Classical: Breaking through the vinyl frontier New recordings featuring the cream of home-grown talent aim to revitalise opera's appeal, writes Mike Ashman

• Published in: Independent (London, England : 1986)
• Main Author: Ashman, Mike
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Independent Digital News & Media 17.04.1998
• ISSN: 0951-9467

Opera in English? `Live' in the theatre, yes, of course - but on record? Doesn't the very idea carry a long past sell-by date? And isn't opera always so comical in English? `Down in the courtyard/mother is roasting', once sang Verdi's bandit hero Manrico (someone suggested trying the phrases the other way round), while Ferrando, betting on his girlfriend's fidelity in Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, was suddenly struck down with Edwardian modesty: `My own Dorabella/ She simply could not. . .? She simply could not. . .'. An edition of Gounod's Faust (in the Victorian English of H F Chorley that many still love) was recorded by Sir Thomas Beecham in 1929. Otherwise it was mostly highlights - Cavalleria Rusticana, Pagliacci, Parsifal and Die Meistersinger (the titles of the Wagner 78 sides are often hilarious). The catalogue in English was more artist than repertoire-oriented and continued to be so with the coming of the long playing record. Excerpts from popular repertoire items were the order of the day. More projects followed, all linked to then current ENO productions - Sir Charles Mackerras conducted Donizetti's Maria Stuarda and Handel's Julius Caesar (both with Janet Baker) and Traviata (with that fine enunciator of English words, Valerie Masterson); Mark Elder conducted Otello and Rigoletto (from the much-played Jonathan Miller production). Remembering the playing lengths of old LP sides (side- breaks coming at awkward dramatic moments), [Peter] Moores remembers a conversation with Mackerras. "The first act of Traviata lasts 32 minutes", said the conductor. "No it doesn't - it lasts 30 minutes," replied Moores. "It lasts 30 minutes", agreed Mackerras.