Peter Grimes
AFTER the slightly depressing experience of the last revival of Peter Grimes at Covent Garden, the new one under Kubelik is heartening. Much in the music that then, in a spiritless performance,
seemed to have lost its punch, hit us again with its original force. Improvements are still possible. Kubelik as usual got some of the undeniable dramatic energy of his performance by forced, tempi and at the expense 9f the orchestral tone- quality, which was often rough and fierce, with- out balanced weight or fullness. On the lyrical side he was weaker, and so were his soloists, with the exception of Peter Pears, whose performance improved steadily to a moving climax in the mad scene. The new Balstrode of James Pease also was intermittently good, but his singing needed more sustained intensity—which need not contradict the levelheadedness that he is supposed to repre- sent. The minor characters, from Geraint Evans's Ned Keene and Lauris Elms's Mrs. Sedley down, all lacked definition though all were well sung, and could acquire it. The difficult casting prob- lem is Ellen Orford. Either Sylvia Fisher was badly out of form, or the part does not lie well for her voice. I suspect the latter, and think that it might gain from being given to a singer of slightly less weighty and perhaps brighter voice.. If the work is to be recorded from the present revival, as I believe it may be, something should be done about this. To record the part with Miss Fisher as she sang on the first night would not be fair to her or to the opera.
COLIN MASON
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