Raymond & Agnes by Edward Loder

[giles.enders]

Edward Loder 1809-1865.

I recently received a copy of the new recording of Raymond & Agnes  composed in 1855.  This is a delightful piece, with a not too over the top story.  It is very well performed, with the Orchestra of The Royal Ballet Sinfonia conducted by Richard Bonynge.  Loder's orchestration is good and his sense of shape and drama excellent. John Warrack dubbed the act 2 quintet 'magnificent' and Stanley Sadie thought it 'would not disgrace middle period Verdi'.  This is a fully professional recording. It lasts for two hours twenty minutes. 
None of this would have been possible but for the tireless efforts of Valerie Langfield and Retrospect opera.

[Alan Howe]

Thanks, Giles. More details here:
http://www.retrospectopera.org.uk/LODER/Raymond_and_Agnes.html
Excerpts (very enticing, not to say exciting) here:
http://www.retrospectopera.org.uk/Listening_Rooms/Listening_Room_1-1.html

[Mark Thomas]

Terrific!

[Alan Howe]

When will the CDs be released, Giles?

[Jimfin]

They are out now. I received my copy the other day, as one of the people running Retrospect Opera lives here in Japan. I'm still getting used to it, but it's a marvelously dramatic score, perhaps the sort of thing that Wallace intended Lurline to be originally, before he scaled it back. It's much more "real" opera than some of the other British romantic operas of the era. Beautifully performed too, so highly recommended.

[Mark Thomas]

Thanks. I've ordered my copy.

[Alan Howe]

This is good, strong stuff. But the singing overall isn't up to much, I'm afraid. This music requires voices suited to early Verdi, not the sort of weedy vocalism exhibited, for example, by the Raymond here (Mark Milhofer - awful). Much the best soloist is Irish soprano, Majella Cullagh. So this could and should have been so much better. Too much tedious spoken dialogue too. An opportunity (partly) missed, I feel.

[piano888]

Interesting! Personally, I like having the dialogue - in this case, especially, since in Nicholas Temperley's 1966 production, it was notable by its absence (well, absence of the original libretto). It does mean I can sit and listen to it through without wondering what's happening between the sections of music.

[Alan Howe]

I'd rather it were omitted (or drastically abbreviated). It's so tedious.

[khorovod]

I'd rather it were omitted (or drastically abbreviated). It's so tedious.

I think ideally the dialogue and music would be individually tracked so that skipping the former becomes optional.

I do agree wholeheartedly about Mark Milhofer - I think my jaw dropped when he launched so daintily and weedily into his first number. So disappointing. Hopefully the earlier performance from 1966 will see the light of day at some point, if a complete recording exists (one for Lyrita maybe).

[Alan Howe]

Why on earth would such an important recording be saddled with a totally inadequate Raymond? A shocking misjudgment, in my view.

[piano888]

Well, each to his own of course - the review in Gramophone reckoned 'As far as the singers go, Mark Milhofer's Raymond is the stand-out: sweet-toned, ardent and agile.' And I too thought he was excellent - the role is a very demanding one, set very high in the voice, and it seems to me he met the challenges both technically and musically.

[Alan Howe]

Well, I (respectfully) disagree. I think he spoils the whole recording. There's no real body or 'sap' in his voice. As so often, voices divide opinion. And it seems that I'm listening to a completely different singer here...

Compare, for example, his throaty performance of Asile héréditaire, rattly vibrato and all, here:
http://www.markmilhofer.com/manage/data/files/Guillaume%20Tell%20Aria.mp3
...with that of Michael Spyres:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIy8DRFNzXY
...or indeed Bryan Hymel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnhIHz6qtIM
...or the great Nicolai Gedda:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN7AskircbE

[Master Jacques]

Most of the printed reviews thought Mark Milhofer excellent. In Opera Magazine, for instance, Christopher Webber wrote:

"I was most taken with Mark Milhofer's sweetly personal Raymond, strikingly different from his austere St. John Rivers in Joubert's Jane Eyre [July 2017, pp. 852-53] but equally well-sung and acted."

I must say that he was the stand-out for me, at least. Chacun a son gout!

[Alan Howe]

Well, IMHO the reviews simply don't address the thinness of his voice and his rattly, often uneven vibrato. Those who value evenness of vocal production just can't listen through these glaring faults - which are demonstrated in the comparisons made above. I mean, this is a 19th century opera which demands good singing qua singing and an appropriate strength of tone.

This seems to be a repetition of the debate over the vocal qualities - or otherwise - of tenor Brian Jagde. What I'm interested in is the objective realities of tone production, with regard to which Milhofer falls desperately short. Chacun à son goût maybe - but dégoût is the appropriate objective evaluation here.