This feast for Björling collectors focuses on the series
of broadcasts on American radio that did so much to popularise
classical music. The Voice of Firestone, Ford Sunday Evening
Hour, General Motors, and Bell Telephone Hour were some of the
sponsored leaders in the field, and we also get touching examples
of the tenor on home territory in The Pillbox (‘Pillerdosan’)Söder
Hospital recital in 1954 as well as an open-air concert in Stockholm.
I doubt that many of these off-air recitals will be that unfamiliar
to admirers but to have them in such bulk as this - 4 CDs (but
priced as three) lasting around five hours, and in such excellent
sound, correctly pitched and very well cleaned up, will be an
attractive proposition.
Radio was a popular way to reach the American heartland, and
Björling made numerous broadcasts in the years between
1937 and 1960. The concerts didn’t much vary in outline,
though perhaps in detail. An introduction would be followed
by announcements - all announcements are retained here - and
then some arias and ballads would follow. For the Firestone
November 1945 recital, for example, we get Schubert’s
An Sylvia, sung in English, Massenet’s En ferment
les yeux (from Manon), Jeannie with the light brown hair
and an aria from Flotow’s Martha, sung in Italian. The
final track was written by the sponsor herself, Idabelle Firestone
- her oft trotted out If I Could Tell You, with which
the recital also began. That was the expected formula for these
half hour recitals.
Admittedly much is expected territory. He reprises Geehl’s
For You Alone twice with an especially fervent close
- in 1946 and 1951 - and it was the first song he’d ever
sung in English for a recording in the mid 30s. His ballad selections
are tried and trusted, the names themselves redolent of a time
and place - of Caruso, and McCormack, and other titans of yore.
He joins with Eleanor Steber for Romberg and Verdi - Il Trovatore,
though without chorus. Later we hear him from the San Francisco
opera in 1949 with Licia Albanese singing O soave fanciulla.
They’re not quite together, but it’s attractively
done nonetheless. Fritz Reiner directs the ‘Ford Symphony
Orchestra’ in the May 1946 broadcast which broadens appeal
by including songs central to his Swedish repertoire, and ending
with a bout of Tours’ maudlin Mother o’ mine.
The Althén is especially dramatic, tinged indeed with
heroism.
In a Standard Hour broadcast a month after the San Francisco
one he reprised the Puccini but this time with his wife, Anna-Lisa.
Duplication comes in the shape of Gounod’s Va! Je t’ai
pardonneé… Nuit d'hyménée from
Roméo et Juliette in which we have versions with his
wife and another with Bidú Sayão. Possibly the
most important recital in view of the repertoire is that from
Carnegie Hall in 1949 which was a majorly Swedish one; James
W Quillian was the pianist. He does leaven things with Tosti
but otherwise it’s all-Scandinavian. The singing is predictably
superb - masculine, confident, full of allure, not Italianate.
Some recitals are recorded better than others but none is less
than good. The Bell Telephone recital of March 1948 on CD3 was
excellently recorded and preserved. The Bells offer much the
same in the way of repertoire - announcements punctuating ballads
and lied and songs. There is a rare orchestrally accompanied
Schubert Ständchen, but an even better Strauss Ständchen.
Morgan’s Clorinda is heard. Jeannie reappears,
so too a Victor Herbert. The amount of duplication is not really
excessive, and is sometimes instructive, given his vocal partnerships
enshrined here. The popular Franco-Italian repertoire is certainly
central, and very briefly Russian too, in the shape of Rachmaninoff.
This disc also gives us the audio track of the TV Telecast of
extracts from Act I of La bohème with Tebaldi,
conducted by Max Rudolf, which is very well known. This version
of O soave fanciulla surpasses both others in this set.
The earliest items in the set date from 1937. There’s
a snippet of a greeting from Stockholm, in English, anticipating
his broadcast and imminent American tour (it lasts all of 28
seconds). The General Motors Concert of December 1937 brings
with it Puccini, Meyerbeer, Gounod and Verdi - standard Franco-Italian
fare, in other words. There’s an unpublished 78 take of
Godard’s Jocelyn - a bit anomalous in the circumstances
but well worth having. And there’s also The Pillbox
concert from Stockholm in 1954 which is making its first appearance
on commercial CD, and the Open Day Concert from Stockholm from
1954, in which, piano accompanied, we can appreciate his Wagner
and Adam as well as Nordqvist and his favoured Peterson-Berger.
Much here in these four CDs is valuable, and much is ancillary
to the recorded legacy, but if I was to direct anyone to the
most important recordings, it would undoubtedly be to this final
disc.
I commend WHRA for its conspicuously fine restorative work,
making listening to these broadcasts recitals a pleasure, and
never a critical chore. The value of such a set rather depends
on one’s view of its utility. Much is known from commercial
discs; sometimes these broadcasts offer fierier interpretations,
sometimes not. But despite the duplications and the announcements
- I rather like them but they can be skipped - this packed set,
with its splendid booklet, is a valuable resource indeed.
Jonathan Woolf
Track listing
Voice of Firestone, 19 November 1945, with announcements
Idabelle FIRESTONE
If I Could Tell You [1:23]
Franz SCHUBERT
An Sylvia (sung in English) [2:48]
Jules MASSENET
Manon; Instant charmant…En ferment les yeux [3:44]
Stephen FOSTER
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair [3:26]
Friedrich von FLOTOW
Martha - Ach, so fromm (sung in Italian) [3;42]
Idabelle FIRESTONE
In My Garden [1:20]
Voice of Firestone, 21 January 1946, with announcements
Idabelle FIRESTONE
If I Could Tell You [1:18]
Sigmund ROMBERG
Maytime - Will You Remember [3:25]
Henry GEEHL
For You Alone [1:56]
Giuseppe VERDI
Il Trovatore - Quel suon…Ah! Che la morte ognora with
Eleanor Steber (soprano) [5:08]
Voice of Firestone, 25 March 1946, with announcements
Idabelle FIRESTONE
If I Could Tell You [1:19]
Edvard GRIEG
Jeg elsker dig [2:48]
Benjamin GODARD
Jocelyn - Cachés dand cet asile (sung in English) [4:14]
Guy d’HARDELOT
Because [2:31]
Victor HERBERT
Princess Pat - Neapolitan Love Song [4:12]
Idabelle FIRESTONE
In My Garden [1:33]
Firestone Orchestra/Harold Barlow
Ford Sunday Evening Hour, 12 May 1946
Charles GOUNOD
Faust - Salut! Demure chaste et pure [6:00]
Wilhelm PETERSON-BERGER
Jungfrun under lind [2:43]
Ragnar ALTHÉN
Land, du välsignade [2:45]
TOURS
Mother of Mine [2:32]
Ford Symphony Orchestra/Fritz Reiner
Standard Hour Broadcast 23 October 1949
Giacomo PUCCINI
Che gelida manina (from La Bohème) [5:32]
O soave fanciulla (from La Bohème) with Anna-Lisa Björling
(soprano) [4:09]
Jules MASSENET
Je suis seul, seul enfin... Ah fuyez douce image (from Manon)
[4:52]
Charles GOUNOD
Orchestral Introduction - Roméo et Juliette [1:46]
Va! Je t’ai pardonneé… Nuit d'hyménée
from Roméo et Juliette with Anna-Lisa Björling (soprano)
[8:51]
Standard Hour Broadcast 30 September 1951
Amilcare PONCHIELLI
Cielo e mar! from La Gioconda [5:19]
Paolo TOSTI
L’alba separa della luce l’ombra [2:44]
Giacomo PUCCINI
E lucevan la stele [3:18]
GOUNOD
Orchestral Introduction - Roméo et Juliette [1:47]
Va! Je t’ai pardonneé… Nuit d'hyménée
from Roméo et Juliette with Bidú Sayão
(soprano) [9:03]
San Francisco Opera Orchestra/Gaetano Merola
Sweden in Music Programme, Carnegie Hall, 11 April 1949
August SÖDERMAN:
Trollsjön [5:16]
Hugo ALFVÉN
Skogen sover, Op. 28 No. 6
Emil SJÖGREN
I drömmen du är mig nära
Anders Johan Ture RANGSTRÖM
Tristans död
Paolo TOSTI
L'alba separa dalla luce l'ombra
Wilhelm PETERSON-BERGER
Jungfrun under lind [2:59]
James W. Quillian (piano)
Bell Telephone Hour, 15 March 1948
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO
Mattinata [2:06]
Sergei RACHMANINOFF
Siren (sung in English) [[1:37]
Orlando MORGAN
Clorinda [1:30]
Jules MASSENET
Manon; Je suis seul!...Ah! fuyez, douce image [4:38]
Bell Telephone Hour, 4 April 1949
Franz SCHUBERT
Ständchen [4:11]
Victor HERBERT
Princess Pat - Neapolitan Love Song [3:40]
Pietro MASCAGNI
Cavalleria rusticana - Addio alla madre [3:52]
Bell Telephone Hour, 7 November 1949
Franz SCHUBERT
Ständchen [2:12]
Stephen FOSTER
Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair [3:20]
Giacomo PUCCINI
Che gelida manina (from La Bohème) [5:06]
Bell Telephone Hour, 23 October 1950
Giacomo MEYERBEER
L’africaine - Pays merveilleux…O paradis! (sung
in Italian) [3:03]
Sergei RACHMANINOFF
V molchan’I nochi taynoy (sung in English) [2:33]
Richard STRAUSS
Zueignung [1:50]
Umberto GIORDANO
Andrea Chénier - Come un bel dì di Maggio [2:57]
Bell Telephone Hour, 8 January 1951
Jules MASSENET
Manon; Instant charmant…En ferment les yeux [3:34]
PETERSON-BERGER
Jungfrun under lind [2:35]
Henry GEEHL
For You Alone [2:04]
Giacomo PUCCINI
Manon Lescaut - Donna non vidi mai [2:46]
Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra/Donald Voorhees
Producer’s Showcase NBC TV Broadcast ‘Festival
of Music’ - 30 January 1956 - audio of telecast
Giacomo PUCCINI
La Bohème - excerpts from Act 1 [15:27]
with Renata Tebaldi (soprano)
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra/Max Rudolf
General Motors Concert - ‘Opera Night’ 5 December
1937
Giacomo PUCCINI
Tosca - Recondita armonia [2:50]
Giacomo MEYERBEER
L’africaine - Pays merveilleux…O paradis! (sung
in Italian) [3:28]
Giuseppe VERDI
La forza del destino - Solenne in quest’ora [4:02]
With Donald Dickson (baritone)
Charles GOUNOD
Faust - Quittons ce lieu sombre…Ange spurs [2:35]
With Grace Moore (soprano)
General Motors Symphony Orchestra/Erno Rapee
Bell Telephone Hour Broadcast, 12 March 1951
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO
Pagliacci - Recitar!...Vesti la giubba [2:53]
Giuseppe VERDI
Aïda - Se quel guerrier…Celeste Aïda [4:33]
Charles GLOVER
The Rose of Tralee [3:24]
Bell Telephone Hour Orchestra/Donald Voorhees
Benjamin GODARD
Jocelyn - Cachés dans cet asile (sung in English) [2:59]
Stockholm Concert Association Orchestra/Nils Grevillius, rec.
11 August 1949; unpublished 78 matrix
The Pillbox (‘Pillerdosan’) Programme No.27,
The Söder Hospital, 20 December 1954
Richard WAGNER
Lohengrin - In fernen Land (sung in Swedish) [5:20]
Wilhelm PETERSON-BERGER
När jag för mig själv I mörka skogen gär
[2:44]
Gustav NORDQVIST
Till havs [2:42]
Adolphe ADAM
Cantique de Noël (sung in Swedish) [4:54]
TCO Day, Stockholm, Skansen Open Air Concert, 25 May 1952
August SÖDERMAN:
Trollsjön [5:39]
Ragnar ALTHÉN
Land, du välsignade [3:12]
Carl MILLÖCKER
Der Bettelstudent - Ich hab’ kein Geld, bin vogelfrei
(sung in Swedish) [2:03]
With Harry Ebert (piano)
Gothenburg Concert Hall Radio Braodcast, 5 August 1960
Hugo ALFVÉN
Jag längtar dig [2:18]
Pyotr Ilyich TCHAIKOVSKY
Eugene Onegin - Kuda, kuda (sung in Swedish) [6:40]
Richard WAGNER
Lohengrin - In fernen Land (sung in Swedish) [5:40]
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra/Nils Grevillius
Jussi Björling (tenor), with accompaniments as below
