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This recording continues the New D'Oyly Carte's
recent tradition of restoring all the available "lost" material to the opera at hand.
In the case of Patience, this includes a reconstruction by David
Russell Hulme of a song for the Duke of Dunstable that Sullivan composed
three days before the premiere, but which was never sung in public. Although
the orchestration is bound in to Sullivan's autograph score, there is no vocal
line. There have been various attempts at inventing one over the years, but
the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society's journal describes this one as the most successful.
(I personally have no basis of comparison.) There is also a version of the Act II
finale that includes a reprise of the Duke's song, which Dr. Hulme has reconstructed
in a similar manner.
To my ears, this is one of the least appealing of the New D'Oyly Carte series,
largely because of the fatally-misjudged performance of Simon Butteriss as Bunthorne.
He imbues the part with Andrew Lloyd Webber-style histrionics, and he quickly
leaves one yearning for...Phantom of the Opera. Mary Hegarty
(Patience) is not at all equipped for the brief coloratura turn in her opening solo,
but "Love is a plaintive song" is rather nice.
No one seems to have told Donald Maxwell that the Colonel is a patter role, and
he is completely overmatched by his opening number. Henry Wickham (Grosvenor),
David Fieldsend (Duke) and Jill Pert (Jane) are somewhat more successful but cannot
overcome the other drawbacks, especially the Bunthorne. The recording's best number
is "It's clear that medieval art," which is taken at a brisk clip.
When you consider that the old D'Oyly Carte recording
on London/Decca includes complete dialogue, and the CD re-issue of the
Sargent recording includes Sullivan's Symphony in E
as a bonus, this set has little to recommend it, unless you're a collector who "must have
everything," or the setting of the Duke's song appeals to you. The set is also priced
extremely expensively.
Jamie Moffat had a more favorable opinion, so for balance I offer his review:
I basically wanted this recording for the sake of completion; the sole
feedback I had had about it was on the G&S Discography site. The review
there is mostly negative, and I was prepared for an indifferent performance.
But how pleasantly surprised I was! I can see where the reviewer in question
is coming from, but personal tastes often vary. Whilst I recognise a number
of shortcomings, it does strike me as a highly competitive and desirable
set. I cannot agree that Mary Hegarty's Patience lacks for anything. I find
it a vocally secure and thoroughly charming performance, similar in
interpretation (though assuredly not voice) to Winifred Lawson. John Owen
Edwards gives, to my mind, the best account of this score by far to be found
on CD. It canters along merrily, and refuses to get bogged down. Publish it
not in the halls of EMI but I think he leaves Sargent
for dead.
The main weakness is the Bunthorne of Simon Butteriss. It is, if anything,
too vivid an interpretation, and I felt a little intimidated by it. No other
word for it. I imagine he would be impressive on stage but he doesn't quite
click in the recording. The chorus, as always, is first rate.
On the whole I would put it marginally behind the Decca CD set,
but only because it lacks both the dialogue and Kenneth Sandford. Having said that I
place it far ahead of the Glyndebourne effort, and ahead of Sargent's 1930
DOC recording. Anyone who has not heard it would do well to make the investment.
Derrick McClure wrote:
Does anybody agree that this recording must have the worst pair
of poets since recordings began? Henry Wickham as Grosvenor is so utterly
colourless and characterless that I can't summon up his voice in my head
(though I played the record two days ago) — as I can with Alan Styler, John
Cameron or Ken Sandford, though I haven't heard them for years. And though
Simon Butteriss as Bunthorne certainly puts more life into the part, his
bright, bubbly, bursting-with-enthusiasm rendering is completely
inappropriate for a scheming, posturing fraud like Bunthorne: he hasn't even
tried, or realised that he should try, to think of the character that
Gilbert and Sullivan created. And while we're on the subject — splendid
singer as Frances McCafferty is, what kind of daft idea was it to cast a
plum-pudding-voiced contralto as the etherealised and exalted Lady Angela?
Jamie Moffat rejoined:
Personally I think the 1994 D'Oyly Carte Patience is splendid. It is
invigorating, nuaunced and beautifully sung. Frances McCafferty is a
wonderfully ethereal Angela, and I don't think anyone, not even Godfrey, can
touch John Owen Edwards' conducting of this piece.
I know that the D'Oyly Carte put themselves on the line every time they
issue a new recording. Every artist does. But this recording has had too
much of a bad rap.
As a tribute to its power, when I missed out on a wonderful production
recently due to a family illness, my
extreme disappointment was eased not by Sargent,
not by the '61 DC (though
it was tempting) but by the 1994 TER D'Oyly Carte effort.
Bruce I. Miller wrote:
As with all the "new" D'Oyly Carte recordings, the musical values are consistently high. What bothers some of us is the lack of a company style that the old company had in spades. There have been too many changes in personnel over a short period of time, not to mention that the company doesn't operate the year round anymore, to allow the development of that subtle quality we can only define as "tradition" in its best sense.
In the case of this Patience, I understand that the new D'Oyly Carte never had done a fully staged production of the opera since its inception. They did put on a concert performance prior to making the recording, but that was all. It is not, therefore, surprising that some of the players were not altogether at home in their parts, although surely at least some of them had opportunities to play the roles elsewhere.
The two-CD set also includes the overtures to The Sorcerer, Utopia
Limited, Cox & Box and Ruddigore—none of
them among Sullivan's masterpieces, but all omitted on many of the overture collections
issued in recent years. To my knowledge, there is not a cassette issue.
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