POPULAR SINGER

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25253, 4 August 1947, Page 8

POPULAR SINGER

MR JOHN CHARLES THOMAS

The many admirers of Mr John Charles Thomas, the American baritone, filled the Theatre Royal on Saturday night. His gramophone records have had very large sales, and he has become well known here through the medium of radio. Mr Thomas would have no reason to complain of the warmth of the reception accorded to him, especially after his singing of those particular items by which his radio audience know him best. It would be fair criticism to say that the majority of the audience expected Mr Thomas to give a different type of programme and would have enjoyed hearing more of those songs in which Mr Thomas could give full rein to his great gifts of showmanship, in the best sense of the word. His perfect clarity of enunciation, his happy way of making himself at home with his audience, and his ability to get the utmost out of every word and phrase in a light song has made him one of the world’s finest entertainers in this field. Most of these items were given as encores, often with rather incongruous placings. The first group consisted of four songs from early Italian opera of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and an air from Comus by Dr. Arne. Mr Thomas must be commended for his research into the early masters and for giving us the opportunity of hearing such rarely sung extracts from the beginnings of the art of opera. Especially interesting was the first one the Invocation from Euridice, by Jacopo Peri. This was one of the very earliest of the operas and was composed for the marriage of Henry IV. Peri was one of that - group of Renaissance musicians who, through their investigations into the method of performing the chorus of Greek tragedy, were the discoverers of the art of recitative. Mr Thomas showed right from the beginning his mastery of legato singing and his ability to sustain a long phrase. In the air from Comus the rhythm was interrupted, and the singer and the accompanist were not always together. There was a sameness of atmosphere in the whole group which lessened its attractiveness to most of the audience, and it is mainly to the musicologist that these works are of great interest to-day.

The encore to this group was “The Lord’s Prayer,” by Malotte. The sensual music with which Malotte has seen fit to clothe the words of the Our Father belongs to a later and more debased operatic idiom. Great Dramatic Ability In the monologue from Andrea Chernier, by Giordano, Mr Thomas showed what a truly fine operatic singer he is. His great dramatic ability shone through the music, andthe performance was excellent in every way. As encores, “Ye Banks and Braes,” “My Lovely Celia,” and “The Open Road” delighted the audience. The second was sung with wonderful breath control and beautiful smoothness. In such songs as “The Open Road,” “Donald and John and Me,” “Blow Me Eyes,” etc., Mr Thomas excels.. They were all encores, and had they been grouped together would have added considerable punch to the programme. There is no reason why a man of Mr Thomas’s reputation for singing these songs should not make them part of his programme and balance them so that each song can make its most telling effect. If anyone thinks that they are easy, one would remind him of how few singers are able to put them across with that happy knack which Mr Thomas has in such large measure. It was good to hear “Every Timfe I Feel the Spirit" and "Lindy Lou" again, which reminded many of Todd Duncan’s visit last year.

A group of French songs contained two beautiful works, of quiet and restrained atmosphere, by Henry Duparc. “Au Pays,” by Augusta Holmes, has an interesting accompaniment and is a delightful little number which suited Mr Thomas excellently. He gave a short explanation of it, and the effortless clarity of his speaking voice was most pleasing. If all orators could achieve this, there would be no need for objectionable loudspeaker amplifiers in our public buildings. Augusta Holmes was a pupil of Cesar Franck. She was an Irish woman, but her writing is entirely French in spirit. Organists are familiar with her name, as Franck dedicated the Choral in A minor to her. “Gay Youth,” by Francois Poulenc, is a lively song in the typical French style. It came off excellently. The group of English songs were well received and skilfully chosen. “Come to Me in my Dreams,” by Frank Bridge, was performed with feeling by both singer and accompanist. In “Love Went A’riding,” by the same composer, the tempo was too slow. Instead of flying along with an exhilarating rush. Love went for a gentle canter. One could conjure up the vision of Cupid appearing before the stewards to answer a charge of pulling his horse. The macabre atmosphere of “The Old Skinflint.” by Herbert Howells, was faithfully created and sustained, and “When I Think Upon the Maidens,” by Michael Head, was sung with an air of raillery admirably suited to it. Mr Roy Urseth showed skill in accompanying Mr Thomas and pleased with his solo numbers As there are many people on the stage and there is this large and unusual space as well as the auditorium to fill with sound, more power, fire, and colour could be given to the piano part at times. The second programme, which will be given to-night, contains more songs in English than this first programme does. An interesting group of songs from is promised. —C.F.B.