Richard Lewis is probably best known today for his part in two
sets of recordings. He recorded the part of Gerontius with both
Sir Malcolm Sargent and Sir John Barbirolli, the latter performance
being wholly exceptional in both singing and identification
with the role. The other well known recordings are the main
tenor parts in Sargent’s versions of the Savoy operas, sung
with grace, wit and understanding. Recordings of some of his
Glyndebourne roles including Mozart and Monteverdi are also
valuable, but unfortunately as far as I am aware no issue exists
of his role as Aaron - I use that spelling as it was sung in
English - in the first British staging of Schoenberg’s opera.
I am sure that recordings must exist of that and some of his
other operatic roles and I hope that one day they may be more
generally available. In the meantime here is an interesting
coupling of the contents of two LPs. They have been issued together
on CD before (by Dutton) but I have not heard that version and
do not know whether it shares the excessively brief gaps between
items found here.
The first part of the disc consists of extracts from various
of Handel’s oratorios and such like, put together in no particular
order and all subject to drastic additional orchestrations.
By 1958 this was already regarded as an anachronism in many
circles as was the heavy and unstylish conducting of Sir Malcolm
Sargent. As a result although one can admire the beauty and
where necessary the vigour of the singing, as well as the clarity
of the diction, it is hard to enjoy the performances as a whole.
The best are probably the Jeptha extracts, linked together as
was usual at that time, and “Total eclipse”. As singing all
are worth hearing even if they bear little resemblance to what
today is thought of as Handelian style.
The folksongs are something of an oddity. They are said to have
been arranged by Dorumsgaard although no further details are
given, at least in this reissue. Many of the songs are familiar
from other arrangements, in particular those by Britten, but
the arranger here has apparently either not known those versions
or has deliberately approached them differently. In some cases,
especially “The foggy, foggy dew” I almost suspected that, like
Haydn and Beethoven in their folksong arrangements, the arranger
knew only the melody, not the words. No matter; the results
are delightful, something like a cross between Canteloube and
the Light Music composers celebrated on Guild. Hugo Shirley’s
note refers to these arrangements as being “less than chaste”
and that is certainly true, as also is his praise for the quality
of Lewis’s singing and the beauty of his voice.
These are not the most important or even the most characteristic
reminders of the art of Richard Lewis but they are worth hearing,
the Handel for the singing and as a reminder of a former way
of performing that composer, and the folksongs as a wholly pleasurable
experience for those, like me, with debased taste and a sweet
tooth.
John Sheppard
See also
review by Jonathan Woolf
Full contents list:
Handel:
Joshua – So long the memory shall last … While Kedron’s brook
[4:29]
Jeptha – Deeper and deeper still … Waft her, angels [7:46]
Acis and Galatea – Would you gain the tender creature [4:51]
Jeptha – For ever blessed [2:05]
Judas Maccabaeus – My arms! … Sound an alarm [3:56]
Alexander’s Feast – War, he sung [5:28]
Samson – Total eclipse [4:35]
Semele – Where’er you walk [4:32]
Judas Maccabaeus – Thanks to my breth’ren … How vain is man
[5:22]
Folksongs:
Bingo [1:41]
Ar hyd y nos [2:41]
King Arthur’s servants [1:39]
Grad gael mo chridh [3:39]
The Helston Furry Dance [1:52]
Dafydd y garreg wen [2:54]
The foggy, foggy dew [3:10]
The stuttering lovers [1:39]
The Maypole Song [1:48]
I will give my love an apple [1:46]
O love, it is a killing thing [2:09]
Buy broom buzzems [1:46]
O waly, waly [5:05]
There’s none to soothe [2:15]
The briery bush [2:11]
Richard Lewis (tenor) 
