Robert Tear in Songs by Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Butterworth

This recording dates from 1979,  somewhat later than my usual time frame. I transferred it for another forum; in the end it wasn't needed there, but I thought it might be of interest to some here.

Robert Tear
by William Bowyer (1986)

I remember being very excited to acquire the LP when it came out. It was the first recording of a favorite work, Vaughan Williams's "On Wenlock Edge," with orchestral accompaniment in place of the usual piano and string quartet. It also included Elgar and Butterworth songs that had not been recorded before. And it featured an artist I much admire, tenor Robert Tear. I wrote about Tear soon after his death in 2011.

Even so, I must admit that this is not one of his best records. I felt that way nearly 40 years ago and my recent audition has confirmed that belief. Tear adopts a declamatory approach to the Vaughan Williams songs. This probably was because of the orchestral accompaniment replaced the usual chamber ensemble. But the inward Housman settings in particular don't benefit from this extrovert manner.

You may disagree with this assessment, of course. Trevor Harvey in The Gramophone thought that Tear "quite rightly brings out its [i.e., the orchestration's] more dramatic quality." (The download includes the review along with EMI's advertisement from the same issue.)

Harvey also was impressed by the Butterworth settings of W.E. Henley, and by some of the Elgar works. He liked Elgar's settings of his own words that were based on Eastern European folk songs,  but was less taken by the composer's settings of Sir Gilbert Parker's poems. All of these are well handled by Tear.

Vernon Handley

The orchestral accompaniments are beautifully done by the City of Birmingham Symphony, conducted by Vernon Handley, an English music specialist. The late analogue recording is fairly good, although the upper strings can be a bit glassy.

Oddly, Tear re-recorded the Vaughan Williams about three years later with the same orchestra and Simon Rattle. Presumably this was to replace the analogue recording with the new digital variety. EMI has reissued the Rattle version more than once, but the Handley recording not at all.

"On Wenlock Edge" in its piano and string quartet guise has appeared here twice before: the first recording with Gervase Elwes (the work's dedicatee), pianist Frederick Kiddle and the London String Quartet; and in a 1953 effort by Alexander Young, pianist Gordon Watson and the Sebastian String Quartet. Both are excellent.