Copland: The Tender Land

 Opera no 123

Copland: The Tender Land

Soloists

Plymouth Music Series

Philip Brunelle

It is hard to imagine a greater contrast between the first two works in this American section of the project. Barber’s Vanessa looked to European models and seemed to eschew any American connections. The Tender Land by contrast could never have been written by a non-American. 

This is quite a light uncomplicated piece which is ideally suited for youth or community groups - it started off as an opera for TV but plans changed before it was finished. It has all of the elements that one expects from the Copland of Appalachian Spring or Rodeo. Melodies which seem simple and folk-lie but with unexpected rhythmic ‘kicks’ which keeps them fresh. I found the whole thing delightful. It seemed to belong to the same world as Britten’s Paul Bunyan with some tinges of Bernstein. How well it would play to a non-American audience I am not quite sure - perhaps some of the folksy elements would come across as a bit corny - but in the right context it could work well.

It will be interesting to see how the other American operas in this series fit within the two very different approaches taken by Barber and Copland. 

Walton: Troilus and Cressida

Opera 79

Walton: Troilus and Cressida

Soloists

Opera North

Richard Hickox

The only music from this opera I knew was the big soprano solo At the Haunted End of the Day, which featured in the wonderful documentary of the same name broadcast in the 1980s celebrating the life and work of Walton. 

This was another opera written in the shadow of the operatic successes of Benjamin Britten and it has never quite established its own place in the repertory. Walton tinkered with it several times, including creating a revised version for mezzo soprano in the title role to enable Janet Baker to perform the role. This record restores the soprano tessitura. The music is vintage Walton - it has the swagger of Belshazzar’s Feast and the warm lyricism of works like the violin and viola concertos.  There is real dramatic flair to the score. The correspondence between Walton and the librettist Christopher Hassall has been published and is absolutely fascinating. Hassall had written the book for several of Ivor Novello’s musicals and Walton gently (and sometimes not so gently) coaxed the author into an understanding of what makes a successful opera libretto. 

The score probably did seem a little old fashioned to the critics of the time who often seemed in thrawl to Britten. One can understand that but now with the passing of several generations we can see that both composers in their very different ways had written operas of the highest quality. It does seem odd that Troilus and Cressida has not established itself as part of the 20th century British operatic tradition.

Berkeley: A Dinner Engagement

Opera no 78

Berkeley: A Dinner Engagement

Soloists

City of London Sinfonia

Richard Hickox

I was not much impressed by the Berkeley symphony I listened to in last year’s project https://andrew365newpieces.blogspot.com/search/label/Berkeley so didn’t have particularly high expectations of this opera. It is quite a short piece (I hr) using the same forces as Albert Herring, That makes sense as it was a commission of Britten’s English Opera Group. For I while I though that the music was pretty inconsequential in a sort of sub-Britten way, without that composers astringency, but as the work went on I found myself more and more engaged with it. Berkeley famous studied with Nadia Boulanger and there are certainly strong French touches throughout the score. But perhaps Stravinsky is the stronger influence - we are certainly not far away from the world of The Rake’s Progess, which was first performed only a few years after this work. There was a highly attractive duet about two thirds of the way through the opera which really made a strong impression.

It must have been difficult for composers of the time to deal with the huge impact that Britten had on post-way opera in this country. Everything seems to exist in his shadow. But I think that this work is strong enough to bear the occasional revival - I certainly found it more enjoyable that the Berkeley symphony I listened to last year.