WHAT ARE THESE DISCS ABOUT?
The material used in these CDs is taken from performances given by Roy Hart during his life time. For example, here is how the English Press responded to a number of diffrent productions when Roy Hart first performed them for the English public:-"VERSATILE VOICE"
"But brilliant though the presentation was (the composer conducted), the performance hinged absolutely, on the vocal versatility (and to a less extent the acting) of Roy Hart, described as reciter, but also a musician of astonishing range; from the highest piping treble to the richest bass, and one with, moreover, a capacity for producing chords with his voice.One wonders indeed if the work could by performed at all with out this remarkable personal tour de force which so captivated last night's audience."Ernist Bradbury, Yorkshire Post 26/6/69AND
"The King's part was sung and mimed, howled and squealed over a compass of some five octaves with astonishing virtuosity by that extardinary performer, Roy Hart, whom we last heard in the same hall a few months ago as the reciter of Henze's "Versuch uber Schweine." It is difficult to imagine that the work would haver any other protagonist. Those cracked and crazy extreem falsetto notes, wild glissandos and sudden moaning swoops into deep bass which are the result of the late Dr Alfred Wolfsohn's theories of vocal extension, have here at last found their perfect use."Desmond Shawe-Tailor, Sunday Times 27/4/69
AND
"The poem is declaimed by Roy Hart with orchestral accompaniment. Mr. Hart, a Wolfsohn disciple, ranged through the octaves (Wolfsohn advocated an eight-octaye range) in Sprechgesang. And sometimes achieved a kind of double-stopping. Moreover he mimed every word and phrase, mirroring his vocal line with large free gestures of the arms, twirling out a graphic representation of a world like wiederkehrend while he spoke it. It was an uninhibited, confident, astonishing performance."Andrew Porter, Financial Times 15/2/69
AND"The chief cause of the enthusiasm (by the public) was the narrator, Roy Hart, rather than the music. Mr. Hart "sings" over some four octaves (from the Queen of Night's heights to Sarastro's depths), and growls and whistles even further. His language, coupled with gestures, is remarkably expressive."Stanley Sadie, The Times 15/2/69
AND
"Track 4 (Soul Portrait) of the audio disc "Eight songs for a mad King" is the recording which best shows the genius of Roy Hart's voice"
Ralf Peters, Koln 12/05/08
AND FINALY HERE IS A PRESS REVIEW ON ONE OF THE RHT PRODUCTIONSBy Michael Billington
"Anyone who has faithfully studied the experimental theatre troupes whose work has been seen in London during the past two years must have been struck by one thing : the extent to which their methods and approach overlap. It is not immediately easy to tell whether this is because they are are worshippers at the same shrine. Artaud, or because they have independently arrived at similar conclusions about the theatre : either way the core of unity, under the surface variations, is fascinating to observe.
I have just seen, for instance, the Roy Hart Theatre (an English company based on Belsize Park) giving a single performance of their version of "The Bacchae" at The Place in Dukes Road. For the first half of the evening a group of 20 or more acted and reenacted a ritual of death and rebirth, conducted a series of musically accompanied. vocal experiments which produce some unearthly, marrow-freezing sounds and collectively demonstrated an extraordinary physical plasticity. Thus prepared, they launched into a non-realistic, almost impressionist version of Euripides's play (Dionysus, for instance, was represented by three actors and Agave by a man) in which they tried to communicate its meaning through the isolation of key lines and speeches and through the use of patterned sound and movement.
As an experiment it had a lot in common with Peter Brooke's Roundhouse version of The Tempest: the same exhaustive attention to a single phrase, the same emphasis on non-verbalized sound and the same attempt to mould a group into a single entity. It was, in fact, extremely impressive as a demonstration of disciplined communal theatre and such incidents as the death and rebirth ritual, with myriad hands fluttering like leaves in a breeze, were handled with delicate precision. My sole doubt is a familiar one: productions like this depend very heavily on a foreknowledge of the written text. We have, in fact, to rely on old fashioned, verbal theatre to tell us what a play is actually about and to provide us with the necessary background to enjoy experiments in psychodrama of this kind."