopher Bishop, explained, "An opera house audience has certain preconceptions about opera (or had in 1951), and Pilgrim certainly does not fit them. There is really no dramatic conflict. Pilgrim has the unfair advantage of having God on his side, and one knows that he will reach the Celestial City from the rise of the curtain. There is no heroine, and there are no set arias to applaud."

His summary: "I think The Pilgrim's Progress is a marvellous work. It has been called undramatic, and is not easy to stage effectively, but all its difficulties are worth overcoming for the sake of its magnificent music and its spirituality."

John Noble as the Pilgrim

The composer labored over the work on and off for thirty years. At one point, despairing of ever having it staged, he reused some of the music he had sketched for the opera in his luminous Symphony No. 5. Thus when it finally was mounted at Covent Garden, its failure was a blow, but a new staging at Cambridge in 1953 was a triumph. Those performances had cast the undergraduate John Noble as the Pilgrim. He became identified with the part and repeats his role in this recording.

Here let me call in Christopher Bishop for a precis of the story:

The opera opens with Bunyan alone on the stage, while the brass of the orchestra play the great Puritan hymn York. Bunyan is seen writing his book, and all that follows is the dream which inspired him to write it.

Vanity Fair

Pilgrim enters with his burden, and meets the Evangelist who directs him on the path to Life Everlasting. He is prepared ceremonially for his journey, and then he sets out along the King's Highway. He meets with the trials of the Valley of Humiliation, where he fights and overcomes Apollyon, then he visits Vanity Fair, and is thrown into Prison, after declaring "I buy the Truth". 

The Meeting with Appolyon

He is released from Prison by the Key of Promise and goes on his way to the Delectable Mountains, meeting on his way Mr and Mrs By-ends, who provide a moment of humour. He leaves them to go on his way to the Shepherds of the Delectable Mountains, who prepare him to cross the River of Death. Then "the trumpets sound for him on the other side", and the chorus sing Alleluias to welcome him to the Celestial City.

The choir fades, and Bunyan returns and holds his book out as an offering to the audience.

Vaughan Williams' version is much compressed from the approximately 400-page book. The Pilgrim (actually, Bunyan called him "Christian") visited 21 locales on his journey, the names of which are still used even today: the Slough of Despond, House Beautiful, Valley of the Shadow of Death, Vanity Fair and the Celestial City.

The composer's identification with the work is well captured by the critic Edward Greenfield:

Vaughan Williams, I have kept remembering during my listening, was a life-long agnostic, deeply sympathetic to the church but not in fact himself a conventional believer. Yet he was devoted to Bunyan's great work and its spiritual message, relentlessly pursuing his vision of turning it into music over half a lifetime. He insisted that the hero in his opera should lose his first name "Christian" and remain simply "Pilgrim", not just to bring the message home to as wide an audience as possible, but so that he himself could identify the more closely. It is obvious in almost every bar of this glowing performance how strongly he felt each situation from the heart. Here we have Vaughan Williams, the greathearted agnostic, finding his own spiritual salvation through personal individual struggle, drawing from his own musical achievement not just in experience but in specific quotation.

It remains to be said that this is a definitive performance, beautifully performed and recorded. Greenfield wrote, "As to the music itself, the records demonstrate very clearly the meatiness of inspiration, no thin passages here. For the listener already impregnated with love of the Vaughan Williams idiom these five sides will, I predict, draw regular gasps of delight, as one gorgeous passage succeeds another."

The performers include a long list of the best British singers of the time, including Raimund Herincx, John Carol Case, Norma Burrowes, Alfreda Hodgson, Ian Partridge, John Shirley-Quirk and Sheila Armstrong. Sir Adrian led the London Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra in the Kingsway Hall recording.

Sir Adrian Boult

As a fill-up on the sixth side, the set includes rehearsal extracts with Boult. Christopher Bishop explained, "I have always wanted to produce a record of Sir Adrian in rehearsal, but he normally says so little during rehearsals (preferring to use his eyes and baton to indicate his wishes), that up to now there has not been enough material. However, with a full length opera, and with a chorus present I felt we would have enough to make up a side. Christopher Parker, the balance engineer, hid a microphone by Sir Adrian's desk, so that we could catch clearly what he said, and ran a tape from that microphone during the rehearsals before each 'take'."

The recording session in Kingsway Hall

Edward Greenfield observed, "Whether fairly or not, these present Boult as a far sharper-tongued, no-nonsense figure than the general public will ever have realised." I will add that the sessions were with a large orchestra and a far-off choir and soloists in a huge hall, so Sir Adrian perforce had to shout to be heard and understood.

The download includes complete scans, including the original 16-page booklet with libretto, the Greenfield review and Bishop's article on the production.

LINK

Ad in The Gramophone, February 1972

Dolly

So much has been written about the life, career and legacy of the great Dolly Parton that anything I post here would approach the superfluous. But let me say a few words and post a few songs anyway, as a brief remembrance.

For those who do not know her songs and singing, the photo above may be misleading. Dolly was known for her wildly artificial look. But if you examine the photograph closely, you will also find evidence of her great sincerity; her ability to perform simple songs with simple messages in such a way that they transcended artifice to reach the very core of the listener.

Today we have one of her best and most famous albums, 1973's Jolene, which begins with its deservedly famous title song where she begs a beautiful rival to stay away from her man. The other side leads off with a second astonishing (and famed) composition, I Will Always Love You, supposedly written in farewell to her singing partner, Porter Wagoner, whose act she had joined at age 21. This heavily gospel influenced number was later to become a mega-hit for the remarkable Whitney Houston, herself from a gospel background.

Gospel - along with true folk music - was the root of Dolly's career. She learned music from her parents and relatives in rural Tennessee. The talent and endless drive was hers alone. Allied to a big heart, and a welcoming and accepting nature, she became a legend, and rightfully so.

In addition to the LP, I have added another of Parton's greatest songs, and my personal favorite, the hugely affecting and deeply meaningful Coat of Many Colors from 1971, which somehow captures both her hardscrabble background and her great humanity. May she rest in peace.

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