This is a delicious record. I have long hoped that EMI would reissue and combine Lambert's two separate recordings of excerpts from his 1938 Horoscope, since together they make up the complete ballet suite. Recording characteristics have been well matched and the exercise is a complete success. What an exciting conductor Lambert was, and how superbly he realizes a score which has a characteristic blend of high spirits and yearning, nostalgic warmth: the ballet tells the story of star-crossed lovers reconciled under the sign of Gemini.
If Lambert was not a great composer he could reach considerable heights of eloquence and he created a very individual orchestral sound. The Rio Grande shows him at his very best. Written when Lambert was just 22 years old for the unusual combination of chorus, alto solo, piano and orchestra, this setting of a poem by Sacheverell Sitwell combines jazz and classical elements to brilliant effect, and also contains reflective passages where Lambert approaches the level of Delius in his ability to evoke mood and atmosphere. Lambert recorded the work twice. His 1949 version is good, but nothing has ever approached the freshness and vitality of the excellently balanced recording made in January 1930 by the artists who had given the work's first public perfommance a month earlier, with the young composer making the excellent Halle play for all they were worth, and with the orchestra's Chief Conductor Sir Hamilton Harty exuberant and joyful in the piano part.
Excerpts from two other scores created for the ballet are included on the record. Ballabile comes from a 1950 production of the same name based on music by Chabrier, and Apparitions was a 1936 score based on music by Liszt. Lambert conducts these excerpts with rare spirit and energy, qualities he also brings to the Bliss march written to celebrate the liberation of France, and to the overture by his friend Alan Rawsthorne.
Lambert was a prolific recorder before his untimely death in 1951, but his legacy has been very neglected in the LP era. For this reason I wish that EMI had given us a double album, as in its LP tribute to Leslie Heward (EM290462-3, 8/85). There are many wonderful things, from Lambert's favourite Russian repertoire, for instance, which could have gone on to a second record. But the single record is treasure in itself, and no collector who likes attractive, out of the way repertoire, or who admires fine conducting should hesitate a moment at such a modest price. Transfers are good.AS