GILBERT & SULLIVAN DISCOGRAPHY :
HADDON HALL is easily the best of the Prince Consort recordings. All of the roles are at least acceptably cast, the orchestral playing is generally to a high standard, and the chorus shine. This is a set that will give pleasure for years to come. HADDON HALL has long been my favorite of the non-Gilbert operas. (Well, aside from COX AND BOX.) I followed this recording with a vocal score, and it gave me a new appreciation of the subtlety and complexity of this opera. Sullivan is just a year removed from IVANHOE, and a more advanced idiom is clearly evident in many of the movements. Yet, other numbers show the show the jaunty tunesmith of the Savoy still very much in his element.

This is the only Sullivan opera based on a known historical incident: the elopement of Dorothy Vernon and John Manners. The libretto moves the date forward a century, to the time of the English Civil War. As in THE BEAUTY STONE, Sullivan is perhaps unsure whether he is writing a comic opera or a chiefly romantic one. Here he is far more successful at treading a middle ground, although some of the material still doesn't cohere. The piece drags whenever the Puritans come in. This is ironic, in that they're the most inauthentic element in the plot; to bring them in, and then not get much out of them, must be counted a dramatic blunder on both Grundy and Sullivan's part.

After opening night, Sullivan and Grundy replaced a solo/duet for Manners and Dorothy with a dramatic solo for Dorothy. The earlier Cheam recording rewrote the act slightly so that all of the material could be included in the dramatic sequence. The Consort recording includes the earlier working as an appendix to Act I. It is on the same CD as the rest of the act, so you can reprogram your CD player to get either version.

HADDON HALL portends some of the awful the rhythmic laziness of UTOPIA LIMITED, with far too many of the numbers in 6/8 and 3/4, but Sullivan takes more chances in HADDON HALL, and generally they work. There is much to discover in this score, and I heartily recommend it to those who have yet to discover Sullivan outside of the G&S canon.

An unfamiliar opera needs a great recording, and I think this is one. Particularly successful are Mary Timmons (Dorothy Vernon), Heather Boyd (Lady Vernon), Peter Thomson (Sir George Vernon), and Fiona Main (Dorcas). I never much cared for Alan Borthwick in the main tenor roles, but Oswald finds him in a comfortable tessitura that never goes above G, and he breezes through the role's patter with palpable joy.

Steven Griffin sings a bit thinly in the upper register, but he is otherwise a capable John Manners. Ian Lawson sings Rupert Vernon as if it were a typical creaky patter baritone part. I would have preferred more of a "voice". Maxwell Smart's McCrankie will not be to all tastes, but he is stuck with some awfully inartful Scottish dialect to imitate. If these three performers are less successful, they do not seriously detract from the set's many charms.

David Lyle coaxes a great sense of drama out of the Consort Orchestra. The strings get out of sync once or twice, but this is still the best orchestra Lyle has assembled for any of these recordings. The chorus sing beautifully, although there is a bit more reverberation than I would have liked.

The two-CD set comes with a generous booklet that includes the complete libretto -- even the dialogue (although not performed on the CD). These days, that's a luxury! Since the Consort has now recorded all of Sullivan's non-Gilbert operas, aside from those D'Oyly Carte recorded, I would assume that this is their swan song. If so, they saved the best for last. Overall, it's a most welcome addition to the Sullivan discography.
Marc Shepherd

MUSICAL OPINION:
During recent years record collectors have been grateful for the enterprise and imagination of Stephen Sutton’s aptly named Divine Art label, and here is another winner. The complete music of Arthur Sullivan’s Haddon Hall, made complete through the inclusion of Sydney Grundy’s complete libretto, including the spoken sections, which are quite rightly omitted form the performance.

G&S addicts generally agree that The Gondoliers, in 1889, was the last of the high quality operas, neither Utopia Limited nor The Grand Duke, in 1893 and 1896 respectively, being vintage pieces in the Savoy Opera tradition. In 1892 Gilbert began a court case which created a rift, causing Richard d’Oyly-Carte and Sullivan to look for another librettist. Sydney Grundy filled the bill with a libretto based on Dorothy Vernon’s elopement with John Manners from her ancestral home Haddon Hall. Grundy moved the action to another century, letting the Savoy audience enjoy a chorus of Puritans.

From Sullivan’s point of view he had a libretto which did not call for the special attention to each word demanded by Gilbert’s genius, as well as a plot which involved real people. He obviously relished his task and the enthusiasm of the Chorus and Orchestra of the Prince Consort in Edinburgh’s Portobello Town Hall in June 2000 has produced an infectious recording of what deserves to be a regularly staged member of the Savoy Opera repertory.

With 15 singing and one speaking parts Haddon Hall is no inexpensive work to stage but listening to these CDs is such a delight that it must be possible to convince the legion of G&S quality amateurs to bring it to life. The Sir Arthur Sullivan Society has collaborated with Divine Art in this project and their number is 01388-710308.

This is Sullivan at his best, with the success of The Golden Legend and his own opera Ivanhoe to persuade him that he was a real composer, yet needing to keep up the Savoy pieces for financial reasons. The lovers’ problems are owing to the Civil War. Although Dorothy’s father is a Royalist, her Roundhead cousin, Rupert, is claiming the Haddon estate and Dorothy has been promised to him. However she loves John Manners, another Royalist, and they elope. At the end of an eventful three acts John Manners arrives in the inevitable nick of time to put everything right with a Royal Warrant from King Charles II and Rupert’s Puritan friends decide that merry making is better than being miserable.

A second romance blossoms between John’s servant, Oswald, and Dorothy’s maid, Dorcas. Which means that we have a wealth of solos, duets and ensembles filled with drama, eloquence, and sheer joie-de-vivre. Not to be missed.
Denby Richards

INTERNATIONAL RECORD REVIEW:
Haddon Hall is one of the least known of Sullivan’s Savoy operas –for, although it was first given in 1892, eight years before his death, it was the first of his works written for that theatre of which the libretto was not by Gilbert. Following a break in the relationship between Gilbert and Sullivan in 1890 (which was repaired after a while),Sullivan and D’Oyly-Carte looked elsewhere for a literary partner. Carte chose Sydney Grundy, who wrote the text of Haddon Hall. Not only did Grundy bring a fresh approach to the genre, the story was unique in Sullivan’s operettas in that it was based upon real events (although brought forward about 100 years to 1648).

If the approach was new, Sullivan’s art was still in full flow. Hearing this very good, new complete recording (without spoken dialogue), we can understand Bernard Shaw’s contention that Haddon Hall was the finest of the Savoy operas, though this verdict may have been provoked in part by Shaw’s resentment at Gilbert’s astonishing financial success. (The break of 1890 led to an unsavoury court case, in which the vast sums earned by Gilbert, Sullivan and Carte during the past ten years or so became public knowledge). Irrespective of this, Shaw had a point: in purely dramatic terms, Haddon Hall covers a wider range than any previous G&S offerings, while the music is in no way inferior to Sullivan’s earlier work. His subtlety is everywhere apparent – for example, in Oswald’s song “Ribbons to sell” in Act I, where the Marseilleise and Yankee Doodle are woven into the fabric, alongside other allusions, and in the enchanting succeeding trio, “Oh, tell me, what is a Maid to say?”. Indeed, the whole score is so masterly as to cause one to puzzle over its relative neglect. Whatever the reason, Sullivan collectors are now compensated by this new set from Divine Art.

This may not be the finest performance of Haddon Hall imaginable, but it is pretty good. David Lyle conducts with an infectious sense of involvement, and the 15 soloists and the chorus re-recreate the authentic period style with notable élan. The orchestra is not really in the same class as the singers, although it is not called upon to do very much, other than accompany. If there are one or two passages where better orchestral takes could have been used (for example, the opening to No. 10 “My Mistress Comes”, and the beginning of the extended Act I finale, there is nothing seriously awry here.

The libretto is printed in full, including the spoken text, and the booklet notes are excellent. As a bonus, two numbers are included which Sullivan later excised from Act I. This enjoyable and well-recorded set is most recommendable.
Robert Matthew-Walker

FANFARE:
There is a revival of interest in Gilbert & Sullivan. Part of this can be laid to the success of the film Topsy Turvy, but much of it is due to the tireless work of the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society and Edinburgh’s Prince Consort Chorus and Orchestra behind this important release. It is amazing to me that, in the midst of their most fertile activity and the miraculous rebirth of the D’Oyly-Carte Company music critic Peter G. Davis could write in the …New York Magazine, “I’ve never yet met an Englishman who didn’t loath Gilbert and Sullivan…That explains why their classic Victorian operettas no longer thrive in the land of their birth.” Anyone doubting the resurgence of interest in Gilbert and Sullivan or, in this, case, a Gilbert-less Arthur Sullivan, need look no further than this new recording of Haddon Hall, a comic opera based on the romantic tale of Dorothy Vernon in auld Scotland.

The true-life saga of the elopement of Dorothy Vernon with her lover John Manners was familiar to audiences in Victorian England, although, in adapting it for the D’Oyly-Carte canon, Sydney Grundy dated the story a hundred years earlier and featured a chorus of Puritans. No matter: this is the same story, which would find its most popular form as Charles Major’s best-seller, Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall, in 1902, in turn the source for popular silent films.

Haddon Hall was a good subject for Sullivan and, for a brief time, actually did better box office than the Mikado. That uniquely great music critic Bernard Shaw liked it best of all of Sullivan’s work, and the initial run of 204 performances was pretty good for a non-G&S work. Since its early success, the opera has faded into obscurity. It is an undeserved obscurity, as this splendid new recording from the Divine Art amply proves. The score is prime Sullivan; he never wrote a lovelier aria than “Queen of the Garden bloomed a rose.” Sullivan took full advantage of the Scottish setting, bagpipes and all, for songs like the infectious “Hech mon! Hech mon!”

Of course, the wit that Gilbert provided Sullivan is sorely missing – there is no equivalent “I’ve got a little list” in Haddon Hall. It is instead a work of unvarnished sentimentality, and as such, nearly flawless.

High praise for the excellent cast, especially the lovely Mary Timmins as Dorothy Vernon, Fiona Main as Dorcas, and Maxwell Smart as the McCrankie. Good choral singing especially, and fine playing by the orchestra. A libretto is included. In an era in which few operas are being recorded at all, much less repertoire rarities, this is a true find, and is highly recommended.
James Camner

JOURNAL OF THE FEDERARION OF RECORDED MUSIC SOCIETIES:
This recording was undertaken in association with the Sir Arthur Sullivan Society. It is two medium priced CDs in a slim format case with an attractive booklet containing good notes by Alan Borthwick and a full libretto.

The light opera was written in 1892 when Sullivan was at the height of his powers, having recently written The Gondoliers and his romantic opera Ivanhoe. Sullivan was barely on speaking terms with Gilbert and had to collaborate with a different librettist Sydney Grundy (although the Gilbert & Sullivan combination was later to produce Utopia Ltd. And The Great [sic] Duke).

Grande’s plot is based on an actual historical incident, the elopement of Dorothy Vernon and her lover John Manners from Haddon Hall her ancestral home. The period had been changed by a century to involve Royalists and Puritans. The public reaction was mixed, the Sullivan music being highly praised but Grundy was not seen as a satisfactory replacement for Gilbert. It ran for 204 performances and was popular for several years but it was difficult to stage and is now seldom played.

The music is most impressive, full of good tunes and many unique touches to differentiate it form the G&S operas The Scottish numbers and orchestral bagpipe effects are hilarious; there is a storm scene which brings that of Rigoletto to mind; the brief appearance of the Marseillaise and Yankee Doodle Dandy are most unexpected. The use of the chorus is very effective with excellent choral writing. At times there is a slightly autumnal feel to the music which well reflects the romantic nature of the story, however a good selection of patter songs keeps the atmosphere light. The orchestration is perhaps fuller that many of the other Savoy operas with the brass more in evidence and there is the usual expressiveness of the woodwind.

The Prince Consort was formed in 1972 by a group of semi-professional musician as part of the Edinburgh Fringe. Later it was expanded and augmented in collaboration with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Edinburgh.

Th performance throughout is very professional. It is perhaps unfair to pick out particular singers, but I was especially impressed by the singing of Mary Timmons as Dorothy and by Ian Lawson as Rupert. The chorus is excellent and the orchestra plays well although the violins seem slightly undernourished in places. David Lyle conducts with style.

The recording is good, but it is important to play the music at a reasonably high volume as the sound has a rather distant feel when the discs are played softly.

It is a pleasure to see the recorded repertoire extended to such good effect and these discs can be recommended to all who like light opera.
Arthur Baker

PENGUIN GUIDE TO COMPACT DISCS:
In 1892 Sullivan was at the apex of his career. The Gondoliers had been a great success at the Savoy, and his grand opera Ivanhoe had been very well received at the Royal English Opera House. But its success was to be comparatively short-lived, and certainly it had not benefited him financially. He needed a new source of income, yet had fallen out with Gilbert. So he decided to collaborate with a different librettist, Sydney Grundy, with a considerable reputation in the field of light opera.

The result was Haddon Hall , based on a true story about the elopement of Lady Dorothy Vernon with her Royalist lover, John Manners, from her ancestral home. But Grundy resourcefully predated the action so that he could use period costumes, and bring in a chorus of Puritans who in the last act, in true topsy-turvy fashion renounce "being thoroughly miserable" and instead plan to "merry-make the livelong day".

At the beginning of Act II Grundy also introduces an unforgettable Scottish character, the McCrankie, from the Isle of Rum, and he appears to an extraordinarily convincing orchestral evocation of bagpipes. My name is McCrankie is followed by his duet with Rupert, There's no-one by , a wittily dour exposition of their Puritan creed ("We'd supervise the plants and flowers, prescribe them early-closing hours"). Then follows Hoity-Toity , a delightful trio with Dorcas, the heroine's maid (who sings most engagingly in her own solos) to make three of the most delightful numbers in the whole opera.

Sir John Manners' servant, Oswald (the excellent Alan Borthwick), arrives disguised as a traveling salesman and introduces himself with the engagingly lively Come simples and gentles , full of musical quotations, and this leads to a heavenly duet with Dorcas, The sun's in the Sky . But it is Rupert, the heroine's Roundhead cousin, splendidly sung by Ian Lawson, who is the key humorous figure. He only wants Lady Dorothy's hand as it comes with the Haddon Hall estates, and his very winning I've heard it said is an inimitable patter style we all recognize; he also has a fine number with chorus, When I was but a little lad .

Sydney Grundy tried to avoid the Gilbertian style, but fortunately for the most part he fails to do so; his libretto is certainly more fey than a Gilbertian scenario. But the lyrics are often charming, and there is plenty of felicitous rhyming, to bring one catchy number after another, to which Sullivan provides some of his most delightful music. The lyrical solos and ensembles for the principal characters are often fully operatic and the chorus is richly served. Sullivan also scored more imaginatively than usual, as in the shrieking clarinets in the central Storm sequence.

The performance by the semi-professional Prince Consort, from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, but using a professional orchestra, may have its rough patches, but it is very well cast, with Mary Timmons a pleasing heroine, who blends appealingly with Steven Griffin as her lover, John Manners. He sings very strongly, especially when he dominates the opera's spectacular finale, when everything is happily resolved.

David Lyle's conducting is full of life and the many ensembles come off splendidly, notably the enchanting Now step lightly, hold me tightly in Act II as the lovers elope. Indeed the opera comes vividly to life in this excellent recording, well balanced and with a fine, full theatrical ambience. The recording was financially sponsored, not just by the Sullivan Society, but also by individuals, Mike Leigh of Topsy-Turvy fame among them. It deserves support and I return will give much pleasure, for so much of its music brings fascinating reminders of other G&S operas from the Savoy canon. It certainly deserves professionally restaging, perhaps in London's Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, which has recently done so well for HMS Pinafore.
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