Elizabeth Harwood died far too young in 1990 to the consternation of her many admirers. Although she features, among others, on Karajan’s recordings of The Merry Widow (DG, 8/92) and La boheme (Decca, 11/87), her art is too little remembered on disc or video, so the unearthing of this performance by the Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Trust of a Traviata made expressly for television in 1973 is very welcome. Today the BBC has virtually abandoned such enterprise but in the days when Cedric Messina was in charge, as producer of opera on TV, the organization took its responsibilities to opera seriously. The result in this case is a carefully prepared and atmospherically designed (David Myerscough-Jones) production, discerningly directed by Brian Large with many memorable angles, no hint of a concept in sight, just an unobtrusive setting for the singers to perform against.
Harwood herself, although her blonde wig and the old-fashioned translation do rather suggest an English rose in distress rather than a Parisian demi-mondaine, acts and sings an appealing and poignant Violetta, a woman grasping all too desperately at a last chance of happiness and really looking near to death in the last two scenes. In her effortless welding of text to notes, Harwood demonstrates, as she always did, her excellent schooling. Her line and her tone, itself firm and warm, never stray from true, and she gives to all the key phrases just the right expressive moulding, avoiding exaggeration and self-pity.
Her partners, Brecknock and Bailey, were at the time appearing in a new production of this work at the ENO, so it isn’t surprising to find them so wedded to their roles. Brecknock, for all his stylistic assurance, sounds a very English Alfredo, but Bailey sings Germont pere with rich, Italianate tone and a resolute purpose as befits the stern father: his long Act 2 scene with Harwood’s shattered Violetta rightly lies at the heart of the performance. Alan Opie makes much of little as an implacable, angry Baron Douphol, and it’s fascinating to see the young Philip Langridge as Gastone. Gibson supports his singers well but conducts a disappointingly flaccid reading. The mono sound is more than adequate.AB