Ralph VAUGHAN WILLIAMS (1872-1958)
Hugh the Drover
(1914, rev. 1956)
Hugh – Bonaventura Bottone (tenor)
Mary – Rebecca Evans (soprano)
John the Butcher – Alan Opie (baritone)
The Constable – Richard Van Allan (bass)
Aunt Jane – Sarah Walker (mezzo)
Corydon Singers, Corydon Orchestra/Matthew Best
rec. Blackheath Concert Halls, London, 27-30 January 1994
Reviewed as a digital download with pdf booklet from
hyperion-records.co.uk.
2 CDs for the price of one.
HYPERION CDD22049
[101:42]
Britten comprehensively disposed of the notion that, after Purcell, the
English couldn’t write opera. I very much hope that Birtwistle, Ades and
Benjamin are recognised as continuing that work. But what of English opera
before Peter Grimes? What of the operas of Vaughan Williams in
particular? Or to be more specific what about Hugh the Drover?
A half decent staging (it wasn’t perfect) a few years ago at the ENO showed
what Vaughan Williams aficionados had long known - that the Pilgrim’s Progress can work on stage. I have little doubt that Hugh the Drover could work just as well.
Like Pilgrim’s Progress, Hugh the Drover might be said to
suffer from having almost too much music. I can’t think of another opera
with quite so many tunes. This has the effect of an oratorio rather than an
opera. It is not so much that the work is undramatic so much as all the
drama is musical. This makes it ideal for recording.
One of the biggest obstacles to the full recognition of the qualities of Hugh was right there from the start, according to Michael
Kennedy’s illuminating booklet notes to this recording. It seems even VW’s
librettist, Harold Child, made the mistake of assuming that an English
comic opera would have characters who were merely buffoons and yokels.
Nothing could be further from the composer’s intentions or from the score
he produced. His deep love for English folk song meant he took the people
who sang those songs with deep seriousness. Given that the opera was
written during the lifetime of that greatest of chroniclers of English
rural life, Thomas Hardy, this general attitude is very strange. Perhaps
comedy brought out the worst urban prejudices. I do wonder if it is a fear
of this sort of thing that deters more listeners from exploring this lovely
work.
This recording is not entirely free from such “yokelisation”. The spoken
passages in the opening fair scene, especially the passage about Napoleon
“Bonyparty” seem to have wandered in from some creaky dated TV drama from
the 70s. Mercifully this doesn’t extend in any way to the musical
performances.
As Michael Kennedy observes in the liner notes, the orchestration shows
evidence of the composer’s recent lessons with Ravel. This is a shrewd
observation. I also hear Vaughan Williams well on his way to what I regard
as his great watershed work – the Third Symphony (and not the Fourth which,
for me, continues the change in direction initiated by the Third). World
War One separates Hugh from A Pastoral Symphony and its influence
is crucial in Vaughan Williams’ development but it seems clear, listening
to the opera, that Vaughan Williams was already moving musically in that
direction. Apart from the influence on instrumental colour, the other
striking difference is greater concision. Hugh is completely free
of the baggage of many more famous operas, just as A Pastoral Symphony is a
model of concision compared to the expansive symphonies that preceded it.
Even the many tunes already mentioned are handled with exemplary economy
and never interfere with the onward momentum of the score.
As a score, though, Hugh looks backwards as well as forwards. It reflects a
world and an attitude that had vanished by the time the composer returned
from war. One of many ironies attached to this work is that the world it
looks back on is that of some of the composer’s most popular works such as The Lark Ascending and the Tallis Fantasia. If any reader
thinks I am exaggerating, I suggest they listen to the end of Act 2 (or its
beginning for that matter!) This is Vaughan Williams right at the end of
the first flush of his love affair with English folk songs and, as ever
with him, picking out the real ones from the composed ones is a tricky
business. And what tunes they are!
There is more to this wonderful score than just melodies. The light and
shade in the numerous very brief orchestral linking passages inhabit the
mature, poignant world of the Third and Fifth symphonies. It is decidedly
peculiar that whilst the symphonies rightly enjoy great popularity, music
like Hugh, that is at least their equal in its own way, languishes
in relative obscurity. The music for the lovers, in particular, is Vaughan
Williams at his considerable best. To sample what I mean, listen to the
glorious orchestral postlude to their Act One love duet.
Sadly, it seems unlikely that Hugh the Drover is likely to get
another professional outing, either on stage or in the recording studio, any
time soon though I hope I am wrong. Happily, it seems unlikely to me
that any future recording will improve on this one, currently a frankly
outrageous bargain from Hyperion. I listened to it as a 16-bit lossless
download and I can say that the recorded sound is well up to the standards
we have grown to expect from that label. It definitely doesn’t show its age
in the slightest.
The singing is not just of a consistently high standard but everybody seems
tuned into the stylistic requirements of good folk singing. There is no
operatic showboating here. I was particularly impressed with the
contribution of Bonnaventura Bottone as Hugh. He is sensitive both to the
words but also to the subtle inflexions of VW’s melodies. He is
particularly strong in the quieter music and produces a lovely sound
throughout. He is, though, very much first among equals as everyone sings
well.
Unsurprisingly, Matthew Best’s crack chorus, the Corydon Singers, relish
every note of Vaughan Williams’ choral writing, a real strength of this
opera. His scratch orchestra don’t even merit a mention on the front cover
but they play extremely well from first note to last.
This is a truly lovely opera, beautifully produced and performed. It
deserves a much wider audience. I was delighted to get to know it. Perhaps
you will be too?
David McDade
For the cantata A Cotswold Romance, using material from Hugh the Drover, see
review
–
review
of Chandos 2-for-1 release.
