Stanford: The Travelling Companion
Soloists
New Sussex Opera
Toby Purser
This was Stanford's last opera - it was not performed until after his death. I have to say that I thought that it was a pretty mediocre work. Some of it was in that rather fey 'hey nonny no' folksy style that I find so off-putting in British music of this era. But even ignoring that I didn't find much stylistic coherence to the piece and not much to grip the listener. The whole thing is extraordinarily old fashion for an opera from 1916, and it is hard to imagine that it will ever be more than a curiosity. Oddly enough the last couple of minutes - a gradual wind down towards a quiet ending impressed me more than anything else in the opera, but of course by that time it was far too late. So this is very much one to put down to experience.
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