Here the first and probably most convincing of Britten’s Church Parables receives its first recording since that conducted by Britten 33 years ago in the atmospheric acoustic of Orford Church where it received its premiere, a magic occasion as all present at the time will attest. Naturally enough, until now, nobody has wanted to challenge its hegemony, but the new performance is given almost as much presence and perspective by Erik Smith as John Culshaw achieved in the Decca – now London – version.
Marriner and his hand-picked team of instrumentalists follow in the tradition of the Britten-led performance, exposing the extreme originality of the composer’s reworking of a Japanese Noh play, the results as mesmeric and concentrated as they should be. The spare beauty of the scoring and the subtlety of the interaction between voices and instruments is as convincing as one could wish, so there’s little to choose here between the two readings.
The Madwoman was undoubtedly one of Pears’s greatest achievements. The part, combining elements of Grimes’s mad scene and the melismatic writing for Peter Quint, fitted Pears’s voice like the proverbial glove, and his interpretation remains, as it always will, hors concours. Langridge is a perceptive enough artist not to ape Pears. He treats the part in an inward, dreamy manner, more intimate and personal than Pears’s hieratical approach, just as valid in its way and, need I say, finely executed. As the strong-willed Ferryman, Thomas Allen almost but not quite matches Shirley-Quirk’s firm, acutely enunciated portrayal: there is just that much more youthful sap in Shirley-Quirk’s voice. On the other hand Keenlyside far surpasses his predecessor as the more ruminative Traveller, singing with the strong, vibrant tone and sharply etched legato for which he has become famed. Gidon Saks is a suitably grave Abbot, and the London Voices sing securely and solemnly as the Monks.
The new recording obviously has a greater range than the old one; both, as I have suggested, are sensitively directed to capture the work’s very special ethos. Those who have the old one, now at mid price by the way, can probably remain satisfied, but newcomers and those seeking another view of the piece, should certainly consider this invaluable, carefully crafted and eloquent newcomer.'