May 23. 1980


Delius restored

By Felix Aprahamian


The staging of Delius' "A village Romeo and Juliet" at the Grand Theater, Leeds, by ENO North, is only the first since 1962, the Delius centenary year. This seeming neglect, like the total abscence of Delius's name from last year's Proms, gives no clue to the ever-increasing number of those who, during the past half-century have succumbed to the very private spell of his magical harmonies.

At Leeds, John Fraser's basic design disqualifies him from their company as soon as the curtain rises on the Dark Fiddler relaxing, fully-clothed, in an outsize sauna. Wild land? Woods? Fields? Alas, not the vestige of a hint of nature. Visually, the best feature of Patrick Libby's Leeds production is his imaginative treatment of the dream wedding, where the Dark Fiddler reappears, top-hatted and surpliced as the priest.

For the rest, it is the music, sympathetically handled by David Lloyd-Jones, which once again ravishes the ear. He is fortunatre in his splendid orchestra and the cast's three outstanding principals: Stuart Harling, whose singing as the Dark Fiddler redeems the opening scene, and the young couple. Adrian Martin, (Sali) has the right youthful timbre and lyrical ardour, while Laureen Livingstone's Vrenchen is the most movingly beautiful I can remember.

If the company plans future revivals, as, after Wednesday's rapturous reception, it surely must, it should immediately ensure that these three ideal voices will be available. It might, at the same time, ensure the services of those who almost ruined the Walk to the Paradise Garden in preparing a final scene - which, in any case, was here, save for one quite inept piece of statuary.

Another Delius masterpiece, "Ein Messe des Lebens, " based on Nietzsche's "Also sprach Zarathustra" and better-known in England as A Mass of Life, has had more performances in the past year than ever before. Not even in Beecham's lifetime did it attract such attention. Within the last fortnight I have heard the Mass twice, once in Philadelphia and once in Croydon. Both events were made memorable by the obvious devotion to Delius's music by everyone involved.

Under Michael Korn, the youthful forces of the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts distinguished themselves as the mighty double0-choruses unfolded in tempo, making their harmonic progressions unusually clear. Here, too, the principals were attuned to the music's demands, particularly the baritone Donald Collup, golden-voiced with impeccable intonation and expressive intelligence, which made his earlier account of Delius's Four Nietzsche Songs during the Philadelphia Delius Society's Delius weekend equally memorable.

At the Fairfield Hall, James Gaddarn and his Croydon Philharmonic Society with the English Symphony Orchestra performed a similarly committed service to delius and his Mass last Saturday. Here, it was Rodney McCann whose robust baritone gave ample voice to Zarathustra's ruminations. Like the young Philadelphians, Croydon's choristers scaled Delius's ledger-lines with glorious confidence. And they said Delius's music died with Beecham!



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