Ethel Smyth: The Boatswain's Mate

[piano888]

I hope people will be interested to know that the long-awaited recording of Smyth's Boatswain's Mate has been released.
Of all the early twentieth-century British operas making use of folk music to depict something of realistic rural life, this was the most popular. Smyth's suffragette anthem, The March of the Women, is significantly incorporated into the overture, and nursery rhymes and folk tunes abound in the main body of the work.
More details at Retrospect Opera's website, www.retrospectopera.org.uk - for sale there and via Amazon.co.uk. Nadine Benjamin, Edward Lee, Jeremy Huw Williams, with Odaline de la Martinez and the Lontano Ensemble.

[rosflute]

  Congratulations!

[piano888]

The recording also includes Ethel Smyth conducting extracts from The Boatswain's Mate, dating from 1916, as well as her recording of her overture to The Wreckers, from 1930, which makes it a well filled double CD, and very good value (£14.95 direct from the website + P&P).

[piano888]

Got that wrong - it's £14.95 _post free_ in the UK, if bought through the website http://www.retrospectopera.org.uk/CD_Sales.html.

[Alan Howe]

Is it any good, though? The Wreckers didn't sustain my interest throughout.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Oh, it did for me. I like The Wreckers. But I can appreciate its weaknesses.

[piano888]

It's very different from The Wreckers - it's a comedy for a start, and quite a bit shorter. The recording is in the chamber version, so it has a lighter feel than a full orchestral one. Whether something is any good is always going to be up for discussion, of course, and I'd be interested to read what others think. All Smyth's operas were different from each other, so if you don't think much of one, you might possibly think better of another! Nice to see it recorded, though, so at least you can make an informed decision.

[Alan Howe]

I'll be interested to read what those who buy the opera say...

[Jimfin]

Still waiting for my copy. I thought it would be here a while ago. Has anyone had theirs?

[Jimfin]

Got my copy now, and I have to say, my overwhelming impression is what an extremely enjoyable work! Lots of good tunes, humour and a fast pace. It's certainly very different from 'The Wreckers', lighter and swifter. The performance is clear and well-paced: the only bit of the opera I knew before ("Suppose you mean to do...what if I were young again") is by far the best of the three versions I've heard of it. The discrepancy between Part 1 (numbers with dialogue) and Part 2 (sung throughout) was less jarring than I had feared. I wonder if the Pirates of Penzance might be a kind of precedent of that.
        The orchestration used is for the smaller forces (wind quintet, percussion and single strings) is impressively full-sounding: Smyth anticipates Britten's chamber operas in being able to make a full sound from very little. The work also slightly reminded me of Walton's "The Bear" or Berkeley's "A Dinner Engagement": that wonderful English tradition of short comic operas.
       The historical recordings of the opera (plus the overture to "The Wreckers") and the informative booklet (with full libretto), make this a really satisfying purchase. I've hoped to hear this opera for thirty years, and was not disappointed at all.

[semloh]

What I've heard of the work is entirely consistent with the comments here. And, what a remarkable woman Dame Ethel was. Hats off to her!