Whatever happened to the happy evening with family and friends gathering around the piano for yet one more run-through of everyone’s favorite songs–songs whose beloved words (often of the most flowery, Victorian kind) and melodies (also of the most flowery Victorian kind) inspired all to shameless bouts of sentimental wallowing? Well, unless you lived in England or the U.S. in the late-19th/early-20th century, you probably missed out. But the songs, for better or worse, live on, and English baritone Thomas Allen is one of those whose early life was affected by memories of “amateur singers coming through our house . . . to practice these songs with my father at a time when there seemed a need for reassurance. . .” And perhaps we could use a little of this reassurance in these times, even though most younger listeners (and many older ones!) will find the nostalgia, schmaltz, sentiment, and downright “old-fashioned” language of these 25 pieces a little hard to embrace. For everyone else, you’ll find much to enjoy here, as you revel in such classics as “Passing By” (Edward Herrick/Edward Purcell), “Smilin’ through” (Arthur A. Penn), “The Lost Chord” (Arthur Sullivan), and “Trees” (the one whose text is the Joyce Kilmer poem that begins with the line, “I think that I shall never see/A poem lovely as a tree”). We also hear Stephen Adams’ ever-popular “The Holy City”, Frank Lambert’s “God’s Garden” (set to Doris Frances Gurney’s famous poem that ends “One is nearer God’s heart in a garden/Than anywhere else on earth.”), and Ivor Novello’s World War I anthem “Till the boys come home” (best-known as “Keep the home fires burning”).
There’s no questioning the fact that these songs are important musical components of a particular place and time, and although their style and manner of expression isn’t popular today, the music and words still manage to touch a chord or two. And when we get an interpreter as sympathetic to these songs and their meaning as Allen is, and one whose strengths as a soloist are as refined and confident as his, we can easily appreciate how these pieces and their language spoke so meaningfully to their original audiences and performers (often one and the same!).
At first Allen’s voice seems far too heavy, his style too dramatic; but his delivery gradually begins to grow on you as you listen. Somehow he even succeeds in making the tired old standard “Drink to me only” sound fresh and even pretty–and worth hearing one more time. His accompanist is ever solid and authoritative–too much so in some of the songs (“My Dearest Heart”, for example) where his pounding technique overwhelms the singer and skews the focus. For the most part, however, our focus is on Allen’s strong, full-voiced renditions that rarely fail to ingratiate and impress. Still, I find myself wishing for a sweeter, warmer, more lyrical voice in this repertoire–just a personal thing that probably goes back to my own early singing experiences but takes nothing away from the fact that this is music for everyone. The recorded sound complements both the intimacy of the voice/piano configuration and the big-sized qualities of this particular singer and accompanist. [5/24/2002]
