Stanford’s The Travelling Companion to be released on 27th September 2019

[Kevin]

The Travelling Companion seems to me successful on several points: Starting with a good libretto by Henry Newbolt which suited Stanford to a tee(I'm reminded of another fairy-tale opera - Rusalka - which also was a perfect fit for its composer). Musically, the work its very rich and rewarding, the denouement is breathtaking and I was in tears(always a good sign for me) Dramatically it's well captured and convincing. Orchestrally magnificent as you would expect from Stanford and could be said to be his culmination in that area. Characterisation is good in particular for John and The Travelling Companion but the Wizard does come off somewhat a cartoon villain but it does not harm the work in anyway IMO. The work is inspired from to start to finish, no dull spots. The work is nice and compact at 120 minutes, always a blessed relief when operas are nice and succinct in my book.

The performances are excellent, of course its a massive pity that the strings are reduced but the upside is we get to hear nearly every word of the libretto clearly, which is good because the libretto is strong and quite poignant at times.  Vocally, its seems good to me and Toby Purser and his band do Stanford proud as well I think, there's a nice sense of urgency when their needs to be.

This might be his masterpiece not only in opera but in all other forms... yes its that good. I knew he had in him to create a great opera. And I'm salivating to hear more of his operas now as well.

[Mark Thomas]

That's all very encouraging, Kevin. Thanks for the review.

[Jimfin]

Great review, Kevin, and I'd second all the sentiments. I think I'll be often listening to this opera, which is by no means the case with every new-to-me work that I get these days. It's thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.

[semloh]

I am enjoying this, but I wonder if I'm the only one who finds David Horton's vibrato excessive, and didn't I detect some notes off pitch in Act 1, as if he was straining? I am not a lover of opera, and maybe I'm being too critical, as such problems aren't mentioned here or in any reviews.

[Alan Howe]

Reviews these days tend not to spend too much time on the quality of the singing. It's a fault that badly needs correcting.

[Mark Thomas]

Fully paid-up member of the Stanford fan club though I am, I enjoyed this recording rather less than I was hoping to. The fault though is not Stanford's. The Travelling Companion is clearly a very fine work indeed, helped (as others have said) by a first-rate libretto which stimulated Stanford to create music possessing both dramatic subtlety and power. It's full of beauties, has a very wide expressive range and, to echo others again, the closing pages are particularly affecting. In performance, the ending must be a real coup de theatre. Unfortunately, though, I did feel that the slimmed-down orchestra's under-powered strings failed to convey the sonority which so many passages clearly needed to give their full effect. More of an obstacle to enjoyment, though, are the cast's vocal shortcomings. I thought that in several of the faster choruses the women were squawky in their upper register, and the tenor lead David Horton was not only sometimes rather strained, but his light-ish voice was almost comically unmatched to the Kate Valentine's much heavier timbre. Being such a Stanford enthusiast I'm probably being much pickier with The Travelling Companion than I would usually be about the shortcomings of opera recordings, and certainly you'll hear much worse on many modern offerings, as Alan often points out. That said, with the dearth of recordings of English-language operas, it seems to me that this is a potentially ground-breaking issue, and so it's disappointing that it turns out to undersell such a persuasive work as Stanford's opera.

[Kevin]

I must admit after several listens now the thin orchestra is really getting to be a bigger bug bear than I anticipated. The strings are too scrawny to do Stanfords scoring full justice(It's quite noticeable in Act 3) The two leads didn't bother me much but I also found some of female members of the chorus too squawky and grating as well at times. Anyway, its still a recording I will turn to for as long as I live(having resigned myself that there will no be other any time soon)I still think everyone should take the time and listen to it because it is very much a masterpiece.

[Alan Howe]

I won't be buying this. The shortcomings are evidently too many and too serious for repeated listening.

[semloh]

I agree with Mark's review, and share his love of Stanford. It's unfortunate that this wasn't recorded by one of the great EMI, Decca, Lyrita or Chandos 'ensembles' of years past - LPO, Boult, et al. and maybe Robert Tear in the tenor role. But they were all too busy recording Elgar and V-W! Generalization, but you get my point. 

[Jimfin]

I can only say that I have been listening almost every day to this recording and don't find the orchestra or any vocal performances a bar to great enjoyment. I think a fuller orchestra would have been any nicer and richer, but I've really enjoyed this. The BBC broadcast of extracts has a fuller orchestra, but I only intermittently listened to it in the years when it was all I had. Listening to the full opera without breaks is really satisfying. I'm not meaning to deny what people above said they felt, but to point out that for some of us this is a very enjoyable release that bears repeated listening.

[semloh]

Yes, fair point, Jim, and I'm sure you're not alone.

[Mark Thomas]

Oh, I'll certainly listen again to it and I'll enjoy it too. I enjoyed it the first time I heard it, just not as much as I was hoping too, for the reasons I gave.