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Boughton: The Queen of Cornwall

A music-drama based on the play by Thomas Hardy

Heather Shipp (Queen Iseult), Joan Rodgers (Iseult of Brittany, the Whitehanded), Jacques Imbrailo (Sir Tristram), Patricia Orr (Brangwain), Neal Davies (King Mark), Peter Wilman (Sir Andret), Elizabeth Weisberg (Damsel)

New London Orchestra, Members of The London Chorus, Ronald Corp

If you can ignore the words, the writing for both voices and orchestra has a surging confidence that's very appealing, and the musical substance grows on one with repeated hearings. In a strong... — BBC Music Magazine, March 2011, 5 out of 5 stars More…

Release Date: 1st Nov 2010
Catalogue No: 2CDLX7256
Label: Dutton
Series: Epoch
Length: 1 hour 53 minutes

Gramophone Magazine

September 2011

Editor's Choice
Opera

March 2011

Recording of the Month

The Queen Of Cornwall - Philip Tebb, Patricia Orr, Neals Davies, Heather Shipp etc. New London O, Ronald Corp

$13.00

$18.20

Chorus Of Shades Of Dead Old Cornish Men And Women

$1.00

$1.40

Where Is The Queen?

$1.00

$1.40

No Foot, I Swear, Set I In Brittany

$1.00

$1.40

Why Did Heav'n Warrant In Its Whim?

$1.00

$1.40

How Little He Knows

$1.00

$1.40

I Dream That The Dearest I Ever Knew Had Died

$2.00

$2.80

Could He But Live For Me A Day

$1.00

$1.40

Maybe Indeed He Did Not Die

$1.00

$1.40

When I Set Out For Lyonesse

$1.50

$2.10

O, The Opal And The Sapphire

$1.50

$2.10

Let's Meet Again Tonight, My Fair

$1.00

$1.40

The Queen Of Cornwall - Philip Tebb, Patricia Orr, Neals Davies, Heather Shipp etc. New London O, Ronald Corp

$11.50

$16.10

Prelude

$1.00

$1.40

A Ship Sheers Round, And Brings Up In The Bay

$1.00

$1.40

I Saw Them Coming Down To Learn My Errand

$2.00

$2.80

So, After All, Am I To Share You

$1.00

$1.40

If It's Ever Spring Again

$1.50

$2.10

Yea, Love, True Is It Sadness Suits Me Best

$1.00

$1.40

O Murderer

$1.00

$1.40

No Sight Nor Sound Of Her

$1.00

$1.40

Indulge No More May We In That Sweet Bitter Pastime

$1.00

$1.40

Chorus Of Shades Of Dead Old Cornish Men And Women

$1.00

$1.40

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About

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the death of the composer Rutland Boughton (1878-1960), during summer 2010 Dutton Epoch brought a notable team of soloists to the fine acoustic of London’s St Jude-on-the-Hill to make a complete recording of Boughton’s opera The Queen of Cornwall under the sympathetic baton of Ronald Corp. Based on the play of the same name by Thomas Hardy, Boughton’s glorious, lyrical score is vividly realised with Joan Rodgers (Iseult of Brittany), Jacques Imbrailo (Sir Tristram), Neal Davies (King Mark) and Heather Shipp (Queen Iseult) in the leading roles. This is a notable discovery, and all lovers of Boughton’s music will want to explore this lovely score. Included in this deluxe 2-CD set is a 32-page booklet containing the full libretto text, plus rare pictures from the Boughton family archive showing the original 1924 Glastonbury Festival Production of The Queen of Cornwall.

World premiere recording: recorded at St Jude-on-the-Hill, Hampstead Garden Suburb, London, 8th - 10th July 2010

Reviews

March 2011

If you can ignore the words, the writing for both voices and orchestra has a surging confidence that's very appealing, and the musical substance grows on one with repeated hearings. In a strong cast, Heather Shipp as the eponymous Queen and Joan Rodgers as the other Iseult stand out...this is admirably full-blooded performance.

September 2011

The Queen of Cornwall dates from 1924, by which time Boughton had moved on to a full and productive assimilation of Wagner's instrumental conception of opera and flexible vocal declamation...For me this opera was quite a revelation and it makes one wonder what other treasures of Boughton await rediscovery.

March 2011

One of the high points here is the singing of Jacques Imbrailo. His firm voice is well supported and cleanly produced, and his holding a good line is to be praised...Shipp catches Iseult well, her basically soft-grained tone takes on a harder edge when it needs to...[Corp] brings full-blooded playing from the orchestra as is fitting but also draws quieter response in intimate scenes.

This performance is very well cast. Fresh from his success as Billy Budd at Glyndebourne, Jacques Imbrailo sings with an outstanding lyrical beauty that makes Sir Tristram’s ballad-like solos a musical high point, rather than an English apology for Wagnerian grandiloquence. Heather Shipp is excellent as his admirer Iseult...The Queen of Cornwall is a collector’s item for English Wagnerians.

Boughton: The Queen of Cornwall

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