This inaugurates
another edition in the production line that is Naxos Historical.
Barely able to
keep up with the various permutations of their Melba and Gigli
releases we can at least agree that this is the first of their
new Schipa Edition, one that takes as its starting point the
1922-24 Victors. His earlier acoustics are perhaps more prized
but this series of American discs catches him in his mid-thirties,
fully developed as a singer, and in the full flowering of
his inimitable lyric sweetness.
A word about the
transfers by Ward Marston. There’s a minimum of shellac noise
on these well-engineered Victors. The voice was forwardly
recorded, thankfully, but not so much as to create an unjust
balance between Schipa and the accompanying Victor orchestra
– musicians heavily weighted toward the brass and wind ends
of the spectrum. The transfers are warm, clear and good. The
mix of recordings is between popular song, some of them Spanish
(Schipa was immensely popular in Spain) and operatic arias,
most if not all of which he recorded electrically in the years
to come.
The voice itself
remains a marvellous instrument of patrician elegance. In
a popular song such as Granadinas we hear a rare refinement,
eloquently phrased and, at the end, exhibiting superb breath
control. In his famous recording of Chi se nne scorda 'cchiu
we hear all these virtues and those of idiomatic phrasing,
a more tensile tone and greater vibrato usage. He lavishes
great reserves of vocalism on these popular songs – listen
to Roig’s Quiereme mucho; there’s no diminishment of
lyric candour nor of effulgence; all registers of the voice
respond with equal fervour. In a song such as Cimino’s Serenata
Medioevale of which there are two takes here (one unreleased
on 78) we hear a real admixture of wit, subtly yet infectiously
done. Even in that famous song of yesteryear Ay, Ay, Ay
he never forces his tone – the thread of sound remains perfectly
warm and under perfect control.
Of his operatic
arias we can simply reprise those qualities noted above. His
Pagliacci is poised, the Massenet refined and lovely; his
Rossini I find just a touch nasal but his Thomas is a delight
– shading, colour, portamenti (gossamer) and diminuendi are
all active components of some ravishingly adept characterisation
– and how well he sustains breath. His duets with Galli-Curci
are remarkable artefacts. His lyric elegance conspires with
her bell-toned purity to produce musicianship of remarkable
ease and grace, with a kind of aristocratic simplicity. The
word for all this, I think, is refinement.
With fine sounding
transfers, with shellac crackle to a minimum, and good quality
originals employed, this is a fine start to the Schipa edition.
You won’t necessarily want to listen to too many of the popular
songs off the bat but the beauty of it is that you don’t have
to. Pure, lyric beauty.
Jonathan
Woolf
Tito Schipa, tenor
(all tracks)
