Michael Tippett (1905-1998)
King Priam
Forbes Robinson (bass) – King Priam
Josephine Veasey (mezzo) – Andromache
John Dobson (tenor) – Paris
Margareta Elkins (mezzo) – Helen
Marie Collier (soprano) – Hecuba
Richard Lewis (tenor) – Achilles
Victor Godfrey (baritone) – Hector
Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden/John Pritchard
rec. live, 29 May, 1962, Coventry Theatre, UK
Pristine Audio PACO 203 [143]
Pristine Audio continues to show its commitment to British music with this release of the BBC broadcast of the world premiere of King Priam. Although the first staging of the work was planned for Covent Garden, the first performance took place at Coventry as part of the celebrations to mark the re-opening of Coventry Cathedral after its restoration. The premiere and the BBC broadcast of King Priam occurred the day before the premiere of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem, which received unanimous acclaim whereas Tippett’s opera was less welcomed by the critics at the time. Tippett’s musical landscape for this score can still be described as “difficult” 61 years after the premiere. Tippett’s rather spiky, angular musical landscape is still puzzling to the casual listener; a case in point is the long solo scene in Act Two for Achilles, where he is accompanied by a solo guitar. While evocative at times it leaves one with the impression that Achilles has briefly journeyed from Ancient Greece to modern Andalusia.
The cast for the premiere production was drawn from some of the most notable British artists of the late 20th Century. Probably the most valuable performance comes from Forbes Robinson as King Priam. Robsinson’s granite-like bass is the cornerstone of this recording. He is particularly effective in the monologue where he accepts his fate as the father of Paris. Robinson made very few commercial recordings and until now one could only get an idea of his strengths from his very fine account of Claggart’s scene from Billy Budd on the Royal Opera Gala set from Eloquence (review). Richard Lewis is the other major asset here; his Achilles is sung with mellifluous, liquid tone. He too can also be encountered in his monologue from this opera on that same Royal Opera Gala disc, recorded in fairly atmospheric stereo.
The main achiever among the female singers is the gloriously sung Andromache of Josephine Veasey, an artist who has been much under-rated on recordings. The remaining roles are smaller in impact so Marie Collier’s celebrated intensity registers, despite a slightly fluttery tone but Tippett has not allocated her much of a chance to make an impact. The same could be said for Margareta Elkins’ lusciously vocalized Helen of Troy. I also find that among the male singers that John Dobson’s Paris is rather difficult to distinguish from John Lanigan’s Hermes as the vocal imprint of the two singers are so alike.
Pristine Audio has done a very fine job releasing this in their usual XR remastering process. They have acquired a very clean, virtually immaculate copy of the BBC broadcast to work with, although, some of the announcer’s commentary has been patched-in from another inferior copy. The voices and indeed the diction are very clear and although the orchestra sounds a little distant at times, it is always with a sense of real atmosphere. It was kind of Pristine to retain all of the commentary; it helps one to listen to this and recognize that it is part of an “event”. In any case the sound of this set is immaculate and one would be inclined to think that it had only been recorded last week rather than 61 years ago. While I am still not entirely convinced that this opera is worth the effort that went into it, I am glad that Pristine has issued this because it is an entirely a more persuasive advocate for the opera than the Chandos recording under David Atherton, despite not having the advantage of Chandos’ digital studio sound.
Mike Parr
Availability: Pristine Classical
Additional cast
Paris (child) – Philip Doghan
Patroclus – Joseph Ward
Nurse – Noreen Berry
Old Man – David Kelly
