Deborah Polaski, John Tomlinson, Orquestra Gulbenkian, Jennifer Condon

TOCCATA CLASSICS 

TOCC 0154-55

Peggy Glanville-Hicks is almost unknown today but she produced a significant number of works including two operas in the early nineteen-sixties. With a cast as strong as this, and secure playing from the orchestra, it should be easy to welcome this new release. Unfortunately the quality of the work itself leaves much to be desired. No matter how good the singing, the fact that the musical line rarely provokes or involves the listener is a significant barrier. The text by Lawrence Durrell seems dated now in a way that Tippett’s own texts – once vilified – seem timeless and effective. There is little dramatic impact and  any sense of pacing or structure is too often lacking. What appear from the text to be emotionally important moments drift by with little intensity or frisson.

It is good to have the recording available, if only to realise, on this occasion, that we have not overlooked a masterpiece. BH