Constant Lambert Conducts 'Coppélia'

Constant Lambert by Gordon Anthony

The 1946 productions of the Sadler's Wells Ballet, in its new home at Covent Garden, have been featured several times here, all in recordings led by Constant Lambert - Sleeping Beauty, The Rake's Progress, Miracle in the Gorbals and Giselle. Today we have recordings made in conjunction with a staging of the ballet Coppélia, with music by Léo Delibes.

The 1946 production was, I believe, a revival of the 1940 staging. It opened on October 25, 1946, and Lambert and the Royal Opera House Orchestra were in the studio the following February for these recordings. Actually two studios - the music from Act III was recorded in Kingsway Hall February 7, with the Act I and II sessions moving to Abbey Road Studio 1 on March 25. The resulting recording contains about a third of the complete score. One note: the composer Gordon Jacob is listed as orchestrating Act III; I haven't found a description of the work he did.

Publicity photo of Margot Fonteyn as Swanilda

Coppélia set design by William Chappell

Delibes' captivating music influenced Tchaikovsky. The performance does full justice to the score; Lambert's clarity and incisiveness are everywhere in evidence. The Royal Opera House Orchestra was not a virtuoso ensemble, but you will not notice much amiss, except for some insecure horn playing in the Prelude. That passage soon gives way to the wonderful Mazurka and the rest of the score is handled well. (The Mazurka's tempo is swift; I suspect that Lambert used a more moderate tempo for the stage production.)

Naturally, not all the critics agree with my assessment of the performance. The Gramophone's reviewer sneered that the playing was "of a good routine order," complained of a missing diacritic on the label, and was bored with the music: "It is all rather faded, for me, but these amiable things have a place in the corner of most hearts." But then the critic of The Spectator, reviewing the opening night performance, had this to say: "The music, delightful in its melodiousness and piquant rhythms, was particularly well played by the orchestra under Constant Lambert, and the audience was wildly and justly enthusiastic."

UK Columbia issued its 78 set in 1947, with US Columbia following the next year. This transfer is from my pressing of the 1949 US LP (cover below). The sound is good. The download includes many production stills and reviews.