Fritz Busch’s Glyndebourne
Così was recorded in 1935
but this live broadcast dates from the
period of the conductor’s post-War return.
It exists in two copies both preserved
by collectors, one on acetate and one
on tape. Neither has emerged unscathed
and both suffered from considerable
problems – pitch extremes, gaps and
missing portions (most damagingly the
Overture, which has had to be spliced
from the commercial 1935 set). Restorer
and Supremo Richard Caniell has also
patched from the 1951 EMI excerpts selection
made by these Glyndebourne forces in
the same year (Busch, Jurinac and Lewis)
and also from the surviving 1940 Busch-Stockholm
performance. So, problems, and pause
for thought. I should add at the outset
that Guild details all these problems
with commendable honesty and straight-forwardness.
They fudge nothing.
It’s interesting to
note that Spike Hughes’ history of Glyndebourne
mentions this 1951 Così almost
by default; none of the other three
Mozart operas ever took wing in the
same way as [the same season’s]
Idomeneo Only Così, dominated
by the triumphant Fiordiligi of Sena
Jurinac, had anything of the quality
which had made this Glyndebourne’s particular
show-piece. This may or may not
be true – it’s probably more true than
not in terms of all-round ensemble -
but it’s certainly true that Busch retained,
up to the very end of his life, a very
special command of Mozartian tempo relations.
Hughes always credited him, Bruno Walter
and Richard Strauss as the greatest
Mozart opera conductors he had heard.
Would that Strauss had left behind his
own Così or Figaro.
Beyond the technical
considerations relating to the degradation
of sound I should add that there is
some overload and blasting, that the
sound comes and goes and that the patching
(especially in the middle of an aria
or trio for example) always sounds like
a patch. As the sound degrades on one
tape the other, much brighter, is used.
The results are obviously problematic.
There are also muffled entrances, faulty
vocal balances and the expected exigencies
of a live broadcast.
But this is to state
it at its worst. At its best the sound
is certainly listenable; certainly not
up to good quality American or German
off-air material of the time it’s true
but then this release has been at the
mercy of its source material. And there
is the cast to consider. First there
is indeed Jurinac. Right from the off
in the Scene II duet Ah guarda, sorella
she is right on the note; finely
nuanced, characterful, beautiful of
tone. Rightly her Act II Scene II aria
Per pietà, ben mio stops
the show – frantic applause here. Here
and elsewhere she marries intimacy with
declamation and rides over the aural
limitations with ease, showing fascinating
understanding of her role. Lewis hasn’t
a predecessor such as Nash’s minstrelsy
of tone but he has liquid ease and fine
tone production. His mezza voce (hear
Un aura amorosa but note that
this is a splice from both surviving
editions so sound varies) is excellent.
At first he seems over parted by the
Guglielmo of Marko Rothmüller but
this is doubtless a question of stage
management and balance is regained later
in the Act. Sesto Bruscantini’s Don
Alfonso is a strong though not really
characterful presence in specifically
vocal terms; it’s not an intrinsically
beautiful voice but it’s well focused
and doesn’t spread. His impersonation
on the other hand is special, character
acting that comes across the years and
across, indeed, the degraded grooves.
The American mezzo, Alice Howland, is
also not in the first league and her
aria Smanie implacabli che m’agrite
doesn’t ignite as it should. The Despina
of Isa Quesnel, on the other hand, fits
securely and appositely in terms of
vocal colour and quick-wittedness, into
the ensemble. Busch employs a piano
continuo as was customary with him.
He zips along the recits and he and
Carl Ebert convey the horseplay on stage
as well as the darker occluded elements.
Above all else Busch is the wizardly
presence on the rostrum.
But is this an essential
purchase and is it an essential purchase
even for admirers of Busch? Given the
state of the recording and given that
the 1935 commercial set is widely available
I would answer ‘no’ generally and ‘yes’
for Busch admirers. Problematic sound
rules it out of court for the generalist
and for all the Guild team’s proselytising
the fact of the matter is that the rest
of the cast isn’t quite up to Jurinac’s
consistently inspired level. For specialists
only, then.
Jonathan Woolf
See also review
by Robert Farr
Glyndebourne Festival Chorus 
