Sullivan - The Golden Legend / J. Watson · Rigby · Wilde · J. Black · Corp

Sullivan - The Golden Legend / J. Watson · Rigby · Wilde · J. Black · Corp

Sullivan - The Golden Legend / J. Watson · Rigby · Wilde · J. Black · Corp
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CD Details

Edition: Music CD
Format: Import
CD Release Date: 2001-10-09
Music Label: Hyperion UK
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
  1. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Prologue
  2. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Nocte surgentes
  3. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 1.
  4. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 1.: 'I cannot sleep'
  5. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 1.: 'All haie, Prince Henry'
  6. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 1.: 'Behold it here'
  7. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 1.: 'Drink, drink, and thy soul shall sink'
  8. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 2.
  9. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 2.: 'Slowly, slowly up the wall'
  10. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 2.: Evening Hymn
  11. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 2.: 'Who was it said 'Amen'?'
  12. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 2.: 'I heard Him call'
  13. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 2.: 'My Redeemer and my Lord'
  14. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 2.: 'My life is little'
  15. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 3.: 'Onward and onward'
  16. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 3.: 'Here am I too'
  17. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 3.: 'It is the sea'
  18. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 3.: 'The night is calm and cloudless'
Music CD 2
  1. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 4.: 'My guests approach'
  2. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 4.: Prince Henry enters
  3. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 4.: 'O pure in heart'
  4. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 4.: 'Weep not, my friends'
  5. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 4.: 'Come with me, this Way'
  6. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 5.
  7. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 5.: 'Virgin, who lovest the poor'
  8. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 6.
  9. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 6.: 'We are alone'
  10. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Scene 6.: 'Dear Elise'
  11. The Golden Legend, cantata for chorus & orchestra: Chroral Epilogue.

Music reviews of Sullivan - The Golden Legend / J. Watson · Rigby · Wilde · J. Black · Corp

Music Review: A Most Golden Legend!
Rating: 4 Stars

"The Golden Legend" was so highly regarded during Sullivan's lifetime, that it became one of the most performed choral works, surpassing most other favorites of the time, including "Elijah" with only Handel's ubiquitous "Messiah" surpassing it. That, like so many performance worthy works, it has fallen forgotten by the wayside is, in my estimation, a tragedy. Of course many
(most of whom will never hear the piece), would love nothing more than dismiss it unheard, nothing more than an asterisk to the dustbins of Victorian kitsch. They'd be wrong to do so, in my opinion as the work is so imminently enjoyable, brimming - start-to-finish - with truly top drawer Sullivan; gloriously atmospheric music bearing the influences of Wagner, Mendelssohn, Berlioz and Liszt (with whom Sullivan had worked prior to his composition of the piece).

The critical reception for "The Golden Legend," was nothing short of sensational, with music critics outdoing each other with praise for the work both in its music and sense of drama. Like many things Victorian, more critical (and in my opinion less accurate) 20th century analyses of Sir Arthur's cantata found it wanting, overly melodramatic, sentimental and overreaching. I've actually heard the piece called "quaint," and "naïve" which, in my opinion, is about as far away from the truth as possible. The most damning condemnations informing us that our "modern sensibilities" (e.g., higher degree of sophistication) the lessening role of religion in modern life, etc. render the work little more than a curiosity of a bygone era. Poppycock, I say. Sir Arthur did not write, as does no composer, for audiences of the future but rather for those in his own time.

When this recording was issued critics who wrote in praise of the music essentially said the work deserved it's neglect because of the sappiness of the story told by Longfellow's poem from which the libretto is culled (calling certain portions glutinous in its sentiment. Again, I simply don't understand the reasoning here as such can be said of many great operas and oratorios
who sweep us away with the grandeur and power of the music which, in my opinion, far (FAR!) outweigh any negligible qualities of the text.

Clocking in at just under 100 minutes, the six scenes of Sullivan's cantata have a beautiful (if necessarily episodic) flow and would make a wonderful afternoon at a concert hall - or cathedral.

There are moments of thrilling musical drama, such as the conclusion of scene iv as Lucifer leads Elsie away to sacrifice, Prince Henry's cries of "Angelo! Murderer!" the chorus, soloists and orchestra thunderin in full cry.

The final scene offers a beautiful duet and choral finale of sweep and grandeur. If one enjoys British choral music (as you should!) I can't think of a more fitting ending to this beautiful "Legend." There are moments that foreshadow music yet to be written by Elgar, Finzi, Vaughn Williams and the other English giants that followed him.

As Elsie, Janice Watson is wonderful throughout her music capturing a keen sense of the period without ever dipping into the waters of cheap sentimentality too often bridged in this sort of thing. Jean Rigby is always a treasure to hear and no less so than as Ursula in this recording and her handling of her prayer scene in scene five grows in lyrical intensity throughout before its gentle finish. Prince Henry is taken by Mark Wilde who offers an attractive, if not quite the
heroic timbre, I'd have preferred for the role. But he sings with an earnestness and never betrays the hero's sensibilities and partners beautifully with his Elsie. Jeffrey Black offers a Lucifer of variable quality, sometimes sounding properly sinister, other times falling a bit flat and wooly of tone. He does seem to rise to the occasion at most of the big moments, but overall I find his performance not as satisfying as his costars.

Ronald Corp conducts the New London Orchestra and The London Chorus as if he truly believes in the piece, never rushing and properly pacing the numbers to achieve their greatest possible effect on the listener. It worked for me.

While I understand and appreciate the necessity of moving on with an eye toward the future, it's a pity it's too frequently done while forgetting the past. As at least one wise person has stated, "without 'The Golden Legend' we would never have gotten Elgar's "The Dream of Gerontius." There is, for me, enough praise in that statement to make Sullivan's neglected masterpiece
worth having and hearing.
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