San Francisco Opera Gems: Volume 2
CD 1
Jacques François
HALÉVY (1799-1862)
La Juive, Act 2 complete.
Rachel, Elisabeth Rethberg (sop); Eleazer,
Giovanni Martinelli (ten)
Conducted by Gaetano Merola. Recorded
October 30th 1936
Richard WAGNER
(1813-1883)
Die Walküre, Act
3 scene 3
Wotan, Friedrich Schorr (bar); Brünnhilde,
Kirsten Flagstad (sop)
Conducted by Gaetano Merola. Recorded
November 1936
CD 2
Umberto
GIORDANO (1867-1948)
Andrea Chenier, Act
1 scene
Chenier, Beniamino Gigli (ten); Madeleine,
Elisabeth Rethberg (sop)
Conducted by Gaetano Merola. Recorded
October 7th 1938
Ruggero LEONCAVALLO
(1858-1919)
Pagliacci
Nedda, Licia Albanese (sop); Canio.
Raoul Jobin (ten); Tonio, Francesco
Valentino (bar); Silvio, Mack Harrell
(bar); Beppe, Alessio de Paolis (ten)
Conducted by Gaetano Merola. Recorded
October 7th 1945
CD 3
Georges BIZET
(1838-1870)
Carmen, excerpts
Carmen, Risë Stevens (mez); Don
Jose, Charles Kullman (ten); Micaëla,
Eleanor Steber (sop)
Conducted by Georges Sebastian. Recorded
October 21st 1945
Richard STRAUSS
(1864-1949)
Der Rosenkavalier, Act
3 complete
Marschallin, Lotte Lehmann (sop); Octavian,
Risë Stevens (mez); Sophie, Nadine
Conner (sop); Baron Ochs, Lorenzo Alvary
(bass)
Conducted by Georges Sebastian. Recorded
October 18th 1945
Chorus and Orchestra of the Opera House,
San Francisco
One thing that I’ve
learned from Guild’s series of discs
devoted to off-air performances is just
how unusual Raoul Jobin was in having
his performances privately recorded.
His I Pagliacci, from 1945, survives
because a San Francisco studio preserved
Act I on acetate discs and Jobin authorised
other such private recordings, some
of which Guild has utilised in the past.
Commonplace later or now perhaps, and
easy to do; but then troublesome and
compromised by all manner of potential
problems, seldom of abiding interest
to the musicians themselves – and not
cheap.
Which brings us to
a central consideration regarding Volume
2 of this San Franciscan operatic odyssey
– the sound (we shall leave the issue
of snippets and segments to later).
Sound quality ranges from fine to just
bearable and most stops in between.
Listeners should know that there are
a number of imperfections inherent in
the recorded mediums, including some
necessary patching, though I should
also note that assiduous collectors
and those for whom early electrics are
the height of modernity will find little
to frighten them here.
We begin with Act II
from La Juive with Rethberg and
Martinelli. The sound is somewhat constricted
and there is a deal of acetate scuffing
but against that one can hear Rethberg’s
dominating performance (a touch of steel
in Il va venir!) and also the
sterling contribution of the underrated
Charlotte Boerner; the great Martinelli
is not optimally steady, occasional
effortful (the impression is one of
a bark) but full of personality. He
strays off mike at points, which is
a pity, especially in Tu possèdes.
Making up the disc is Act III Scene
III of Die Walküre, with Flagstad
and Schorr. This has a big cut and there’s
some pitch fluctuation in Lieb’ wohl.
If I add that the orchestral playing
can be crude and that Schorr, though
ever magnetic, sounds in frayed voice
you will think this is a washout. It’s
true that there are only about twenty-three
minutes worth here – and then not all
have emerged intact from damage – but
Flagstad is here and her breath control
in War es so schmählich
is superb to hear.
Andrea Chénier
is a fourteen-minute segment. The chorus
and band are rather ragged but we again
have Rethberg and this time Gigli, whose
unforced ease of voice production in
Colpito qui m’avate – mezza voce,
portamento and a kind of parlando lyric
power – is only slightly vitiated by
his very Gigli-esque emoting at the
end. From the sound of it the San Francisco
orchestra was a very variable instrument
because the strings are sketchy in the
orchestral introduction to I Pagliacci.
Here we have some problems with Jobin’s
acetates that later on, because of side
changing, occupy rather different acoustic
perspectives – still they are accurate
enough to pick up what sounds like a
very active prompter or conductor. The
star of the performance is Albanese
– quicksilver and alive, and the hints
of acetate shatter in Sei là
are not going to derail her or her very
pretty laugh. Mack Harrell proves dependable,
in the best sense, whilst Jobin is adequate
as Canio; his Vesti la giubba won’t
make the cut but it’s not an embarrassment
by any means.
The final volume offers
a study in contrasts; Carmen is in generally
excellent shape – but against that it
offers really only meagre excerpts lasting
some twenty minutes – whereas Rosenkavalier
is in relatively worn condition but
offers a substantially complete Act
III. Kullman – often taken for granted
– proves attractive in Carmen though
it’s Risë Stevens who takes the
honours – strongly flexible singing
and in youthful, fresh voice. The sound
in Rosenkavalier is rather brazen but
Stevens is here again, in a performance
she gave three days before her Carmen
extracts (in both cases Georges Sebastian
is the conductor – for many years Gaetano
Merola ruled the operatic roost in the
city and he conducts La Juive, Die Walküre
and Andrea Chénier). Stevens
gets a barrel of laughs as Marandel,
though she tends to caricature - the
Ochs of Lorenzo Alvary is not at all
bad. But the sound is not good - congested
and brittle and it tends to limit enjoyment.
Guild’s booklet is
as ever very attractive and full of
background and there will, I am sure,
be a collector’s market for these discs.
Generalists will find it less satisfactory.
Jonathan Woolf
See also review
by Robert Farr
GUILD
HISTORICAL IMMORTAL PERFORMANCES GHCD 2287-89
[3CDs: 66.38+59.27+73.21] 