Reference to ‘the new recording of The Wandering Scholar’ reminds us that there is an old one, and not so old either (1974): on the whole I prefer it. Steuart Bedford conducted in a way that endeared quickly-passing moments in the score, where Hickox now gives a lively, clear but somewhat charmless overview. The four characters were also more attractively established. As Alison, the flirtatious wife, Ingrid Attrot in the new version sings with alert expressiveness, but her tone (she reminded me sometimes of Joan Cross) doesn’t suggest fun-and-games as Norma Burrowes’s chirpy little soubrette did. Donald Maxwell, with more bass in his voice these days, makes a good fat Father, but there was more weight and relish in Michael Langdon. Both singers of the husband’s part (Michael Rippon and, here, Alan Opie) are fine, but the title-role needs to take centre stage more than he does with Neill Archer; Robert Tear in the EMI recording had a stronger vocal personality and a keener appreciation of the piece’s sardonic humour.
The earlier version (still available) also affords better value in its coupling, which is Holst’s Henry IV opera, At the Boar’s Head. The ideal partner-in-performance would be S??o??avitri, which is similarly scored for chamber orchestra and makes a satisfying contrast in mood and character. The orchestral pieces included here are not unwelcome but hardly amount to a sufficient counter-attraction. The Suite de ballet dates from 1899 with revisions made in 1912. An excellent example of the generally undervalued genre of light music, it shows Holst as a genial entertainer: the four movements are plentifully supplied with melody and orchestral colour, and the last of them, ‘Carnival’, carries what just conceivably might have been a germinating hint of You are my sunshine. Come to that, A Song of the Night (1905) sounds more than once as though about to pre-empt Jerome Kern’s All the things you are: a pleasant and unexpectedly romantic piece of writing, with the solo violin beautifully played by Lesley Hatfield.'