Day 171
Arthur Goring Thomas overture The Golden Web
Victorian Opera Orchestra
Richard Bonynge
Goring Thomas (I think that Goring was actually a middle name but I always think of him as Goring Thomas) established quite a reputation for himself as an opera composer in the 1880s with several operas being produced successful both in London and in Germany. He is one of the might-have-beens of English opera - he had severe mental health problems and threw himself in front of a train at the age of 41.
Very little of his music has been recorded. This overture is from his last opera, which is lighter in character than the ones which went before it. It is an attractive piece which reminded me at time of French composers such as Bizet or Massenet but it hardly gives a rounded picture of the composer's work. There are a couple of extracts from other of his operas in historical recordings. You don't really get much of an impression from these but the duet Dear Love of Mine from Nadesha recorded by Clara Butt and her husband Kennerley Rumford in 1925 suggests that the composer is worth exploring. A number of Victorian operas have now been recorded and perhaps it is time that Goring Thomas took his place among them.
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