The list of migrations from Romophone, now sadly no more, continues
with this example of rare early Elisabeth Schumann. One says
early but not quite the earliest – the 1913 Favorites
are not here though collectors will doubtless have them elsewhere.
The sequence therefore begins with four sides she made for
Edison in 1915 and continues with the Polydors made on the
cessation of hostilities after the First World War. This takes
us to the 1923 late acoustics. All are sung in German with
the exception of the Mozart Exultate, Jubilate.
The
Edisons were rather recessive recordings but fortunately of
good repertoire; other musicians were not so fortunate. The
catalogue of trifles recorded for the company has long been
a source of despair for aficionados, as has Edison’s
own low-brow tastes. There’s great freshness especially
in the two Weber extracts, full of girlish and lissom wit and
insouciant authority, even in one so relatively young. The
German Polydors are better recorded and actually offer a more
rounded view of her at this stage in her career. The sequence
includes Mozart, naturally, but also Gounod, Auber, Lortzing,
Humperdinck and Richard Strauss.
In
the Thomas Mignon we can hear her pervasive upward portamento
and a touch too much vibrato usage in the middle of the voice.
Here and throughout she makes do with a rather brass-bandy
accompaniment though it can’t efface her superb Non
so più with its delicate slowings down, delicious
shading and prominently rolled “r.” In Voi
che sapete she adheres pretty much to the standard mid
to nineteenth century practice of accelerando-ritenuto-portamento
into the first verse reprise – see Piatti’s and
Melba’s recordings for this precedent on disc. Her silvery
beauty of tone and effervescent musicality carries her through
even this rather conventional schema.
The
Lortzing extract is quick, dramatic and theatrically convincing – quick
electric trill and high notes are all in situ. In the
Humperdinck her coloratura is tested and survives unscathed.
Articulation is rapid, characterisation is impressive and convincing,
girlish impersonation is still possible even in her early to
mid thirties; and the tone can be crystalline when required.
There’s an excellent souvenir of her many performances
with Richard Strauss, her accompanist on tours and more cherishable
Mozart.
All
these sides bear residual surface noise but Ward Marston has
resisted the temptation to damp down treble. The result is
that the ear adjusts within a few minutes, if not less and
one can savour the beauty of Schumann’s tone unimpeded.
A fine collection of a soprano at the start of an auspicious
career.
Jonathan Woolf
See also review
by Göran Forsling