It’s a pity: we never celebrated Richard Lewis in his lifetime, and if it is true that during his last years he felt, as we say, fed up, he had every reason to be. His voice, especially in the early years and when these recordings were made, was of beautiful quality, exceptionally free from harshness and surface-scratch. His musicianship was legendary, so that in some instances there was simply no one to take his place if he had to drop out of a performance. He sang with feeling (and did so especially as Gerontius) and with individuality, so that his voice can be summoned very easily to mind. His reputation abroad was high and he maintained it throughout a long career. Yet we acknowledged him and took him for granted. He was not knighted. He was not even included in The Record of Singing.
His singing of Handel is alone sufficient to warrant a place in that anthology. Extremely fine, for instance, are the solos from Jephtha, lovely purely as singing but also expressive and moving, in the ashen tone of “tomorrow’s dawn” and the weary resignation of “I can no more”. His technique seemed to offend the connoisseurs, who were always a bit sniffy about him; and in this recital it is true he is guilty of a very occasional aspirate and a more frequent (but not habitual) preference for a marcato rather than legato progression. Yet much more is skilfully done, and often flawlessly, as in the long run on the word “all” in Joshua. His “Sound an alarm” has not the body and ring of Walter Widdop’s, but there is more steel in it than may have been remembered.
To the British folk-songs he brings a light and charming touch, with resourceful gaiety in The stuttering lovers, vividness in the alarming Briery Bush and lyrical tenderness in There’s none to soothe my soul to rest. But here comes trouble. The arrangements take the folk out of the songs, just as surely as the main part of the programme deprives Handel of his wig and sends him out to the Albert Hall in white tie and tails: both were criticized when the records were originally issued, so it is not simply a matter of the taste of the times. Still, they should not prevent enjoyment and appreciation of Lewis’s singing, which is certainly helped by the excellence of the transfers, the folk-songs appearing in stereo for the first time.JBS