"Merrie England"... ...Light Opera from NZBS Studios

New Zealand Listener, Volume 28, Issue 723, 22 May 1953, Page 9

"Merrie England"...

...Light Opera from NZBS Studios

news the. works of Edward German, and in particular his light opera Merrie England, are well on their way to being proved Britain’s favourite Coronation year music. More than a hundred amateur dramatic societies there are said to be performing Merrie England, which is, says one critic, "a robust, light-hearted, and altogether delightful picture from the glorious days of Queen Elizabeth, peopled with famous personages from her reign and reflecting in music and drama something of the stirring spirit of the times." And here in New Zealand Merrie England, produced by Bernard Beeby in the Auckland studios of the NZBS, will be one of the highlights of Coronation week listening. It will be broadcast from all YA stations at 7.15 p.m. on June 2. Probably the most ambitious studio production yet attempted by the Service, Merrie England required several days of sustained effort to record, and will occupy one hour forty minutes of playing time. A ‘ramatic cast of over twenty. was employed; the orchestral accompaniment was by the Auckland Radio Orchestra, conducted by Oswald Cheesman, who was the Musical Director, and led by Felix Millar; and the chorus was provided by the Auckland Choral Group, with supporting soloists, under Stewart Harvey. Some of the principal parts are: Queen Elizabeth, spoken by Honor Sim and sung by Nell Leather; the Earl of Essex, by Christopher Venning and Stewart Harvey; Sir Walter Raleigh, by Lawrence Hepworth and Ramon Opie; Jill-All-Alone, by Joy Greer and Beatrice Jones; the May Queen, by Margaret Simmonds and Constance’ Manning; Bessie Throckmorton, by Shona Smale and Olga Burton; Big Ben, by Ronald Montague and Gordon Tuck; Long Tom, by Patrick Smyth and Malcolm Boles; the Butcher, by Paul Browne’ and Raymond Wentworth; and Walter Wilkins, by Peter Gwynne. For various reasons, including the time factor and the difficulty of keeping together such a big amateur cast (all of whom also had their own_ busi‘ness or private responsibilities), it was A to recent cable

found necessary to record the drama section of the work apart from the musical section, and to combine the recordings later, adding sound effects as well, Recording took seven hours for the dialogue and two and a half hours for the music, while the work of combining the two separate sets of recordings occupied, about five hours. Two people, a dramatist and a vocalist, were selected for each role requiring firstclass solo work, to ensure the highest possible standard in both singing and speaking. This method, Mr. Beeby explained to The Listener, presented its own special difficulties. "There are some thirty-seven minutes of spoken word in Merrie England, and in recording this we had to build up the voices to the frequency level of the — strings

and soloists-higher than usual in dramatic work. Then the players had to get into character, keep there, and give their best without the stimulus of the music and in spite of the fact that the libretto, considered apart from the vocal and orchestral scores, of course gives only part of the story. On its own it might appear something of a hotch-potch." Technical recording problems arose from the fact that because of the size of the casts 1YA’s main studio had to be used instead of the specially equipped _ recording studios. Equipment in the Jatter was directed by remote con-

trol-sometimes a ticklish matter, says Ken Watham, who was technician in charge of the production. "We had to be more than ever alert to catch all cues. With the i:nusic section we found during rehearsals that the brass of the orchestra was inclined to come over the microphones placed for the chorus and soloists, swamping them. That was solved by separating the two groups by eight feet or more and employing a total of four microphones simultaneously, two for each group. This achieved an excellent balance for the whole." However, say Auckland officers of the NZBS who have heard the completed production, all difficulties were more than satisfactorily overcome, and the NZBS Merrie England should make a very worthwhile programme.