Georges Bizet (1838-1875)
The Fair Maid of Perth (La jolie fille de Perth) (1867)
Catherine Glover: Mattiwilda Dobbs (soprano)
Mab, Queen of the Gypsies: Anna Pollack (mezzo)
Henry Smith: Alexander Young (tenor)
Duke of Rothesay: Kevin Miller (baritone)
Ralph: David Ward (bass)
Simon Glover: Owen Brannigan (bass)
BBC Chorus, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/Sir Thomas Beecham
Sung in an English translation by Paul England
rec. 1956, Camden Theatre, London, UK
Pristine Audio PACO227 [134]

Sir Thomas Beecham had enough clout with the BBC that he was able to arrange for two separate broadcasts of what must have seemed an obscurity even back then; Bizet’s rarely seen Opéra comique La jolie fille de Perth in 1949 and 1956, a mere seven years apart. The earlier broadcast has been available on CD for over twenty years courtesy of the Beulah label. It was among the very first reviews written for MWI by our esteemed editor-in-chief John Quinn (review). The later broadcast has recently been spruced up by Pristine Audio in an immaculate sounding copy that is definitely worth checking out. The date of the recording sessions isn’t available but the original BBC broadcast was first aired on Oct 5^th, 1956.

It isn’t often that a reviewer has an to opportunity to write about La jolie fille de Perth in two consecutive reviews within the same 30 day period. Just over 2 weeks ago I discussed the opera in my review of the duet recital from Pentatone “Golden Age” (review). Bizet’s opera is something of a muddle, based on Sir Walter Scott’s novel The Fair Maid of Perth. The opera is cursed by a plethora of quaintness which was much enjoyed in the 19^th century but makes it almost impossible to stage today, especially in the current era of the Regietheater dictatorship which has taken over most of the opera houses of the world. It seems that one can only encounter works like this today via recordings. There is a pleasing studio version (in stereo) that was put out by EMI which featured Alfredo Kraus and June Anderson, under maestro Georges Prêtre. This is probably the preferable version to listen to because it is the only one sung in the original French; however, this shiny new version from Pristine has a couple of points in its favour.

To begin with Beecham, he has a real grasp of the how to present the jewels that are sprinkled throughout this score. His tempi are always light and airy in the less serious music. A perfect sample of this is the engaging lilt he brings to the dance-like measures of the Prelude. Conversely, the serious side of things are appropriately weighty in Beecham’s hands. Luckily Pristine’s transfer brings their customary lush sound to what was obviously a fine and blemish-free copy of the original broadcast. The sound is always clear and the XR process stereo is quite convincing, particularly where the orchestra is concerned. The dance music for Act Two and the Act Four Prelude are enormously compelling thanks to Pristine’s transfer process.

The cast is not quite as convincing as it was in Beecham’s 1949 broadcast, with the exception of Owen Brannigan’s charming yet grounded take on the role of Simon Glover. Brannigan was the only singer who repeated his role from the earlier broadcast.

Alexander Young captures the gentle, lovelorn aspect of Henry Smith quite appealingly. His voice is clear and sweet in his scenes. He also proves to be a considerate partner in the love duet. On the whole he is very successful but no more than the young Richard Lewis in the 1949 version on Beulah.

Anna Pollack is a delight as the Gyspsy, Mab. Her tensile sound fairly drips with character and her English diction is the best from the entire cast, although none of them have anything to be ashamed of in that area. Pollack’s contribution to the delicate Third Act duet is spot on and it the wins the prize as the most entertaining from among the three available recordings. The young David Ward puts in a good showing here as the apprentice Ralph.

With the rest of the cast, reservations begin to creep in. Kevin Miller’s Duke of Rothsay is no more than adequate due to a certain dryness of tone which affects him throughout the opera. The role also lies just a bit too high for him, which is apparent on several of the tracks.

Mattiwilda Dobbs has an interesting sound but the pleasure her voice gives the listener is inconsistent. She does many lovely things when she sings at half voice; her traversal of Catherine’s gentle and rather picturesque mad scene is a thing of pure beauty. Indeed, it is a very touching account of Bizet’s uniquely wistful music. However, whenever Dobbs has to sing at full voice above the staff her sound has an unfortunate tendency to become rather squeaky which becomes an endurance challenge for the listener.

Much the best of this performance involves Beecham’s command of the orchestra and chorus, who respond with great commitment to his direction. The cast also is clearly giving their best to the maestro; certainly their English diction is superb on all counts and even the BBC chorus wins points from me for the clarity of its enunciation.

Pristine has done its usual fine job in preparing this for release. The review CDs were presented in a double gatefold cardboard album. However, for some reason Pristine has chosen to identify the tracks by the original French titles rather than using the titles of Paul England’s English translation. It is also worth noting that the review copy CDs were not able to be read by one of my CD players. This has been an occasionally recurring problem that I have experienced with this company.

All three available recordings have their merits, and likely most music lovers will prefer EMI’s version for its stereo recording and the French text. Alternatively, there is another old broadcast recording from Wexford that has achieved some circulation and which features the delightful Christianne Eda-Pierre as Catherine partnered by Alexander Young and Stafford Dean.

Mike Parr