• MARGARETHE SIEMS:  Songs by Alabieff, Eckert, Proch & Johann Strauss;   Arias & Duets (w.Arányi, Zador & Förstel) from Guillaume Tell, Les Huguenots, Lakmé, Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor, Norma, Martha, Il Trovatore, Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aïda, Lucia, Dinorah, Norma, La Fille du Régiment, Martha, Lakmé, Mignon & Nozze;  w.Eva von der Osten & Minnie Nast:  Der Rosenkavalier - Excerpts, the latter being CREATOR Recordings.  (Germany) 2-Truesound Transfers 4002, recorded 1903-12, Dresden, Berlin & Prague.  Transfers by Christian Zwarg.   (V2494) 

"This glorious SIEMS program is the début issue of Christian Zwarg's new series featuring double CDs in handsome Digipak albums (no more brittle plastic cases nor dull black-and-white covers!).  As delighted as we all have been with previous Truesound offerings, this new format is sure to offer even greater satisfaction!" 

- J. R. Peters

 

 

"...an absolute revelation!   Here, the voice comes through with tonal sheen, passion and with more personality than any other transfers have been able to bring out.  Dynamics and agility are in better relief, as is a sensitivity I had always found lacking.  These transfers are absolutely miraculous, and I hope for more Truesound transfers."

 

- Davyd Booth, 

GREAT SINGERS REMEMBERED, 

WHYY - NPR

 

 

"What is certain is Siems' status as one of the finest coloraturas on record.  Take that echt coloratura show-piece, Proch's 'Variations'.  Her version is masterly in its technical security, but she goes further, impressing with a strong sense of musical personality and an ability to flaunt the florid writing like so much fashion jewelry...."

 

- George Hall,  

INTERNATIONAL CLASSICAL RECORD COLLECTOR, Winter, 1998

 

 

"Finest of all [in Les Huguenots] perhaps, is Margarethe Siems, the original Marschallin, whose version is easily the most elaborate but who sings with indolent grace and effortless bravura.  When this is allied to a meticulous attention to dynamic markings, it has the expansiveness and grandeur of style that this music requires." 

 

- Vivian A. Liff, 

IL CORRIERE DELLA GRISI, 

9 Sept., 2008

 

 

• ARTURO TOSCANINI Cond. NYPO & New York Schola Cantorum, w.ELISABETH RETHBERG & FRIEDRICH SCHORR:  EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM, Live Performance, 10 March, 1935;  TOSCANINI Cond. NBC S.O.:  Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Handel - American premiere performance, 7 Jan., 1939;  TOSCANINI Cond. Lucerne Festival Orch., w.VLADIMIR HOROWITZ:  Concerto #2 in B-flat - Live  Performance, 29 Aug., 1939 (all Brahms);  Interviews with Ian Carson & Manoug Parikian.  (Canada) 2-Immortal Performances 1068, with 1935 broadcast commentary by Davidson Taylor. (C1487) 

"It would not be easy to overpraise the interpretation of Brahms' REQUIEM given last night by Arturo Toscanini and the Chorus of the Schola Cantorum, with Elisabeth Rethberg and Friedrich Schorr as assisting artists, in Carnegie Hall....when one recovered from the music to remember any interpreter, it was with admiration for his inspired and heroic achievement."

 

- Olin Downes, 

THE NEW YORK TIMES, 11 March, 1935

 

 

"The Brahms REQUIEM (sung in German) here is a great gift to the world.  Authorized by the Toscanini Estate to issue this vitally important historical performance, the folks at Immortal Performances have done sterling work in presenting it in eminently listenable sound, and offering the ideal complement to the previous Toscanini/Brahms set (IP 1025 [C1077]).

 

After a very atmospheric introduction by Davidson Taylor to this broadcast performance of Brahms' EIN DEUTSCHES REQUIEM, Toscanini directs a beautifully sculpted performance of the first movement.  In the accompanying booklet, Richard Caniell goes into some detail about the difficulties presented in the transfer of this performance;  given this background, the arrival here of this REQUIEM is nothing short of a minor miracle.  In terms of what we get, the detail is astonishing, particularly in the lower registers, while the chorus is extremely well balanced with no loss of soprano tone as the pitch rises.  The second movement ('Denn alles Fleisch') is markedly slow, almost as if dragging its feet, a sense of ominous dread throughout;  the entry of the chorus is the perfect prolongation of the orchestra.  One of the great worries in any historical recording is whether the sound will take the heaven-storming climaxes of the second movement;  it does, despite the inevitable intrusion of some surface noise.  The sudden 'Aber des Herrn Wort' is phenomenally effective.

 

Schorr's 'Herr, lehre doch mich'is absolutely laden with sadness.  His voice has great presence (the tessitura does sound rather high for him, though).  Toscanini's grasp of the emotive power of this movement is miraculous.  Certainly, there are challenges - plummy pizzicato lower strings, and the last choral section is rather overshadowed by the rolling timpani - but nowhere is the integrity and sheer heft of the performance compromised.  Schorr's return later in the piece is even finer, imperious and almost triumphalist.

 

Schorr's companion is the great Elisabeth Rethberg, magnificent in her first angelic phrase ('Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit') a moment that alone is worth the price of the set.  Rethberg provides incomparable singing that needs to be heard.

 

It is the apocalyptic nature of 'Tod wo ist dein Stachel?', defiant and full of drama, that seems to sum up Toscanini's Brahms REQUIEM, and his excellent chorus does not let him down.  It is apocalyptic in feel;  the final movement is astonishing in its power, and I can think of no higher praise for the restoration than to state that one has to concentrate on the background swish to find it.  This is more than an indispensible supplement to Toscanini's 1943 recording with the NBC Symphony and Westminster Choir (soloists Vivian Della Chiesa and Herbert Janssen, on Guild and Naxos Historical and performed, one should add, in English).

 

About the Brahms-Rubbra Variations on a Theme by Handel:  this is the American premiere of the Rubbra orchestration.  The theme is heard cleanly;  but already in Variation I Rubbra begins to add in his own accent.  Yet Variation VIII sounds like pure Brahms in orchestral mode, the Brahms of the granitic First Symphony specifically.  The woodwinds in particular are in fabulous form throughout, and Variation VII furnishes a great example of their prowess.  Amazingly, one can hear the subterranean double basses of Variation X perfectly well, just as one can appreciate the terrific fleetness (and even happiness) in Variation XIV.  There is sheer magic to Variation XXII, where we can hear through the years Rubbra's impeccable grasp of the orchestra, while the recording provides a terrific, snappy presence to the pizzicato strings of Variation XXIII.  The accuracy and vigor of the (arco) strings in Variation XXVI is part of the essential lead-in to the work's blazing final pages (the closing fugue).  Toscanini's vision over the course of these 26 variations is little short of magnificent.

 

The Brahms First Concerto with Horowitz from 1935 had been included in a previous Brahms set by this company (IP 1025).  Here is a rare outing for a Lucerne performance of the Second Piano Concerto;  the orchestra, we are told, included both Adolf and Hermann Busch.  Yes, the recording balance is skewed at the opening (the solo horn could be a distant alphorn, the piano right up close and personal), but who would want to lose out on the magnificent sweep of Horowitz's playing?  The variety of tone and dynamic is remarkable, and how wonderful that the recording allows us to appreciate this vital facet of his playing.  Horowitz and Toscanini are very much on the same page throughout;  the blazing final pages of the first movement are testament to that alone.  The orchestral intensity in the second movement is simply remarkable, matched by Toscanini's magnificent touch;  we hear the imposing resonance of the piano bass register too, as the movement hurtles towards a close.  The slow movement flows beautifully, with Caniell's restoration bringing a beautiful sense of presence (the recording notes speak of a shift from first to second balcony perspective over the course of the piece, which he has worked to correct as far as humanly possible).  Horowitz's gossamer touch is more than adequately caught at the finale's opening, as is the magnificent nature of his staccato and the fury of his outbursts.  Some readers might know the Horowitz/Toscanini October 1948 performance in clearer sound on Music & Arts (1077), but the present performance has a special quality that shines through the sonics.

 

While many companies might have issued this as a stand-alone REQUIEM, all credit to Immortal Performances for providing such fertile couplings.  The rarity of the Brahms/Rubbra is particularly noteworthy.  The set rounds off with a brief nine-minute conversation between producer Ian Carson and the leader of the Philharmonia Orchestra (London), Manoug Parikian, on Toscanini's Brahms in London.  We learn Toscanini spent more time on the Third Symphony than any of the others, and about his insistence on clarity in it;  and that the Second Symphony had the least rehearsal ('it plays itself').  Obviously the famous temperament has to be asked about, but no:  'a wonderful, mellowed old man'.  It was the intensity that was there in spades.  Finally, this also shows how the studio recordings do not represent Toscanini at his finest.  Fascinating."

 

- Colin Clarke, FANFARE, Nov./Dec., 2016

 

"Arturo Toscanini's penultimate season as music director of the Philharmonic Symphony Society of New York, as it was then styled, included programming both substantial and unusual.  Despite the rigors of economic depression, a four-week Brahms cycle was presented in February and March, and, at the end of April, Beethoven's MISSA SOLEMNIS.  World renowned soloists graced the Carnegie Hall stage, and for the choral works the superb Schola Cantorum under the direction of Hugh Ross, then early in his lengthy and distinguished tenure.

 

Immortal Performances has previously issued the other items from the Brahms cycle (IPCD 1025 [C1077]).  The GERMAN REQUIEM here demands attentive listening and some few details must be taken on faith.  (The Brahms/Rubbra Variations are in good 1939 Studio 8H sound-better than many 8H offerings.)  That attention will be well repaid, for this REQUIEM performance is self-recommending:  it is, to my ear, the most compelling performance I have ever heard of a work which has been central to my listening repertory for over six decades.  This broadcast of Brahms' greatest choral work has never before been available on disc.  It is a premiere which is perhaps the jewel in the crown of releases from this label to honor the 150th anniversary of the conductor's birth.

 

No one expected this concert performance of the REQUIEM to be available for general hearing.  The Toscanini Estate consigned this item and many others to the Rodgers and Hammerstein Archives in New York City, and it had remained there for some time.  Caniell was able to persuade those responsible for the estate to consider restoration, but when he heard the transcription, it seemed an almost impossible undertaking.  Caniell has told me in correspondence that this restoration is the most difficult technical challenge he has had to date.  In addition to two full remasterings, I have been enabled to hear over a dozen samples of 'disaster' spots in the original.  In addition to the usual obstacles inherent in dealing with old broadcasts such as balance, drop out, and audio interference, this transcription was afflicted with a sizzling overlay as if a sonic frying were taking place.  The restoration process has overcome that to the point where we hear a realistic presentation of choral and orchestral tone.  To my ear, and I believe motivated listeners will agree with me, one can hear in this release a performance for the ages.

 

What do I mean by such an encomium?  I think it is generally agreed that probably the most important single characteristic of Toscanini's performing style is the almost unequalled intensity he brought to his music-making.  There are times when, to some, that intensity seems more than the music can bear.  In some works he strikes some listeners as too hard driving, and the complaint 'too fast' is leveled.  But, Toscanini was not always 'fast' and, in particular, was not always 'faster' in his late years.

 

What I sense in this 1935 concert performance is not whether it is fast or slow, but a sense often of time standing still - stasis in the most positive sense of the term - and then, at several points, of the great conductor letting go and releasing from his forces an incredible burst of energy.

 

Some conductors (Walter notably, and most effectively) emphasize the lyricism of the piece, particularly the first two sections.  Mengelberg is a bit less reserved than Walter, but essentially lyrical.  Kempe, with broader tempos, does not discount lyricism but is more rhapsodic at times.  Klemperer is a bit more granitic, as one would expect, but never slow, and thanks to his stern approach he is the only conductor I've heard to equal Toscanini in the big moments.

 

The first two sections are, quite simply, musically and dramatically overwhelming.  I have a mental image of Toscanini holding reins, holding back the inherent surge of the music.  Like a pressure cooker occasionally releasing steam he builds the first section to a climax, but then for 10 minutes deliberately understates the second movement - until he finally lets go and, even with the inherent sonic limitations, the top blows off, and those imaginary horses are in full gallop.  As with other great performers (in my personal pantheon, Callas, Busch, Szigeti, Schnabel, Furtwängler) what we hear in this Toscanini performance, as in so many of his greatest efforts, is an over-arching control of line, the sense that from the first notes, the conductor knew where he was headed."

 

- James Forrest, FANFARE, Nov./Dec., 2016

 

 

• PAUL PARAY Cond. Detroit S.O.:  Egmont - Overture;  Symphony #5 in c;  w.Jorge Bolet: Piano Concerto #4 in G (all Beethoven).  (Canada)  St Laurent Studio YSL T-391, Live Performance, 15 Sept., 1959.   Transfers by Yves St Laurent.   (C1482) 

"Jorge Bolet was a throwback to an earlier era.  The pianists he admired most were Hofmann, Rachmaninoff, and Cortot.  At his best, Bolet displayed an improvisatory freedom that sounded as if the music was being made up on the spot, but that never distorted the music beyond its structural boundaries." 

- Henry Fogel, FANFARE

 

 

"Throughout its history, treble clef graphic classical music developed in distinct national schools.  While European artists occasionally would entrain for Russia or set sail for the New World, most were content to remain nestled in their own culture.  Recently, though, that all changed.

 

Blame America as the catalyst.  At first, we were the poor stepchild, with no distinct heritage of our own.  But as repression and then genocide pushed European artists to emigrate to fill the vacuum among our wealthy but unenlightened masses, something new emerged - a multicultural force that blended together into a pluralism that gleamed brighter than any of its components....the very essence of refined French culture is in the Motor City, or at least it was from 1952 to 1963.  That's when the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (the 'DSO') led by Paul Paray recorded a legendary series of LPs with Mercury's 'Living Presence' label.

 

Paray established a solid reputation as a French conductor, heading orchestras in Lamoureux, Monte Carlo and Paris.  American guest stints led to his appointment as permanent conductor of the recently reorganized DSO.  Their very first records prove that he quickly forged the ensemble into a truly great orchestra and transformed its sound into a replica of those he had known in France.

 

It's especially remarkable that the fiercely proud French tradition should thrive in the heart of America, the very place where national trends became forsaken and assimilated.  After all, French culture is the most deeply chauvinistic of any, proudly defended to the death against the pollution of foreign influence.  Indeed, the most famous French music has a unique sound, often described as impressionistic, much like the paintings of Monet and Renoir.  It's a valid analogy.  Like that art, French impressionist music is concerned more with color effects than formal structure, as sensual melodies briefly appear before flitting away.  While the overall effect is of subtle, blended mist, the sound is achieved through a layering of distinct instruments, much as in a Seraut painting in which the pastel atmosphere arises from dots of intense color.  That's what Paray gives us - not a sonic blur but precise dabs of bold instrumental coloration.  Just as brushstrokes are carefully placed, the DSO's rhythm and articulation of individual notes are always precise and luminously clear.

 

Naturally, Paray brought an appropriate Gallic touch to the great French repertoire.  His Debussy, Ravel, Chabrier and Roussel are magnificent, beautifully capturing their elegance with a self-effacing confidence.  The DSO complements Paray's approach with superb playing, each instrument gleaming with individual pride yet prefectly nestled in the ensemble.  Paray also produced unusually polished and convincing readings of overtures and light pieces, according them a respect usually reserved for more challenging music....He works similar wonders with Rachmaninov, Sibelius and even Wagner, the epitome of German music and about as far from the French aesthetic as possible.

 

Paray brought to all his work the highest achievement in any art, whether acting, painting or music - from careful preparation, constant revision and grueling work emerges something natural, accessible and inviting.  And through this process, Paray created and preserved an island of his native land in a most unlikely place, as distant geographically and culturally as could be.  His DSO records prove his undeniable success."

 

- Peter Gutmann, classicalnotes.net

 

 

• GEORGE SZELL Cond. Cleveland Orch.:  Symphony #4 in  B-flat (Beethoven), recorded 22 April, 1947;   Symphony in d (Franck), Live Performance, 14 Aug., 1969, Blossom Music Festival.  (Canada)  St Laurent Studio YSL 78-394.  Transfers by Yves St Laurent.   (C1483)

"It must be remembered that when George Szell came to prominence in the United States in the mid 1940s (and his mid-forties) he was a highly respected conductor and musician in Europe. He had a very solid grip on his repertoire which soon expanded to new works which he was debuting and championing. However, all that most music lovers around the world today know about Szell's artistry they have divined from the recordings made by Columbia in Cleveland from the late 1940s on. In an interview with Szell as an intermission feature in one of the weekly broadcast concerts, he stated that Columbia allowed him to record items that he requested only if they were not in conflict with Ormandy or Bernstein. Those he did make revealed meticulously prepared performances which could be misinterpreted as somewhat objective. The lean balances of those LPs and then CDs only reinforced that impression."

 

- Bruce Surtees

 

 

"Part of the wave of great Hungarian conductors who took over American musical life just before and after World War II - the others included Fritz Reiner, Antal Doráti, and Eugene Ormandy - George Szell quickly transformed a middling Midwestern orchestra into one of the nation's 'Big Five'.  His cultivation of the Cleveland Orchestra set an example of discipline and hard work that gradually helped raise the standards of orchestras across America.

 

Szell was a wunderkind, playing a Mozart piano concerto with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra when he was ten, and composing a number of solid chamber and orchestral works in a lush, late Romantic style as a child and teenager.  He was 17 when he conducted the Berlin Philharmonic in a program that included one of his own compositions.

 

Despite these early successes, Szell rose through the conducting ranks in the traditional way of the period, with a series of opera positions:  Royal Opera of Berlin (1915-1917), Strasbourg (1917-1918), Prague (1919-1921), Darmstadt (1921-1922), and Düsseldorf (1922-1924).  Szell's first prestigious post came to him in 1924, when he was named first conductor of the Berlin State Opera;  he simultaneously served as a professor at Berlin's Hochschule für Musik.  In 1929, he moved on to become general music director of the German Opera and Philharmonic in Prague, where he remained until 1937.

 

Szell began focusing more on orchestral repertory in the 1930s;  he made his U.S. début as guest conductor of the St. Louis Symphony in 1930, and in 1937 he was appointed conductor of the Scottish Orchestra in Glasgow, while maintaining a steady relationship with the Residentie Orkest in The Hague.  Szell was in America in 1939 when war broke out in Europe; he remained in the U.S. through the war, first depending on guest engagements and then, in 1942, becoming a regular conductor at the Metropolitan Opera, where he was especially praised for his Wagner performances.  In 1946 Szell took American citizenship and became music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, a post he held for 24 years.  He was also the New York Philharmonic's music advisor and senior guest conductor during the last two years of his life.

 

Although Szell made recordings in Europe in the 1950s and 1960s for Decca, and in Cleveland at the end of his life for EMI, the bulk of his substantial discography was the result of his long collaboration with Columbia Records in Cleveland.  There, Szell had inherited an able but ordinary orchestra and, through sheer determination, molded it into one of America's finest.  A Szell performance was remarkable for its textural clarity, chamber-like balances, and precision of attack and release.  He drilled his orchestra mercilessly, even in works it had performed with him not long before.  Szell was particularly admired for his performances of Austro-Germanic classics from Haydn to Richard Strauss, his sharp renderings of works by a select group of twentieth century composers including Bartók, Prokofiev, Janácek, and Walton, and his idiomatic way with Dvorák.  Indeed, some collectors maintain that Szell's monaural, early 1950s recording of Dvorák's Eighth Symphony with the Concertgebouw Orchestra has never been equaled.  His treatment of French composers, on the other hand, was criticized for its lack of atmosphere, and detractors maintained that he achieved precision at the expense of emotional expression.  To those who demanded a warmer approach to his beloved Mozart, however, Szell is said to have retorted:  'One does not pour chocolate sauce over asparagus'."

 

- James Reel, allmusic.com

 

 

. . . REPEATED  FROM  THE RECENT PAST  . . .

 

 

• MADAME L'ARCHIDUC, recorded 1956, w. Cariven Cond. Claudine Collart, René Lenoty, Aimé Doniat, André Balbon, Gaston Rey & Freda Betti; LA FIFRE ENCHANTÉ, recorded 1958, w.Roger Ellis Cond. Nicole Broissin, Joseph Peyron, Claudine Collart, Aimé Doniat & Gilbert Moryn (both Offenbach; both Radio-Lille Ensemble). [Particularly memorable are the performances of the exquisite Nicole Broissin & Claudine Collart (the latter whom we recently lost on 15 March 2016), the inimitable Aimé Doniat and the delightful Joseph Peyron! Another irresistible charmer - among the very best in this series!] (France) 2-Malibran 801.   (OP3196) 

"MADAME L'ARCHIDUC is an opéra bouffe, or operetta in three acts, by Jacques Offenbach, with a French libretto by Albert Millaud first performed at the Bouffes-Parisiens (Salle Choiseul) in Paris in 1874. After a slow start MADAME L'ARCHIDUC had an opening run of 100 performances.  It was seen in Vienna in 1875 and London in 1876. Highlights of the score include the quartet in cod-English for the count, countess and young couple in Act 1, an 'alphabet' sextet for Marietta, Giletti and the conspirators in Act 2, and a polka for the arrival of the dragoons.

 

Presented for the first time in Paris at the Théātre des Bouffes Parisiens on 30 September, 1868, LA FIFRE ENCHANTÉ is an enchanting lyric comedy in one act.  Its hilarity and charm are infectious! Among Offenbach's finest creations!"

 

- Ned Ludd

 

"When Aimé Doniat left the Conservatoire (with a first Bassoon Prize), he was engaged in an orchestra. After only three months, and having made the acquaintance of a small traveling troupe, he was hired to accompany it during its tour in Algeria, and then joined with it in Marseilles. From there, he joined the National Radio. The Radio Orchestra and its chorus returned to Paris in March 1943. Doniat became a soloist and was frequently called upon to replace singers in lyrical performances on various Parisian and provincial scenes. As early as 1944, he decided to take a big risk and became soloist for the various radio programs: operettas, comic operas. His new activity also led him to participate in several casts in various operettas performed in concert halls.

 

Doniat worked extensively for Véga, Decca, RCA, Erato, Saphir, Le Chant du Monde, Musidisc, EMI, Pathé, Vox, Visadisc, Philips and recorded over 160 LPs. After the disappearance of the LP, more than fifty reissues were released before the end of the twentieth century, in discs, cassettes and compact discs. He won 10 Grands Prix du Disque. He sang Delmet, Botrel, Scotto, and many others.  He resurrected medieval songs.  He wrote lyrics on ancient mélodies he loved to discover. He translated into French the booklets of a few German-language operettas.

 

Beside his recordings, Aimé Doniat remained one of the essential pillars of the Lyric Service of the RTF, then of the ORTF. For many years, before the taste of the French public for classic lyric art faded, he recorded a dozen operettas a month (which left very little time for rehearsals) with Jany Sylvaire and Lina Dachary, his most faithful female partners, and under the direction in particular of Jules Gressier and Marcel Cariven. The number of these recordings was reduced to two per month during the last ten years of its life, as broadcasting programs had shrunk considerably on national radio. They were heard more on the Belgian and Swiss radio channels. Doniat taught singing for a long time on a private basis, for a few selected pupils, ultimately teaching at Versailles."

 

- Wikipedia

 

 

• IGNAZ PADEREWSKI:  Paderewski - The Complete Victor Recordings. incl.Couperin, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Liszt, Schubert, Schumann, Rubinstein, Rachmaninoff, Strauss-Tausig, Schelling, Stojowski & Paderewski;  plus 2 bonus tracks recorded 1941 of Paderewski's address on the occasion of his American début.  (England) 5-Appian APR 7505, recorded 1914-31.  Transfers by Mark Obert-Thorn.   (P1249) 

"83 tracks featuring works by Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Couperin, Debussy, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Rachmaninoff, Rubinstein, Schubert, Schumann, Strauss/Tausig, and works by Paderewski himself and two of his disciples, Ernest Schelling and Sigismund Stojowski. The set concludes with two bonus tracks recorded in 1941 of Paderewski's address on the occasion of the golden jubilee of his American debut.

 

Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941) must be counted as one of the most famous pianists who ever lived, and he was certainly the most financially successful, yet his recorded legacy has always been something of a puzzle. Paderewski was from a generation before these recorded pianists, such as Cortot, Hofmann, Rachmaninov & Schnabel, we now tend to think of as 'historical' and his playing style really does take us back to the 19th century. This indispensable set makes available for the first time every surviving matrix from his most prolific recording contract - that with the US Victor company. In conjunction with APR's earlier releases 'Paderewski - his earliest recordings' (APR6006) and 'Paderewski- his final recordings' (APR5636) there is now, at last, a complete Paderewski recorded edition."

 

- APR

 

 

• PILAR LORENGAR, w.Hertha Klust (Pf.), Rother, Liva & Fried Walter Cond.: Songs by Handel, Mozart, Milarte, Rodrigo, Nin, Daza, Bermudo, Narvàez, Vasquez, Mudarra, Milán, Pisador, Valderrábano, Lorca, Leoz, Guridi, Granados, Toldrà, Bellini, Verdi, etc.; Arias from Giulio Cesare, Pirro e Demetrio, Don Giovanni, Zauberflöte, Norma, Madama Butterfly, La Boheme, Turandot, Ernani & La Traviata. (Germany) 3-Audite 21.437, recorded 1959-62, Berlin, partially Live Performances.   (V2493) 

"Pilar Lorengar [1928-1996], the Spanish singer whose adopted home city was Berlin, especially owed her worldwide but unobtrusive fame to the operatic stage. She had one of the most beautiful voices heard in the post-war years: creamy-toned and perfectly placed, her voice remained firm and youthful in timbre for more than 30 years. She was famous for a repertoire ranging from the youthful heroines of Mozart, the youthful dramatic heroines of Verdi and Puccini to tragic girlish figures such as Tchaikovsky's Tatiana and Janácek's Jenufa. These three CDs of arias and Lieder contain sound documents from the singer's early Berlin years, in studio and live recordings made between 1959 and 1962.

 

Audite presents Lorengar from unusual perspectives, both in the field of opera and in Lieder.  She is not heard here in her established Mozart role of Donna Elvira, but as Donna Anna. In addition, she can be heard singing repertoire that was unusual for her: the prayer 'Casta Diva' from Bellini's NORMA, 'Piangerò la sorte mia' from Handel's GIULIO CESARE and a Handel cantata; an aria from a Scarlatti opera; Elvira's aria 'Ernani, involami' from the eponymous early Verdi opera and the role of Rosario from the opera GOYESCAS by Granados. This Mozart singer also reveals herself here to be an agreeable Lied singer.

 

The remaining two thirds of this anthology pays homage to the musical traditions of her homeland. As a young schoolgirl in Madrid, she acquired extensive experience in the music cafes and the zarzuela theatre. In the present release, she unfolds a panorama of Spanish music history extending over five centuries, ranging from the vocal art of the 16th- century vihuelistas to the folklore collections and adaptations of Federico García Lorca."

 

- Audite

 

"Lorengar had....a radiant voice, bewitchingly feminine stage presence, musicianship, and intelligence....The singing is beautiful, the artistry inviting....A first-rate...artist is at work."

 

- Michael Mark, 

AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, 

Sept./Oct., 2009

 

 

• JOSEF GINGOLD - Exclusive Interview with Kim Maerkl, preceded by Dvorák's 'Slavonic Fantasy'. Atlantic Crossing Records 0003.   (S0702) 

"Josef Gingold was a musician's musician and a violinist's violinist.... I would encourage everyone (not just violinists) to get these recordings and listen to them often. As far as I am concerned they represent the highest ideals of music-making, and they have much of what is so often missing in the playing of many high profile violinists today. One remarkable trait in Gingold's playing is his ability to sustain attention through very long phrases. Another is his ability to get the people he's playing with to rise to the occasion and think on the scale of the piece rather than simply on the scale of the passage, or even the phrase."

 

- Elaine Fine, AMERICAN RECORD GUIDE, Jan./Feb., 2012

 

 

• EUGEN ONÉGIN, Live Performance, 8 May, 1951, w.Khaikin Cond. Leningrad Maly Opera Ensemble; Ivan Alekseyev, Ivan Kozlovsky, Olga Kashevarova, Lyudmila Grudina, Sofia Preobrazhenskaya, Nikolai Konstantinov, etc. (Russia) 2-Aquarius AQVR 398 [The audience's wildly enthusiastic response is quite palpable, especially with Kozlovsky's initial appearance, briefly interrupting the stage action - not unlike the exciting response to Lemeshev in his live performance, OP2892! This performance is clearly another such 'event'!]   (OP3194) 

"This performance of Tchaikovsky's EUGEN ONÉGIN was performed during Ivan Kozlovsky's tour of Leningrad and the surrounding area in May 1951. This recording is from the performance on May 8th (He performed Faust on May 10th). This recording offers the first opportunity of hearing Kozlovsky in a live opera performance; (it wasn't until the 1970s that his concerts would be regularly recorded, although earlier concerts do exist in the GTRF archive). Like Lemeshev, it is a Leningrad performance of ONÉGIN which offers us the chance of hearing the role of Lensky sung by one of the Bolshoi's greatest exponents of the role (Lemeshev's performance from the Maly theatre from 28th December 1954 was released by Aquarius in 2013 [OP2892]). It is, incidently, a role which they would both record twice in the studio. Unfortunately there is no recorded performance of Kozlovsky, singing the role from the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in the archives. The role of Onégin is taken by the Kirov's (now Mariinsky) star baritone, Ivan Alekseev who had joined the Kirov in 1945. The roles of Onégin, the Demon, Yeletsky and Mazeppa counted amongst his greatest achievements on that stage. His distinctive lyric baritone can be heard in extracts of many of these on LP as well as Songs , Romances, and live performances of WERTHER, BORIS GODUNOV and THE DESTINY OF A MAN, etc. which been broadcast). Olga Afanasevna Kashevarova (Tatiana) was a lead singer at that theatre between 1931 and 1959. Her most famous portrayals were Tatiana, Natasha in RUSALKA, Masha in DUBROVSKY and Nastasya in ENCHANTRESS (for her performance of this role she was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1942). She can be heard in full recordings of THE MAID OF ORLEANS (Agnes) and THE DEMON (with Georg Ots). Lyudmila Grudina (Olga) was an excellent mezzo-soprano with sonorous low notes, a clean and warm tone, sincerity and a simplicity of acting on stage. She became a soloist at the Kirov from 1944, and for many years she performed both the dramatic roles as well as the smaller character parts. One of her best roles was that of Duenna in Prokofiev's opera BETROTHAL IN THE MONASTERY. Anna Filatovna Mankovskaya (Larina) was one of the leading mezzo-sopranos, along with Preobrazhenskaya and Welter, who were performing at the Kirov during this period. In 1930 she sang in Kiev and Sverdlovsk. Among her best roles were Carmen, Joan (MAID OF ORLEANS), Amneris and Catherine II in the opera CHRISTMAS EVE. "

 

- Mike Weston

 

 

"Ivan Kozlovsky was certainly one of the greatest tenors active in the USSR throughout the 1940s into the 1960s. Yet, despite his many performances at the Bolshoi, this is his only live performance to surface. His Lensky is a superb characterization, a personality of sensitivity and culture whose regret at the coming duel with Onégin is palpably and effectively communicated. Ivan Alexeyev's excellently characterized and beautifully-sung Onégin portrays the character's initial superficiality, which makes his remorse in the final scene all the more powerful....[Konstantinov's] performance [as Gremin] is one of the most enjoyable I have heard. His performance moves, musically and emotionally, to reflect the feelings of his character. Olga Kaskevarova's Tatiana reflects her years of experience with the role that is a richly-sung and intensely emotional performance. Her final duet with Alexeyev's Onégin is excellent.... Aquarius must have used master tapes or something close as the sound is clear and well-defined with no surface noise or distortion....Warmly recommended."

 

- William Russell, 

THE RECORD COLLECTOR, 2016

 

 

• IVAN KOZLOVSKY, w.Orlov Cond.;  Sakharov, Naum Walter & Nikitin (Pfs.):  Songs by Beethoven, Schubert & Liszt.  (Russia) Aquarius  AQVR 395, recorded 1945-59.  [A jewel of a recital, beautifully sung and fabulously well-recorded!]  (V2487) 

"What an extraordinary disc!  Kozlovsky's voice is for some listeners an acquired taste.  I have acquired it, and find it beautiful.  But reaction to voices is personal, and some listeners find it rather white in tone.  What is inarguable is his remarkable control of dynamics, astonishing imagination in shaping phrases, and his innate feel for different musical styles.  Even singing in Russian, his Verdi sounds exactly as Verdi should, his Faust [OP0164] is impeccably stylish, and for the most part his Lieder is sung with extraordinary sensitivity.  He uses the whole dynamic range between the extremes of pianissimo and fortissimo with great subtlety.  He could spin a cantabile line in a way equaled by few, his intonation was impeccable, and he could vary the color of his timbre to reflect the dramatic situation being depicted by the music.  Nothing here is sung without thought or imagination, and throughout one is struck by the singer's tonal imagination.  Anyone who is seriously interested in the vocal arts should have this quite extraordinary recording."

 

- Henry Fogel, FANFARE

 

 

• LA PRINCESSE DE TRÉZIBONDE, recorded 1966, w. Cariven Cond. Lina Dachary, Joseph Peyron, Nicole Briard, Gaston Rey, René Lenoty, Aimé Doniat, Raymond Amade, Robert Destain, Germaine Duclos, etc.;  MONSIEUR CHOUFLEURI, recorded 8 March, 1963, w.Blareau Cond. Michel Sénéchal, André Balbon, Line Clément, Mathilde Casadesus, Renée Dennsy, Toinou Coste, Gérard Chapuis, etc. (both Offenbach).  [Particularlty memorable are the performances of the exquisite and inimitable Aimé Doniat and the delightful Joseph Peyron!  An irresistible offering!]  (France) 2-Malibran 794.   (OP3195) 

"Jacques Offenbach's LA PRINCESSE DE TRÉBIZONDE premiered in 1869 in the fashionable spa town of Baden Baden in their wonderfully opulent glitter-and-gold theater that's like a miniature version of the Paris Opéra.  The show set in a 19th century amusement park in Paris, where Zanetta, the daughter of an actor, turns herself into a wax figure and becomes the 'Princess of Trébizonde' who is lucky enough to win the heart of a real prince and a ticket to live in a real palace, was conducted by Offenbach himself at the world-premiere in the summer of 1869.  In December of that year, Offenbach presented the work in a slightly adapted version at his theater, the Bouffes-Parisiens.  There, it was seen again in 1871, 1875 and 1876.  In 1888 it was also presented at the larger Théâtre des Variétés.  And though reviews were excellent, the title disappeared from the operetta repertoire after that, though there had been international performances in Bruxelles, London, Madrid and Copenhagen in 1870.  A year later, the work was seen in Naples, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Stockholm, Prague and Berlin."

 

- Kevin Clarke, Operetta Research Center,

 20 March, 2015

 

"M. CHOUFLEURI RESTERA CHEZ LUI LE... (Mr. Cauliflower will be at home on... ) is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, in one act by Jacques Offenbach.  The plot provided many opportunities for Offenbach to indulge in his lighthearted musical parodies of well-known opera melodies and formulas, especially a grand trio in which Italian belcanto is imitated and a comic solo for the manservant.  Also, the young lovers secretly communicate using musical quotes.

 

M. CHOUFLEURI was first performed privately at the Présidence du Corps Légistlatif, Palais Bourbon, Paris on 31 May 1861 in the presence of Napoléon III.  The first public performance was given at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens, Paris on 14 September 1861.

 

 

• SERGE KOUSSEVITZKY Cond. Boston S.O., w. ALEXANDER BRAILOWSKY: Piano Concerto #2 in c (Rachmaninoff), Live Performance, 27 Oct., 1945; w.ROBERT CASADESUS: 'Coronation' Concerto #26 in D, K.537 (Mozart), Live Performance, 3 March, 1945 (both Symphony Hall). (Canada) St Laurent Studio YSL 78-395. Transfers by Yves St Laurent.   (C1481) 

"Critic Virgil Thomson once referred to Russian pianist Alexander Brailowsky (1896-1976) as 'an honest virtuoso'. Alexander Brailowsky, at the age of eight, became a student in the Conservatory of Kiev. Later, in 1911, he went to Vienna to study with Leschetizky, but the beginning of World War I caused him to reside in Switzerland. After the war, Brailowsky made his Paris début in 1924, playing a complete cycle of the works of Chopin. This series included two sonatas, eleven polonaises, four scherzi, three impromptus, nineteen nocturnes, twenty-five preludes, twenty-seven etudes, and fifty-one mazurkas. This performance was repeated three times in Brussels, Zürich, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and other principal cities. A successful tour of all the principal cities of the world was then made.

 

On 19 November, 1924, he made his American début in Aeolian Hall, New York. Brailowsky received an excellent review by the noted Olin Downes, music critic of The New York Times. On 31 October, 1938, he was soloist with the Pasdeloup Orchestra of Paris where he played the Chopin e minor Concerto and the Mendelssohn g minor Concerto, and he received a stupendous applause for his interpretation of the two concerti.

 

Appearances as soloist were made with major symphony orchestras and his interpretations of the works of Chopin brought him world-wide acclaim. Brailowsky was noted for his large repertory and he recorded for Victor the works of Chopin, Beethoven, Mendlessohn, Scarlatti, Schumann, and others. His recordings for Victor were numerous and used by students as examples of performances of the Chopin works. During a series of nineteen recitals in Buenos Aires, he never repeated a single work."

 

-   Gary Lemco, 

Audiophile Audition, 30 July, 2014

 

"Robert Casadesus was the quintessential French musician, a passionate perfectionist who carried the Gallic virtues of precision, clarity, and elegance into the mid-twentieth century as an embodiment of the living spirit of classicism -- precision animated by passion, clarity attained through sensuous scintillance, and elegance as the expression of the most lucidly aware animation. Born in Paris to a distinguished family of musicians - his father and three uncles enjoyed careers as performers and composers - Robert took first prize for piano at the Paris Conservatoire at age 14. Studies with Louis Diémer - early enthusiast of the French clavicenistes, premiere soloist and dedicatée of Franck's 'Variations symphoniques for piano and orchestra' - graced Casadesus with the mantle of the inheritor. In 1921 he married fellow Diémer pupil Gabrielle (Gaby) L'Hōte. The following year he earned Ravel's friendship with his performance of 'Gaspard de la nuit', which led to European tours with the composer and legendary soprano Madeleine Grey. 'You are a composer', Ravel wrote, 'because you have the courage to play 'Gibet' as I imagined it, that is, as a slow piece...And virtuoso pianists do not want to play it like that. They double the tempo and make it much faster. That is why I think you are a composer'. Indeed, Casadesus' catalogue eventually embraced some 68 works, including seven symphonies, concerti for two and three pianos and orchestra, 27 chamber works, and 20 works for piano. It is music for connoisseurs, music of formal concision not devoid of passionate expression, but highly wrought, suggestive, and understated in, typically, lyrically attenuated slow movements, tender and strange, and conclusions of fastidious tumult. It is the antithesis of Mahler's confessional expansiveness, while Stravinsky's neo-Classical manner seems gimmicky and carnivalesque by comparison. Casadesus was a distinguished teacher, beginning his career as professor of piano at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau in 1921, and replacing Isidor Philipp as its head in 1935. But it is primarily as a touring pianist and recording artist that Casadesus is remembered, appearing throughout Europe and the United States over 2,000 times in a career spanning half a century, often in duo-piano recitals with his wife. His authoritative, exhilarating recordings of the Mozart piano concerti with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, the Beethoven violin sonatas and the Franck Sonata with Zino Francescatti, Franck's 'Variations symphoniques'' and d'Indy's 'Symphonie cévenole' (Symphonie sur un chant montagnard français) with Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the piano works of Ravel - to name but the most prominent - are among the very greatest."

 

- Adrian Corleonis, allmusic.com

 

 

• DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, Live Performance, 1961, w.Kempe Cond. Bayreuth Festival Ensemble; Jerome Hines (Wotan), Birgit Nilsson (Brünnhilde), Hans Hopf (Siegfried), Regine Crespin (Sieglinde / Third Norn), Fritz Uhl (Siegmund), Otakar Kraus (Alberich), James Milligan (Der Wanderer), Regina Resnik (Fricka), Gottlob Frick (Hagen/Hunding), Gerhard Stolze (Loge), Thomas Stewart (Donner/Gunther), David Ward (Fasolt), Peter Roth-Ehrang (Fafner), Herold Kraus (Mime), Wilma Schmidt (Freia/Ortlinde/Gutrune), Marga Höffgen (Erda), Ingeborg Felderer (Woglinde/Helmwige/Waldvogel), Elisabeth Steiner (Wellgunde/Grimgerde), Elisabeth Schärtel (Flosshilde / Waltraute), Lilo Brockhaus (Schwertleite), Ruth Hesse (Rossweisse) & Gertraud Hopf (Gerhilde). (Germany) 13-Orfeo C 928 613Y.   (OP3190) 

"Richard Wagner's RING was performed in the highly reduced version by Wieland Wagner at the eight Bayreuth festivals since the re-opening of the theatre in 1951. However, by 1960 it seemed that the time had come for a new production, a task placed in the hands of Wieland's brother Wolfgang, whilst direction of the production was given to the then 48-year-old conductor Rudolf Kempe. The reaction to the refreshingly new musical portrayal of the Bayreuth debutant from Saxony was unanimously positive and remained so for the five years that Kempe conducted the orchestra; indeed, the impression was retrospectively reinforced (one critic many years later compiled a now famous, comprehensive and comparative discography, citing a recording of Kempe's Bayreuth RING as the best recording ever). Originally trained as an oboist, the Dresden-born Kempe began conducting in the 1930s and after the war became director of the Dresden, and then of the Bavarian state opera companies. In the course of the 1950s he enjoyed great success as a guest conductor at London's Covent Garden (including Wagner's RING), and in 1961, the second year he conducted the RING in Bayreuth, he assumed direction of the Royal Philharmonic. This recording, available for the first time, has been remastered from the original tapes of the Bavarian Broadcasting Company. What makes this release so unique is its cast, many of whom can be heard giving their débuts at Bayreuth."

 

- Orfeo

 

 

• LE TRILLE UN ART PERDU (The Lost Art of the Trill), incl. Plançon, Escalaïs, Devriès, Dalmorès, Jadlowker, Abendroth, Sembrich, Schumann-Heink, Onégin, Schumann, Siems, Kurz, Patti, Butt, Ponselle, Caruso, Willer, Abendroth, Lemnitz, Leider, Lubin, Ritter-Ciampi, Schmidt & Ludwig Weber. [A delightful treat for canary fanciers!] (France) Malibran AMR 123.  (V2490) 

"Lovers of opera of a certain age will always tend to lament 'One no longer sings as before', and they will always be right. The art of singing is constantly evolving. Now that we have a century of recording history, we are in a position to judge how techniques and styles have changed during this period, and how certain vocal skills have been lost or recovered.

 

The simple volume needed to be heard over the heavy orchestration of Wagner and his followers made it difficult for the singers to retain the vocal flexibility required by a good trill. But it was with the arrival of verismo at the end of the nineteenth century that the trill came to be regarded as artificial and anachronistic. Puccini in MANON LESCAUT and Strauss in ARIADNE AUF NAXOS use the trill as a form of local color to evoke the atmosphere of the eighteenth century precisely because of its archaic and artificial connotations. As composers' expectations decreased in trills, vocal skills also declined.

 

In the 1940s, the trillium had become the almost exclusive property of specialized coloratura sopranos. Now that so many other bel canto skills have been reconquered, it is time for modern singers to start listening to these old recordings and become seriously involved!"

 

- Patrick Bade

 

• EARLY 20th CENTURY SINGERS  (Nicholas E. Limansky).   New York, YBK Publishers, 2016.  284pp.   (Pictorial thick paper covers)   (B1864) 

"This is genuinely valuable and thought-provoking writing....Large parts [of this book] are like a friendly, discursive chat to a youngster by a long-time collector in a reminiscent mood;  others contain hard, detailed analysis which can be genuinely illuminating....but whichever aspect appeals to you most, you will find enjoyment and food for thought [in this], rather a curate's egg of a book."

 

- Paul Steinson, 

THE RECORD COLLECTOR, 2016