[1/21/2011] Flashback/Preview, part 2: We STILL haven't finished with Valerie Masterson (continued)

In this clip of "Handel reminiscing" (maybe somebody out there knows what it's from?), Masterson as Galatea and tenor Anthony Rolfe Johnson as Acis sing the duet "Oh, happy we" from the composer's Acis and Galatea.


I still haven't quite figured out how to handle this planned Valerie Masterson post, so for now we're just going to do the originally planned second "flashback/preview." I know the main post isn't going to come this week, when we're going to be concerned with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, or next week, when we're still going to be concerned with Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition. To complicate matters, I've gotten some more material I want to share, including a complete recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I, in which Masterson, at 57, did some lovely work as Anna. We'll definitely be hearing some of that.

For now I thought we'd hear the other Traviata we heard Rosanna and Carteri and Cesare Valletti sing awhile back, the great duet from Alfredo and Violetta's first scene alone together, "Un dì felice."

VERDI: La Traviata: Act I, Duet, Alfredo and Violetta, "I saw a vision ethereal"

Valerie Masterson (s), Violetta Valéry; John Brecknock (t), Alfredo Germont; English National Opera Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI, recorded Aug.-Oct. 1980

Okay, one more Traviata excerpt: the moment in Act II when Violetta, at the desperate urging of Alfredo's unexpectedly arrive father (eventually we're going to hear that whole scene, prepares to brush him off -- "Amami, Alfredo" in the original.

VERDI: La Traviata: Act II, Scene 1, Scene, Violetta and Alfredo, "What's that?" . . . "Love me, Alfredo"

Valerie Masterson (s), Violetta Valéry; John Brecknock (t), Alfredo Germont; English National Opera Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI, recorded Aug.-Oct. 1980


Now I thought we might pin down the Pirates of Penzance excerpt we heard at the outset of this post, the great ensemble beginning with the Sergeant of Police's "When the foeman bears his steel." First I thought we'd hear a performance of the Pirates Overture I don't think we've heard, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner. Two tunes to note: the lovely lyrical one at 2:38, Mabel's "Ah, leave me not to pine," and the theme of the great "Paradox" trio at 5:04.

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN: The Pirates of Penzance: Overture

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner, cond. Philips, recorded February 1992

In that opening performance of "When the foeman bears his steel" we heard Donald Adams as the Sergeant of Police; his role in Pirates was the Pirate King, one of his great roles. Now, as bad as the constables' predicament seems in this great ensemble, it gets worse when they learn that they are not to be led into gory battle against the Pirates of Penzance by the intrepid former apprentice pirate Frederic. As a reminder of this comes about, we're going to listen to an excerpt we've already heard, the aforementioned "Paradox" trio, from the glorious 1957 D'Oyly Carte Pirates:

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN: The Pirates of Penzance: Act II, Recitative and Trio, Frederic, Pirate King, and Ruth, "Now for the pirates' lair" . . . "Young Frederic" . . . "When you had left our pirate fold"

Thomas Round (t), Frederic; Donald Adams (bs), Pirate King; Ann Drummond-Grant (c), Ruth; New Symphony Orchestra of London, Isidore Godfrey, cond. Decca, recorded Oct.-Nov. 1957

When Frederic breaks this extraordinary news to his beloved Mabel, she tries to persuade him that he really doesn't owe the pirates any more time, leading to the great duet that begins with Mabel singing the aforementioned "Ah, leave me not to pine alone and desolate." This is a recording Masterson made long after leaving the D'Oyly Carte company (in 1969).

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN: The Pirates of Penzance: Act II, Duet, Mabel and Frederic, "Stay, Frederic, stay" . . . "Ah, leave me not to pine alone and desolate" . . . "Oh, here is love"

Valerie Masterson (s), Mabel; Robert Tear (t), Frederic; Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Kenneth Alwyn, cond. EMI, recorded June 23-24, 1982

Finally I thought we might sneak in another duet from that record, Here's a How-De-Do! A Gilbert & Sullivan Gala.

GILBERT AND SULLIVAN: The Mikado: Act I, Duet, Nanki-Poo and Yum-Yum, "Were you not to Koko plighted"

Valerie Masterson (s), Mabel; Robert Tear (t), Frederic; Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Kenneth Alwyn, cond. EMI, recorded June 23-24, 1982


IN TOMORROW NIGHT'S PREVIEW --

We're going to be hearing the first half of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition on Sunday, in three versions (the composer's original piano version and the orchestral versions by Maurice Ravel and Leopold Stokowski). Tomorrow night we preview that first half.


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