Masquerade

I greeted the arrival of the recording of Bernard J. Taylor's latest work, Pride and Prejudice, with a degree of trepidation. For the first time I had enjoyed a minor element of input with a recording of this nature and through regular telephone conversations with Bernard had watched as the project had been nurtured and developed until it eventually came to fruition. What if I didn't like it? What if the artists I had suggested when Bernard was casting hadn't cane up to scratch?

But I needn't have worried as yet again Mr. Taylor has come up with the goods. Pride arid Prejudice boasts a plethora of glorious melodies, an abundance of memorable performances .

Bernard's versatility is again on show as the new work is not as operatic or intense as Wuthering Heights and yet is a long way removed from the popular feel of Success. With Pride and Prejudice he has captured the mood of Jane Austen's book and in particular the period in which it is set. The ravishing ballads that are Taylor's trademark are plentiful but the score also contains several light and jaunty pieces that serve to create a sweet yet flamboyant mood. But before I get settled into full scale twittering, of which I am a master, I felt you might like to hear straight from the horse's mouth the writer's own thoughts on the work:

"The first work after the overture is the show's opener where the five Bennet daughters and their mother are urging the dispassionate Mr Bennet to go and make himself acquainted with the rich new tenant of Netherfield. The song's rhythmic variation goes from 4/4 to 3/4 to 2/4 to 6/8 to 3/8 and back to 4/4. This kind of rhythmic variation will be a big feature of my next work, Much Ado, the period of which lends itself to this kind of experimentation as songs of that period were much less rigid in rhythm than the music of today,

"In the score for Pride and Prejudice I have been much more symphonic in my approach than in my other musicals to date, in the sense that there is much more interweaving of themes and the main themes are used more not just in reprises but in variations.

"For example the song "Being Here With You", which Jane and Bingley sing when they first meet, is a variation of a song that comes near the end titled 'Since We Said Goodbye'. You might not recognise it as a variation of the same theme (even the orchestrator failed to spot it until I pointed it out to him!) but it is. 'I Need To Know', which is Darcy's main theme, is also heard in two other variations. With Wuthering Heights and Success, although there were reprises of some songs, there was very little variation of specific themes and my tendency was to pack in as much variety as possible with each song being completely novel and different from the rest (albeit with sane stylistic consistency - neo-classical in the case of Wuthering Heights and Broadway swing in the case of Success).

"I think this is probably a very common tendency with most composers when they are setting out to write a musical but it runs the danger of overwhelming the listener with too much variety, making it difficult to absorb at one sitting. With Pride and Prejudice most of the themes will be established in the first act and then reworked in the following two acts."

For what it's worth may I just say that I agree totally with Bernard's sentiments. Wonderful scores like Les Miserables or more recently Sunset Boulevard have benefited in a sense of continuity by utilising reprises, variations and snippets of themes throughout the work.

On the other hand a score like She Loves Me, despite several lovely songs, loses out to some degree by constantly confronting the listener with fresh material. The repeated use of a constant and majestic theme for Darcy works especially well in its various forms - "Isn't It Strange", "Don't Ask Me Why" and, as a duet with Elizabeth, "I Need To Know".

Part of the credit for that must go to Peter Karrie who I think is quite outstanding and not just because I suggested him! He sings with an aura of aching vulnerability and all the sense of drama that he has brought to the role of the Phantom over the years pours out to embody the lovely melodies with warmth and poignancy.

The term "the dream team" has been used, usually with no justification, by political parties over the years to describe a leadership pairing. I can but conclude that it should have been reserved for the coming together of Peter Karrie and Claire Moore.

It will come as no surprise to regular readers that I am impressed by Miss Moore's contribution, but I defy anyone to be other than swayed by the latest addition to the lady's impressive portfolio of recorded work. Whether it is lending support to Karrie on the aforementioned "I Need To Know" and the mighty title song, or holding centre stage with the likes of the forceful "A Man Who's Proud And Vain" or the soaring "Have I Been Wrong", Claire shines through.

But the second team of Jane and Bingley (Janet Mooney and James Staddon) are no slouches with a couple of quality duets, while Janet performs the ballad "No Designs On Love" quite angelically.

Like her partner in crime in Les Mis (Barry James), Gay Soper is one of the West End's best kept secrets. An immensely talented singer and actress who ends up giving wonderful performances in supporting roles but never quite making the headlines, on Pride And Prejudice she makes a superb Mrs Bennett, binding together the cast on several ensemble numbers and yet popping up in the roles of the four servants (one of whom seems to be Madame Thernardier), in the entertaining "At The Ball".

The cast are completed by Christopher Biggins who makes an excellent Mr Collins and adds a lighter note to the proceedings with "A Woman Who Knows Her Place", a mildly over-the-top Thelma L'Estrange as Lady de Bourgh, Michael Ducarel as Mr Bennet, Darren Boyd as Wickham, Sheri Copeland and Linda Jarvis as the daughters Kitty and Lydia, and Stephen Corke and Katherine Jones-Thomas in the chorus.

Unlike Wuthering Heights, Bernard doesn't use a full symphony orchestra which would have been inclined to swamp the music, opting for the lighter feel of synthesiser basic tracks augmented splendidly by a small string and brass ensemble, creating a warm and intimate feel. Their effectiveness is amply demonstrated on the extended "Overture" and the flowing "Assembly Waltz" while Ruth Herbert provides a sweet acoustic piano interlude with a Regency version of the title song.

Jane Austen' s mannered book restrains Bernard to some degree from injecting the lyrics with the humour that permeated Success but is Taylor-made (sorry!) to show off his marvellous composing talents.

Pride and Prejudice is pastoral and precious, poignant and pure. In an era when originality is increasingly rare and shows cobbled together from vintage music is in vogue, composers like Bernard J. Taylor must be welcomed and revered.