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Audio extracts of Arthur Sullivan's music for The Tempest (1860-62) and Macbeth (1888) provided by kind permission of John Andrews and Dutton Epoch.
1: Macbeth, Overture
2: The Tempest, 'Come unto these yellow sands'
3: Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 6
4: The Tempest, Introduction
5: The Tempest, Epilogue
6: Macbeth, Prelude to Act 2
7: Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1
Episode 5
Michael Graham talks to conductor John Andrews about his recordings of Arthur Sullivan's incidental music for The Tempest and Macbeth. Michael and John discuss the importance of Shakespeare throughout Sullivan's career, Sullivan's presentation of different characters in the two plays, and parallels between Sullivan's incidental music and modern-day film scores. They explore the 'operatic' style of Victorian Shakespeare performance, and consider why this most famous of opera composers never adapted Shakespeare for the operatic stage. John also explains the process of recording Sullivan's music live alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra, BBC Singers, Simon Callow, Mary Bevan, and Fflur Wyn.
00:00:00: Introduction; a year in lockdown
00:04:35: Why Sullivan?
00:09:40: Shakespeare through Sullivan's career
00:24:58: The music of The Tempest: Prospero's island
00:33:31: The music of Macbeth: collaboration with Henry Irving
00:52:44: The recording process
01:00:15: Closing thoughts
John Andrews is Principal Guest Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra and Conductor-in-Association with the English Symphony Orchestra. Born in Nairobi and brought up in Manchester, he graduated from Cambridge University with a doctorate in music and history.
With a special affinity for Italian bel canto and the English baroque, he has conducted over 40 operas with companies including The Grange Festival, Opera Holland Park, English Touring Opera, Garsington Opera, Opera de Baugé and the Volkstheater Rostock. An exponent of neglected English music, he has appeared regularly at the English Music Festival presenting works from the seventeenth to the twentieth century.
His recordings include Incidental Music to The Tempest and Macbeth, the oratorio The Light of the World and comic opera Haddon Hall (Sir Arthur Sullivan) and The Mountebanks (Gilbert and Cellier) for Dutton Epoch with the BBC Concert Orchestra, Percy Sherwood’s Double Concerto and Sir Frederic Cowen’s 5thSymphony for EM Records, Thomas Arne’s The Judgment of Paris for Dutton Vocalion, and most recently Malcolm Arnold’s The Dancing Master for Resonus Classics, which won a BBC Music Award.
In 2021-2 he returns to the Grange Festival and further recordings with the BBC Concert Orchestra, as well as making his debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra.