Re: Historic vs. New Recordings (was: Massenet - Werther)

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (HenryFogel) wrote in message 

<snip>
> 
> Otello (Del Monaco, Vickers, and Domingo, in my opinon, surpass the one early
> commercial recording with Fusati. I am counting only commercial recordings.
> Once we get into broadcasts and live performances, things start getting murky).

So do recordings themselves! Regarding Nicola Fusati, the tenor who
sings Otello in the first 78rpm recording of the work -- and I agree
with you about the "three tenors'" being superior to him! -- Herman
Klein (1856-1934) offered a different opinion upon reviewing that
78rpm set when it was new: "How it has been managed I cannot say, but
the tenor, Fusati, has unquestionably contrived to achieve the finest
imitation of the voice and manner of Tamagno that I have yet heard.
Nature and art alike have assisted him in the process, for he must be
a great deal too young to have ever listened to the famous tenore
robusto _in propria persona_, and I doubt whether the latter's few
pre-electric records would have enabled him to do the trick. Anyhow,
he revives the great Otello with amazing fidelity, and that is good
enough for me." (in: _Herman Klein and the Gramophone_, Portland OR:
Amadeus Press, 1990, ISBN 0-931340-18-7, p.542. The article comes from
an article for that magazine that appeared in 1932.)

Despite the fact that, for me, the above statement from Klein
stretches credulity, this volume is essential reading for anyone
interested in now-historic recordings of operatic singing. --E.A.C.


<snip>


> Carmen - these waters are too murky, with all the different editions of the
> score that are available. I have a quirky preference for Callas's set - but
> others will no doubt find that an intolerable point of view.

I still go with the 1950 Columbia recording (mono) cond. André
Cluytens (reissued by EMI and also by Pearl), starring Solange Michel
in the title-role and presenting the work in its original
Opéra-Comique version. I have heard only one stereo set of this
version of the opera (also EMI, cond. Frühbeck de Burgos, with Bumbry
and Vickers), and I can live with it, but the mostly non-francophone
cast makes strange sounds at times, and the Oeser edition of the score
includes textual variants that I find unacceptable.

--E.A.C.