July: Featured Classic Music

Giovanni Martinelli
B0120. Paolo Padoan & Maurizio Tiberi. Giovanni Martinelli, un leone al Metropolitan – A Biography. Roma, TIMA Club, 2007. 495pp. Index; Exhaustive Chronology; Discography; Repertoire; over 300 Photos, many never before in print; Illustrated with concert & opera program reproductions, newspaper articles & reviews, plus Vitaphone, Victor & Lucky Strike advertisements. Accompanied by 2 Martinelli CDs incl. rare & Unpublished recordings (among which are a Met Opera Guild performance (w.Elmo & Lazzari) of 18 March, 1949, plus other private recordings [featuring Martinelli’s final stage appearance as Altoum in Turandot, 31 Jan., 1967, Seattle]), plus Interview with Martinelli. (Italian Text) Newly Published. (Pictorial thick paper covers) $125.00, the 495pp. book with 2 CDs.

Madama Butterfly
OP1532. Live Performance, 2 May, 1957, w.Kempe Cond. Royal Opera House Ensemble; Victoria de los Angeles, John Lanigan, Geraint Evans, Barbara Howitt, Michael Langdon, etc. (England) 2-Royal Opera House Heritage ROHS006. Slipcase Edition. Specially priced at $34.90, the Set.

“…Mme de los Angeles certainly grew in confidence as she grew in stature [throughout the opera].…Her typically ‘instrumental’ purity of timbre, so surely controlled, implied the right virginal simplicity, and the radiant confidence of ‘Un bel dì’ very properly won an ovation. Her tone clove the orchestra at its loudest without apparent effort, never straining, always rich and cherished. Even at the climax she was perfectly in command of her resources….Rudolf Kempe’s handling of the orchestra was masterly, in some ways the finest performance of the evening….”

- John Warrack, OPERA, June, 1957

Don Giovanni
OP1533. Live Performance, 19 Feb., 1962, w.Solti Cond. Royal Opera House Ensemble; Cesare Siepi, Geraint Evans, Leyla Gencer, Sena Jurinac, Mirella Freni, Richard Lewis, David Ward & Robert Savoie. (England) 3-Royal Opera House Heritage ROHS007. Slipcase Edition. Specially priced at $49.90, the Set.

“Musically, Mr Solti’s reading was at one with the producer. His was a frankly romantic and dramatic approach – and yet the exquisite details and charm were there too….Siepi’s Don [is] a role he has made his own, and one in which he succeeds in lightning his bass voice most successfully….Geraint Evans’ mastery of the stage increases at every performance….Leyla Gencer’s exquisite singing of ‘Non mi dir’ was a highlight ….she is a fine artist, with a most beautiful middle register, and she can produce the most ravishing pianissimos. Mirella Freni’s Zerlina was as perfect an interpretation in every respect as one could wish for….Sena Jurinac’s Elvira is an old friend….”

- Harold Rosenthal, OPERA, April, 1962

Vocal Record Collectors' Society – 2006
V1181. Vocal Record Collectors' Society – 2006 (50th Anniversary) Double Issue, incl. Jane Cros (Tannhäuser - Dich, teure Halle); Forrest Lamont (Cavalleria Rusticana - Siciliana); Laura del Lungo (Mignon - Elle est là…Elle est aimée); Alexis Boyer (Le Maître de Chapelle - Pour imiter ton charme séducteur); Bertha Kalich (Sappho - Matouschka Golobouschka (Mother dearest) [J. Gordon]); Johannes Sembach (Frühlingszeit [Becker]); Ebe Boccolini (La Wally - Ebben, ne andró lontana); Erich Bye (Tannhauser - O du mein holder Abendstern); Lily Dupré (Les Huguenots -Au beau pays de la Touraine); Kapiton Denisovich Zaporozhets (Song of the Flea [Moussorgsky]); Jane Bourguignon (Sapho - O ma lyre immortelle); Lambert Murphy (Boat Song [Ware]; Livine Mertens (Roméo et Juliette - Que fais-tu, blanche tourterelle?); Carlo Morelli (Il Trovatore - Il balen); Helen Gahagan Douglas (Tosca - Vissi d’arte [Unpublished Victor (mx T-1020-1)]); Margherita Carosio (I Pastori [Pizzetti]); Elsa Alsen (Tristan und Isolde - Liebestod); Fernando Autori (L’Amore dei Tre Re - Italia, Italia e tutto il mio ricordo!); Maria de Macchi (Lucrezia Borgia - Come è bello); Regina Pinkert (La Perle du Brésil - Charmant oiseau); Mario Laurenti (Hérodiade -Salomé! demande au prisonnier); Ellison van Hoose (O come with me in the summer night [van der Stucken]); Evgeniya Ivanova Zbruyeva (A broken vase [Arensky]); Jean Vallier (Le rêve passé [Helmer - Krier]); Tina Desana (Ruy Blas - O madre mia dall’intimo [Marchetti]; Fernando Carpi (Mefistofele - Giunto sul passo estremo); Rosina Buckman & Walter Hyde (O lovely night [Ronald]); Jeanne Korolewicz-Wayda (Lohengrin - Euch Lüften, die mein Klagen); Marie Delna (Le Prophète - Ah! mon fils!); Virgilio Lazzari (Ernani - Infelice! e tuo credevi); Hipolito Lázaro (Maria La Tempranica - Romanza de Miguel [Torroba]); Magda Spiegel (Rienzi – Gerechter Gott! In seiner Blüthe bleicht mein Leben); Charles Soix (Le petit Grégoire [Botrel]); Theo Beets (La Juive - Rachel, quand du Seigneur); Yvonne Brothier (Manon Lescaut - C’est l’histoire amoureuse (L’Éclat de rire) [Auber]); Vera Schwarz (Der Widerspenstigen Zähmung - Die Kraft versagt [Goetz]); Hjördis Schymberg (Si J’étais Roi - Des souverains du rivage); Herbert Witherspoon (By the Short Cut to the Rosses; Black Sheela of the silver eye [both old airs]; Reinald Werrenrath (Special Holiday Greetings Record, Victor “Personal Record” (mx C-28896-3), recorded 15 Nov., 1923). 2-VRCS-2006. Transfers by Seth B. Winner. $39.90, the Set.