Immersed as one is at the time of writing in the depths of winter,
this two volume offering from Preiser - both discs are available
singly - brings a warming blast of Italianate sunshine. The sunny
postcard artwork reinforces the vigorous animation of the undertaking.
The repertoire is Neapolitan canzone by such masters of the genre
as Tosti, De Curtis, di Capua, Denza and their confreres. Collectors
however should note that this is a very broad compilation, taking
in recordings made between a rough half century span from 1907
to 1955.
O sole mio is the name of the first disc and Caruso sings
the ‘title track’, very aptly. Don’t, however,
overlook Lucien Muratore’s head voice in his 1915
Il
pescatore pensa nor on any account the luminously fluid legato
of Schipa’s
O Marenariello. The earliest recording
on this disc is Zenatello’s
Vieni from 1907, passionately
sung but somewhat destabilised by a plinking piano accompaniment.
I often wish wholesale remedial work could be undertaken on the
pitch defective or recessive piano accompaniments on sides such
as this, albeit one concedes it would be time-consuming.
There are broader geographical horizons. Joseph Schmidt is the
representative ‘German’ singer - though he wasn’t
German. Smirnov represents the Russians. But in the main we have
the tried and long tested superstars on home territory. The glamorous
Andalucian Conchita Supervia’s characteristically fluttery
vibrato charms in
L'Ultima Canzone though elsewhere Alessandro
Valente is a touch too muscular in Mascagni’s
Serenata and
is put in the shade by the following two offerings - by Gigli
and Björling, no less. I happen to find Licia Albanese’s
contribution somewhat woolly, though others may disagree, but
have no reservations regarding Siepi’s recording of Tosti’s
Malia -
a wonderfully sonorous legato, indeed. Richard Tucker is forwardly
recorded, to considerable advantage, and this first selections
ends with
Pizziche e vase, dispatched with fluid ease
by the ever superb Tagliavini.
The second volume reprises some singers, among them Gigli, Schipa
and Di Stefano, without whom any such selection would be naked.
Early recording artists such as Florencio Constantino and Mario
Ancona - recorded in the 1906-07 period - add resonance and historical
breadth to a project that already scours widely, and selectively.
One could hardly hope for a more splendidly purposeful and powerful
start than that provided by Martinelli in
Torna a Surriento.
An enviable opportunity to hear the fresh voiced, passionate
Lanza in his 1955 recording of
Dicitencello vuje should
not be spurned. Scion of the French school, Georges Thill, appeals
in his nobly sung
La Mia canzone.
Renato Zanelli shines
La Spagnola where his bonhomie is
a tonic.
Pesca d’ammore a fine recording for 1926,
and the lyrical blandishments of Schipa, are impossible to resist.
Vorrei
morir is enchantingly sung by Tino Pattiera. Dusolina Giannini’s
O
sole mio though is a touch matronly. No such quandary in
the last track,
Quanno a femmena vo’ where Gigli
engages in the kind of buttonholing vivacity that never ceases
to amaze.
Good notes in the sunny booklets offer more enjoyment.
Jonathan Woolf
FULL TRACKLIST
O Sole Mio, Canzoni, Volume 1
Eduardo di CAPUA (1865 - 1917)
O sole mio, for voice & piano (or orchestra) (1900)
[3:21]
Enrico Caruso
rec. 1916
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
Il pescatore pensa, for voice & piano/orchestra [2:41]
Lucien Muratore
rec..1915
Mauro COSTA
Era de maggio, song [2:44]
Fernando de Lucia and Salvatore di Giacomo
rec. 1909
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
Luna d'estate, for voice & piano/orchestra (1880) [2:31]
Rosa Ponselle
rec. 1926
Salvatore GAMBARDELLA
O Marenariello, for voice and piano (or orchestra) [2:29]
Tito Schipa
rec. 1928
Luigi DENZA (1846 - 1922)
Vieni (Come to Me), song [2:26]
Giovanni Zenatello
rec.1907
Arturo BUZZI-PECCIA (1854 - 1943)
Mal d'amore, for voice & piano [3:10]
Joseph Schmidt
rec.1931
Renato BROGI (1873 - 1924)
Visione Venezina for voice & orchestra [2:57]
Titta Ruffo
rec.1933
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
Pour un Baiser for voice & piano (or orchestra) [3:24]
Louis Cazette
rec.1920
Gaetano LAMA (1886 - 1950)
Reginella (2:41)
Giuseppe Di Stefano
rec.1945
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
L'Ultima Canzone for voice & piano/orchestra [3:48]
Conchita Supervia
rec.1928
Luigi DENZA (1846 - 1922)
Funiculi Funicula, for voice & orchestra (& chorus ad
lib) (1880) [2:39]
Alessandro Ziliani
rec.1935
Ruggero LEONCAVALLO (1857 - 1919)
Mattinata ("L'aurora di bianco vestita"), song for
voice & piano (or orchestra) (1904) [2:05]
Dmitri Smirnov
rec.1912
Pietro Adolfo TIRINDELLI
O Primavera for voice & piano (or orchestra) [2:50]
Hina Spani
rec.1931
Ermenegildo RUCCIONE
Famme sunn'a cu'tte (3:18)
Tito Gobbi
rec.1942
Pietro MASCAGNI (1863 - 1945)
Serenata, song for voice & piano (or orchestra) (1894) [3:10]
Alessandro Valente
rec.1929
Vincenzo DE CRESCENZO
Rondine al nido for voice & orchestra circa 1920 [3:20]
Beniamino Gigli
rec.1926
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
L'Alba separa dalla luce l'ombra, for voice & piano (or orchestra) [2:24]
Jussi Björling
rec.1949
Ernesto TAGLIAFERRI
Piscatore 'e pusilleco for voice & orchestra (1925) [3:01]
Licia Albanese
rec.1955
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
Malia for voice & piano/orchestra [3:06]
Cesare Siepi
rec.1948
Ernesto DE CURTIS (1865 - 1937)
Non ti scordar di me, for voice & orchestra (& chorus ad lib) (1935)
[3:48]
Richard Tucker
rec.1950
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
T'amo ancora, for voice & piano/orchestra (1877) [3:54]
Giuseppe Valdengo
rec.1949
Columbo ARONA
La Campana di San Giusto, for voice & orchestra (& chorus ad lib) [2:29]
Aureliano Pertile
rec.1926
Ernesto TAGLIAFERRI
Napule Canta for voice & orchestra [2:25]
Giuseppe Taddei
1953
DI LUCA
Pizziche e vase, for voice & piano [1:44]
Ferruccio Tagliavini
rec.1950
PREISER 90766 [72:39]
Torna a Surriento. Canzoni, Volume 2
Ernesto DE CURTIS (1865 - 1937)
Quann'a Femmena Vo' [2:18]
Beniamino Gigli
rec. 1925
Eduardo di CAPUA (1865 - 1917)
O sole mio, for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Dusolina Giannini [3:44]
rec. 1928
Rodolfo FLAVO
Dicitencello vuje, for voice & piano (or orchestra)
Mario Lanza [3:27]
rec. 1958
Cesare Andrea BIXIO
La mia canzone al vento for voice & orchestra [3:08]
Giuseppe Lugo
rec. 1939
Gaetano LAMA
Silenzio Cantatore, for voice & orchestra [3:23]
Giuseppe Di Stefano
rec. 1957
Ernesto DE CURTIS (1865 - 1937)
Tu, ca nun chiagne!, for voice & piano (or orchestra) [2:27]
Paolo Silveri 1948
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
La Mia canzone, for voice & piano/orchestra [2:34]
Georges Thill
rec. 1931
Arturo BUZZI-PECCIA (1854 - 1943)
Colombetta for voice & piano (or orchestra) [2:10]
Claudia Muzio
rec. 1934
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
Vorrei morir for voice & piano/orchestra [3:51]
Tino Pattiera
rec. 1927
Voi dormite, signora! [2:48]
Giuseppe De Luca
rec. 1923
Salvatore CARARDILLO
Core 'ngrato (Catari), for voice & orchestra [2:32]
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
rec. 1922
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
Dopo, song [3:59]
Gianna Pederzini
rec. 1930
Richard BARTHÉLMY
Pesca d'ammore [3:33]
Tito Schipa
rec. 1926
Vincenzo VALENTE
'A Sirena [3:33]
Pasquale Amato
rec. 1909
Vincenzo DI CHIARA
La Spagnola for voice & orchestra [2:38]
Renato Zanelli
rec. 1924
Alberto PESTALAZZO
Ciribiribin, song for voice & piano [3:25]
Lucrezia Bori
rec. 1923
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
Venetian Song, duet for 2 voices & piano or orchestra, C.S. 120 [3:25]
John McCormack
rec. 1915
Luigi DENZA
Occhi di fata, for voice & piano (or orchestra) [3:20]
Riccardo Stracciari
rec. 1928
Vincenzo DE CRESCENZO
Tarantella Sincera for voice & orchestra [3:43]
Enrico Caruso
rec. 1912
Paolo TOSTI (1846 - 1916)
Mattinata for voice & piano/orchestra [2:51]
Mario Ancona
rec. 1907
Vorrei (Could I) [2:59]
Florencio Constantino
rec. 1906
La Serenata for voice & piano/orchestra [3:38]
Frances Alda
rec. 1910
Evemero NARDELLA
Ammore e' Femmena [2:43]
Giuseppe Anselmi
rec. 1910
Ernesto DE CURTIS (1865 - 1937)
Torna a Surriento, for voice & piano (or orchestra) [3:39]
Giovanni Martinelli
rec. 1913
PREISER 90767 [77:00]
