'Succulence' is the
only word for it when Beecham ladles
on the delicacy as he does here.
Bizet first:
The oboe's vinegar sweetness in the
first Serenade of the magical
La Jolie Fille de Perth suite
is lovingly rounded. In the Danse
Bohémienne Beecham points
up every gentle turn for the flute and
confiding harp before letting loose
with a riotous bacchanale.
I am sure that the
Boccherini overture would be
execrated in some quarters for its big-band
radiant sound but in its own right it
has a beguiling Mozartian smoothness.
I am always surprised that Beecham did
not make more of Rossini's overtures
however here is one of the unusual ones:
Cambiale di Matrimonio. It duly
bubbles and glitters with Mozartian
joie de vivre. Speaking of Mozart
we get sleighbells (sounding a mite
half-hearted, I thought) in the K605
March as well as a posthorn. The Haffner
March is very sure of its aristocratic
bearing.
Beecham loved Chabrier's
España. Indeed he conducted
it over seventy times between June 1915
and January 1959. He recorded it in
1939 with the LPO. The present version
is of superior audio quality and the
RPO revel in every slur, rising wave,
smooth ascent, rhythmic tick and ebullient
expostulation. Listen to the rolling
impudence of the trombones at 3.02.
The Offenbach suite
is here released for the first time
so, in Beecham terms, this disc will
be an essential purchase for many. It
was made at Abbey Road on 26 January
1951. The very English sounding chorus
do rather make this like G&S. Still,
take comfort that we cannot hear the
words all that well. In the Barcarolle
Beecham builds and grades the tension
with mastery and then releases it with
joy. The strings unfolding the grand
tune do so with a honeyed unity of tone
(2.37). Just as important the finest
downward gradient of sound coaxes the
piece into a welcoming silence.
This collection draws
on the lollipop
and overture territory that at one time
was the province of shellac. In the
1950s and 1960s conductors such as Sargent,
Weldon, Wolff, Paray and many another
headed up LP collections of such things
in which Suppé, Rezniček, Bizet,
Strauss, Komzak and Smetana jostled
for attention. Beecham in regal style
takes us back to those days while Sony
sees to it that we hear these recordings
in the best possible fettle.
Lollipops despatched
with panache - a Beecham speciality.
Rob Barnett
see also review
by Jonathan Woolf
Royal Philharmonic Chorus (Offenbach) 