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RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
Sir John in Love
An Opera in Four Acts
ACT I
Scene: A Street in Windsor
1.
Prelude - SHALLOW, Dr EVANS What-hoa!
4:30
2.
SHALLOW Sir Hugh, persuade me not...
2:10
3.
ANNE Ahem...
1:33
4.
ANNE This is my father's choice
2:37
5.
FENTON Do but look on her eyes
2:47
6.
FENTON I see I cannot get thy father's love
3:07
7.
CAIUS Vere is dat knave Rugby?
4:27
8.
MRS QUICKLY Master Fenton?
1:44
9.
BARDOLPH, NYM, PISTOL How now, mine host of the Garter
2:57
10.
FALSTAFF I spy entertainment in her
3:44
11.
NYM, PISTOL Wilt thou revenge?
2:42
12.
FORD Love my wife? I will be patient
3:22
ACT II
Scene I: A Room in Page's house
13.
Prelude - MRS PAGE Thine own true knight
6:21
14.
MRS QUICKLY, PAGE & FORD Sigh No More, Ladies
2:42
Scene II: A Room in the Garter Inn
15.
FALSTAFF Bardolph, Bardolph, I say!
5:41
16.
FALSTAFF Go thy ways
5:30
17.
FORD Sir, my name is Brook
5:24
18.
FORD Ha, is this a vision?
3:14
ACT III
Scene I: A Footpath near Windsor
19.
Prelude - FENTON Yet hear me speak
4:00
20.
ANNE Let him wood for himself
6:48
Scene II: A Field near Windsor
21.
EVANS As we sat down in Papylon
4:36
22.
HOST Peace, I say!
3:04
Scene III: A Room in Ford's house
23.
MRS FORD What, John! What, Robert!
2:01
24.
MRS FORD Alas my love, you do me wrong
4:46
25.
FORD Ah! How now, where bear you this
3:57
ACT IV
Scene I: Another room in Ford's house
26.
Prelude - FORD Pardon me, wife
3:52
27.
MRS PAGE There is an old tale goes
5:19
28.
Entr'acte
2:36
Scene II: Windsor Forest
29.
FALSTAFF The Windsor bell hath struck twelve
5:15
30.
FALSTAFF I think the devil will not have me damned
5:04
31.
PAGE Nay, do not fly
3:14
32.
FORD This strange, who hath the right Anne?
7:22
Total time: 126:26
Sir John Falstaff - Roderick Jones (baritone)
Mrs Quickly - Pamela Bowden (contralto)
Page - Denis Dowling (baritone)
Host of the 'Garter Inn - Owen Brannigan (baritone)
Anne Page - April Cantelo (soprano)
Ford - John Cameron (bass)
Fenton - James Johnston (tenor))
Mrs Ford - Marion Lowe (mezzo-soprano)
Choral: Sadlers Wells Opera Chorus
Chorus-Master Marcus Dods
Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra
Conductor:Stanford Robinson
BBC Studio Recording Broadcast on 12-13 February 1956
Notes
Of all the musical forms essayed by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), his operas have received the least recognition or respect. Yet he was incontestably a man of the theatre. The first professional staging was given by Sadler’s Wells Opera in April 1946. In July 1958, less than a month before he died, the composer attended a performance at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre. After this, it is thought not to have graced the professional stage in Britain again until 2 March 2006 when English National Opera revived the work at the London Coliseum.
In this 1956 BBC studio recording, Roderick Jones makes an ideal Falstaff, commanding and vulnerable in equal measure. His love-song in Act II, ‘O that joy so soon should waste’ is both droll and touching. At the end of play, this butt of ridicule is allowed to become a Master of Ceremonies, conferring his blessing on all and it is a measure of Jones’s multi-layered portrayal that the transformation is effected with ease and dignity. This portrayal is the jewel in the crown of a reading in which a whole community of colourful characters comes to life.
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Reviews
Performance ***** Recording ***
"... Conducted with nonchalant skill by Stanford Robinson, the playing and singing are near-flawless, with one singer after another happily showing how to rise to an opportunity while not hogging the show ... The recorded sound is excellently true and mellow for the vintage..."
Malcolm Hayes - BBC Music magazine - July 2016
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