Opera Award John Andrews
Lampe The Dragon of Wantley Mary Bevan, Catherine Carby et al; The Brook Street Band/john Andrews Resonus RES 10304
A dragon rampaging around Yorkshire munching churches and houses, a hero who has to be coaxed out of the pub, a feisty stand-off between love rivals Margery and Mauxalinda, and a character called Gubbins. What’s not to like? Audiences in 1730s London certainly loved The Dragon of Wantley, making it a major hit. And while John Frederick Lampe’s satire – which gently pokes fun at Handel, his contemporary and colleague – may have been largely overlooked by subsequent generations, the genius of the German-born composer’s finest moment is clear for all to hear in conductor John Andrews’s vibrant performance.
‘It’s a piece I’ve loved and have wanted to record for a long time,’ says Andrews. ‘I think The Dragon of Wantley was one of those seminal moments that pushed Handel away from Italian opera to his more English work. It showed you can write a fully sung-through opera in English with proper Italianate arias, but it also punctures the pomposity of opera seria in a way, making it almost impossible to recover from.
The dottiness of the plot plus librettist Henry Carey’s sharp wordplay should not, however, distract us from Lampe’s brilliance as a composer. ‘He has got the sophistication of the Italian style down to a tee – you have a really skilful and affectionate reproduction of the best of Italian opera in his music, and he never uses cheap effects. And in fact the comedy itself comes from the combination of the ludicrous plot with this sophisticated music.’
And no comedy, of course, can work without a cast who can pull it off – cue Mary Bevan, Catherine Carby, Mark Wilde and John Savournin. ‘There’s such a skill to get across a comedy on a recording,’ says Andrews, ‘and such a fine line between executing the music faithfully and getting the gags to land. I am in awe of the ability of that quartet of singers to get round the coloratura and keep it all incredibly classy, yet make all the jokes work.’
‘The singers keep it all incredibly classy yet all the jokes work’