Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart Howden, Wallace, Morris, Ollerenshaw, Edgar-Wilson, Brook, Moore, Willcock, Sporsén, Perpetuo, Julian Perkins

• Stephen Dodgson (1924 - 2013): Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I:
• 1 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I: Introduction 02:27
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1:
• 2 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1: What an Almighty Fuss 01:35
• 3 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1: For So Many Years 02:09
• 4 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1: Oh Harvest Moon 05:26
• 5 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1: Under That Far and Shining Sky 01:35
• 6 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1: The Harvest Is Ended 02:19
• 7 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1: Oh, My Goodness Gracious! Look! 02:23
• 8 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1: Margaret? 03:39
• 9 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1: The Ripen'd Corn in Sheaves Is Born 05:10
• 10 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 1: Interlude 01:32
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 2:
• 11 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 2: Seasons Come, Seasons Go 04:44
• 12 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 2: Who's There? 05:16
• 13 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 2: Come, Will. Enough's Enough 01:25
• 14 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 2: No! No! 00:58
• 15 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act I Scene 2: Back You Devils 05:15
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 1:
• 16 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 1: You Are Young 04:25
• 17 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 1: Ah! Dr. Stebbing and Mr. Barry 06:54
• 18 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 1: Interlude 01:28
• 19 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 2: I Don't Care What You Think 02:26
• 20 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 2: Come In, Margaret 06:30
• 21 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 2: Come Then, Alice 08:46
• 22 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 2: Interlude 01:12
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 3:
• 23 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 3: Luff? Are You There? 05:44
• 24 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 3: Heard You That, Old Man? 03:21
• 25 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 3: Interlude 01:42
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 3:
• 26 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II Scene 4: Impossible. Impossible! 03:17
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II:
• 27 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act II: Postlude 02:01
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 1:
• 28 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 1: Prisoner at the Bar 02:39
• 29 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 1: My Lord, My Testimony Has Said I Am Her Employer 02:17
• 30 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 1: Conscience Insists, My Lord 05:13
• 31 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 1: Interlude I 01:46
• 32 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 1: Oh, Mistress! 03:32
• 33 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 1: Interlude II 01:24
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 2:
• 34 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 2: Good Conduct, Margaret 02:43
• 35 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 2: Margaret... Can It Be You? 05:04
• 36 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 2: Interlude 02:56
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 3:
• 37 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 3: We're Clear Now 03:18
• 38 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 3: Oh Joy of Freedom! 03:16
• 39 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 3: I Know, I Know 00:58
• 40 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 3: Interlude 00:42
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 4:
• 41 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 4: Prisoner at the Bar 01:19
• 42 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 4: My Lord, Always to This Court I Have Confessed My Guilt 05:46
• 43 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 4: Interlude 00:51
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 5:
• 44 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 5: Mrs. Cobbold... Before You Speak 03:56
• 45 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act III Scene 5: In My Loneliness 01:47
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV:
• 46 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV: Introduction 01:05
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 1:
• 47 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 1: What a Joy! 03:22
• 48 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 1: Ever Since I Came to This New Land 04:18
• 49 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 1: Mrs. Palmer, Forgive Me 03:09
• 50 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 1: Interlude 01:32
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 2:
• 51 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 2: Come In, Margaret 05:26
• 52 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 2: John... Oh, I Never Thought to See You Again 04:28
• 53 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 2: Interlude 01:28
• Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 3:
• 54 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 3: Oh John... I Am Almost Afraid 03:27
• 55 Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart, Act IV Scene 3: Oh, Distant Moon 04:15
• Total Runtime 02:55:36

Info for Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart

Among Stephen Dodgson’s portfolio of more than 250 works are chamber operas, of which Margaret Catchpole: Two Worlds Apart is a most striking example. It is based on the true story of a woman who was convicted of the then capital crime of horse stealing and transported to Australia, and Dodgson conveys the romance and drama of the story with characteristic lyricism and rhythmic energy. Words are paramount for Dodgson, and his setting is vivid, immediate and tonal, with some swaggering rustic moments amidst the precise characterisation and idiomatic instrumental writing.

"Stephen Dodgson was one of the UK’s most admired composers of the 20th century, writing a number of chamber operas including a true story of Margaret Catchpole.

‘In the era of Benjamin Britten’ would be a very simplistic description, but it places Dodgson as a modernist who still embraced tonality and melody while avoiding experimentalism. Born in 1924, conscription into the armed forces during the Second World War interrupted Dodgson’s musical education, before he eventually entered London’s Royal College of Music. There he would graduate and then spend much of his working life teaching theory and composition. The idea of writing the opera, Margaret Catchpole: Two World’s Apart, began to take root in the late 1970’s, its first performance taking place in June 1979. It is in three acts of around three hours in performing time and calls for fifteen soloists and a small chamber ensemble. It uses, as the basis of the libretto from Ronald Fletcher, the true story of Margaret Catchpole, a virtuous young woman living in Sussex, but who falls in love with a sailor and smuggler, William Laud, hardly recognising the devoted love of the farmer, John Barry. To accompany Laud to London she stole a horse, a major crime in the late 18th century, and when caught she was sent to prison. Having escaped, but then recaptured, she then escaped execution by becoming one of the first criminals to be deported to Australia. The ending of her life in the opera is pure fiction, though the real Margaret became highly respectable while living there. Dodgson relates the story in a number of scenes built from arias and ensembles, and punctuated by orchestral interludes. He is, in every way, kind to the singers here headed by the Australian mezzo, Kate Howden, with the young English tenor, William Wallace, as Laud; a highly impressive baritone, Alistair Ollerenshaw, sings John Barry, and the famous, and now veteran tenor, Richard Edgar-Wilson, singing the cameo role of Crusoe. The orchestra, Perpetuo, is a flexible UK ensemble here conducted by Julian Perkins, better known in the world of Baroque music. Recorded in 2019 at the Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, Sussex, the sound is impeccable both in quality and balance between singers and orchestra. A detailed synopsis is in the enclosed booklet, and the libretto is available for downloading on Internet." (David’s Review Corner)

William Wallace, tenor
Nicholas Morris, bass
Kate Howden, soprano
Michael Bundy, bass
Jonathan Hanley, tenor
Mark Saberton, baritone
Robyn Allegra Parton, soprano
Leonora Dawson-Bowling, mezzo-soprano
Alistair Ollerenshaw, baritone
Richard Edgar-Wilson, tenor
Peter Willcock, bass
Jon Stainsby, baritone
Julian Perkins, director

No biography found.

Booklet for Dodgson: Margaret Catchpole, Two Worlds Apart