This third and perhaps luckiest dip yet into the bag marked British is for me full of pleasant rebukes and sweet reproaches. These are the things we used to find, not exactly two-a-penny but certainly cheap and plentiful, on the shelves of the old London Gramophone Exchange in Wardour Street; and of course they were passed over in favour of celebrities in a foreign lingo on a bright red label or a rare and exotic (and scratchy) import. Oh to have time over again to play with a little more wisely! Hammond and Nash were not good enough for us (yet the heart leapt at the sight of Bettendorf and Groh who were very comparable as to merit); I can remember putting the captivating Tano Ferendinos back on the shelf without a second look; Isobel Baillie was so much bread-and-butter; as for Norman Allin, we used to do imitations that seemed quite funny at the time.
And here they are now, all spick and span, un-surfaced, de-clicked, and a credit to all concerned. Allin is perhaps the most striking revelation: sturdy and firm as a rock but by no means as hard-hearted, individual and memorable (that’s what invited the imitations), but no joke, and (making a quick mental survey) nothing to be found quite like him today. Somewhat like him a generation after was Howell Glynne, who is heard here in Fiesco’s aria from Simon Boccanegra, one of the best of the old Sadlers Wells singers and later a very good Baron Ochs at Covent Garden. It is good also to hear Jean Watson: Canadian-born, she came to us after the war and sang a stunning Azucena. Her Ulrica solo is scrupulous but not very dramatic.
‘Scrupulous’ is the word for all these, including the Melboid sopranos, Licette, (Labbette) Perli and Teyte. If there is a disappointment it is with Arnold Matters’s dull-toned Boccanegra, balanced, however, by the pleasure of hearing Joyce Gartside and James Johnston as the lovers. And shedding her light over all is Kathleen Ferrier, whose test-pressing of “What is life?” suggests not so much a star of the British opera as a nearly full moon in the international firmament. It is a delightful collection, the sound vivid and compelling as ever.JBS