Ethel Smyth - The Prison (James Blachly)

Information

Composer: Ethel Smyth

• The Prison (Symphony for Soprano, Bass-baritone, Chorus, and Orchestra)

Sarah Brailey, soprano

Dashon Burton. bass-baritone

Experiential Chorus & Orchestra

James Blachly, conductor

Date: 2020

Label: Chandos

https://www.chandos.net/products/catalogue/CHAN%205279

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Review

The Prison (1929-30) was Ethel Smyth’s last major work, an hour-long oratorio-style work described by its composer as a symphony, as Elizabeth Woods notes, ‘to denote an ancient Greek idea of “concordance” of sweet sounds, not the orchestral genre’. In this beautifully prepared and executed performance, The Prison emerges most certainly as a work of sweet sounds and concordance. A symphony it most certainly is not.

The form, however, is beside the point. The Prison is cast in two large parts, ‘Close on Freedom’ and ‘The Deliverance’, each a touch over half an hour in duration. The text, compiled by Smyth herself, derived from the book The Prison: A Dialogue by Smyth’s former lover Henry Bennet Brewster (1850-1908). In it, a Prisoner, presumed on the eve of his execution (sung here with a remarkable synthesis of power and beauty by Dashon Burton) engages in a dialogue with his Soul (radiantly sung by Sarah Brailey), amplified by the chorus. Eventually, the Prisoner becomes reconciled to his fate in a trajectory not unlike that of the victim in Othmar Schoeck’s extraordinary later song-cycle, Lebendig begraben, although in a rather more contemplative manner.

Smyth’s haunting music, given here in conductor James Blachly’s new edition, is beautifully constructed and highly evocative (with quotes or allusions to earlier Smyth scores). Her orchestration is limpid and masterly, rendered lovingly here by Blachly with the Experiential Orchestra. The choral contribution is relatively minor, the focus rightly on the two soloists, but again superbly performed. The only miscalculation is Smyth’s use of ‘The Last Post’ in the concluding pages, adding a martial resonance that may jar to modern ears; to Smyth, a major-general’s daughter, it may just have been an echo of (her) youth which she wanted at this point. Magnificent sound from Chandos, too. Very strongly recommended.

-- Guy Rickards, Gramophone

More reviews:
ClassicsToday  ARTISTIC QUALITY: 10 / SOUND QUALITY: 10

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2020/Sep/Smyth-prison-CHSA5279.htm

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/06/ethel-smyth-the-prison-review-brailey-burton-experiential-orchestra

https://theclassicreview.com/album-reviews/review-ethel-smyth-the-prison-burton-brailey-experiential-orchestra-blachly/

https://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/reviews/ethel-smyth-the-prison-experiential-orchestra/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Smyth-Experiential-Orchestra-Brailey-Blachly/dp/B089HPPWC9

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Ethel Smyth (22 April 1858 – 8 May 1944) was an English composer and a member of the women's suffrage movement. Despite that her father was very much opposed to her making a career in music, Smyth was determined to become a composer, studied with a private tutor, and then attended the Leipzig Conservatory, where she met many composers of the day. Her compositions include songs, works for piano, chamber music, orchestral and concertante works, choral works, and operas. Smyth was made a DBE in 1922, being the first female composer to be awarded a damehood.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethel_Smyth

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James Blachly is an American, Grammy-winning conductor who currently serves as Music Director of the Johnstown Symphony Orchestra and Music Director of the Experiential Orchestra.

http://www.jamesblachly.com/

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