As far as I know,
this is Sir Colin Davis’s second recording of Tippett’s oratorio;
his first, made for Philips in 1975 and featuring such luminaries
as Jessye Norman, Janet Baker and John Shirley-Quirk, has always
been one of the top choices. There are also valuable performances
from Pritchard (1957, the pioneering recording), Rozhdestvensky
(a live BBC relay on Carlton Classics) and, not least, the composer
himself (a technically fallible but nevertheless overwhelming
performance with the CBSO on Naxos). Davis also performed A
Child of our Time at the Barbican last December and this
was recorded for LSO Live.
Sir Colin has performed
a number of works by British composers during his appearances
in Dresden. His acclaimed reading of Elgar’s First Symphony
has already appeared in this edition and he also performed Britten’s
War Requiem in 2000 in commemoration of the destruction
of Dresden. Performances of A Child of our Time in Germany
carry a particular charge, bringing as they do associations
of atonement and reparation. This is further confirmed by the
lavishly illustrated CD booklet, which provides a detailed background
to the events in Europe that inspired Tippett’s oratorio. There
is also some fascinating information on Dresden’s synagogue,
designed, like its famous opera house, by Gottfried Semper and
destroyed during the Kristallnacht of 1938. No texts
are provided.
Davis, aided by
the spacious acoustic of the Semper Opera House, sets a steady
pace for the most part, emphasising the dramatic weight and
power of his conception. The chorus is backwardly placed but
such is the excellence of their diction that this is not a problem.
The oratorio is paced unerringly, the chorus providing rich
tone in “Steal Away” vivid characterisation of persecutors and
persecuted in “Burn down their houses” followed by a sombre
reading of “Go Down Moses”. The sequence of Handel-inspired
recitatives and arias in the central part of the oratorio move
from fear, terror, anger and, finally, acceptance. At the end
Davis draws the threads together with complete mastery for the
final “Deep River”.
The soloists all
characterise their roles extremely vividly, and although occasionally
some idiosyncratic pronunciation can make for disconcerting
listening this is a relatively small blemish when we are faced
with such obvious involvement. Ute Selbig possesses a bright,
full soprano - she sang Sibelius’s Luonnotar in the first
half of the concert at which this recording was made - and soars
effortlessly over the other forces in the spirituals and elsewhere.
The late Jerry Hadley sings with passionate although somewhat
plaintive tone, and Robert Holl is a tower of strength in the
important bass part.
Sir Colin’s reading
is undoubtedly authoritative and moving, with a powerful and
responsive chorus and a team of soloists who are extremely involved
dramatically, although vocally more fallible than some of their
counterparts on disc. I wouldn’t say this new disc superseded
any of the versions listed above, but it does provide a memento
of what must have been a very moving occasion in the Semperoper,
and occasionally surpasses its predecessors in terms of sheer
emotional commitment.
Ewan McCormick
Ute Selbig (soprano)
