Giuseppe
VERDI (1813-1901)
Un Ballo in Maschera, Alzati! là
tuo figlio ... Eri tu [6:29]
Metropolitan Orchestra/Dimitri Mitropoulos
rec. 9 January 1955 Victor LP LM 1911
Il Trovatore - Il balen ... Qual suono!...Per
me ora fatale [7:26]
RCA Victor Orchestra/Renato Cellini
with Nicolai Moscona and The Robert
Shaw Chorale
rec. 11 March 1952 Victor LP LM 6008
Simon Boccanegra - Dinne, perche in
ques'eremo ... Figlia! a tal nome palpito
[9:39]
RCA Victor Orchestra/Renato Cellini
with Astrid Varnay
rec. 4 February 1950 Victor LP WDM 1426
Rigoletto - Pari siamo [3:34]
RCA Victor Orchestra/Renato Cellini
rec. 25 May 1950 Victor LP LM 6101
Rigoletto - Povero Rigoletto ... Cortigiani,
vil razza dannata [7:41]
RCA Victor Orchestra/Renato Cellini
with The Robert Shaw Chorale
rec. 25 May/6 April 1950 Victor LP LM
6101
La Forza del Destino - Solenne in quest'ora
[3:56]
RCA Victor Orchestra/Renato Cellini
with Jan Peerce
rec. 7 April 1955 Victor LP LM 1916
La Forza del Destino - Morir! tremenda
cosa ... urna fatale [7:31]
RCA Victor Orchestra/Renato Cellini
with Raymond Keast
rec. 16 February 1950 Victor LP LM 1916
La Forza del Destino - Invano, Alvaro
... Ah! una suora mi lasciasti [8:53]
RCA Victor Orchestra/Renato Cellini
with Jan Peerce
rec. 7 April 1955 Victor LP LM 1916
Aida - Ciel! mio padre ... Rivedrai
le forester imbalsamate [8:24]
with Zinka Milanov. Rome Opera House
Orchestra/Jonel Perlea
rec. 4 July 1955 Victor LP LM 6122
Otello - Credo in un Dio crudel [4:45]
Rome Opera House Orchestra/Vincenzo
Bellezza
rec. 4 July 1955 Victor LP LM 1932
Otello - Era la notte [3:36]
RCA Victor Orchestra/Jonel Perlea
rec. 3 March 1955 Victor LP LM 1932
Falstaff - È sogno? O realtà?
[4:22]
Rome Opera House Orchestra/Vincenzo
Bellezza
rec. 4 July 1955 Victor LP LM 1932
Sea Shanties
Blow the Man Down [2:18]
The Drummer and the Cook [2:17]
Haul-A-Way, Joe [2:55]
The Drunken Sailor [2:38]
A-Rovin' [2:54]
Low Lands [3:25]
Shenandoah [3:43]
Rio Grande [2:42]
The Robert Shaw Chorale and Orchestra/Robert
Shaw
rec. 8 and 9 July 1947 Victor LP Catalogue
Number: LM 1168
Rolling Down to Rio - songs of Kipling,
arrangements by Frank Black
On the Road to Mandalay [3:38]
Rolling Down to Rio (Edward German)
[2:16]
Gunga Din (Spross) [5.26]
Recessional (DeKoven) [4:39]
Danny Deever (Damrosch) [5:09]
Boots (McCall) [3:05]
Mother O'Mine (Tours) [2:39]
Smuggler's Song (Kernochan) [3:03]
RCA Victor Orchestra/Frank Black
rec. 2 and 5 October 1951 Victor LP
Catalogue Number LM 147
Songs for Everyone
America the Beautiful (Ward) [3:14]
Love's Old Sweet Song (Molloy) [3:29]
Mother Machree (Olcott) [2:23]
A Little Bit of Heaven (Ball) [3:27]
Home on the Range (Guion) [3:48]
Ol' Man River (from Show Boat) (Kern)
[3:30]
Battle Hymn of the Republic (Steffe)
[3:39]
This two-disc set from
Nimbus happily conjoins two facets of
Warren’s art – Verdi and popular song.
Finely transferred and with considerable
immediacy they allow one to appreciate
his art in all its powerful presence,
the voice impressively though occasionally
immovably big.
The Verdi sides date
from 1950-55. In the extract from Simon
Boccanegra he’s joined by Astrid
Varnay for a truly resplendent piece
of singing, though the critical might
contend that his expressive insight
is not the equal of, say, Tibbett’s
in this repertoire. Pari siamo
derives from the complete Rigoletto
made in 1950; again, attractive in places
it shows that the voice had a tendency
to spread, a feature of Warren’s recordings
that one has to note in passing. Nevertheless
one can certainly gauge the impressive
theatrical presence that he inhabited
from its companion extract Povero
Rigoletto ... Cortigiani, vil razza
dannata with the voice dark but
flexible.
The excerpts from La
Forza del Destino feature Warren
with Jan Peerce and Raymond Keast; Warren
is certainly the most commanding, with
Peerce failing to impress in Solenne
in quest’ora. Examples of his Falstaff
exist from the 1940s but this single
example demonstrates that his theatrical
powers had deepened and matured in the
intervening decade; characterful and
impressive.
The second disc consists
of sea shanties, Kipling songs and an
RCA album called "Songs for Everyone."
The first was recorded in 1947, the
second in 1951 and the last in 1950.
This is the other side of Warren who’s
heard in unbuttoned and forceful mood
in all three selections. The Robert
Shaw Chorale sounds altogether too spick
and span in the Shanties but Warren
is on good form in Haul-A-Way, Joe
singing here, and elsewhere, with
considerable virility and robustness.
The Kipling album sees a procession
of favourites in arrangements by Frank
Black who also conducts the RCA Victor
orchestra. Again this is finely done
and I prefer the arrangements to some
others but there are finer performances
available of most if not all the songs.
The final selection sees some stirring
national items and some sentiment as
well. The sentimentalised balladry of
Love’s Old Sweet Song
finds a stout practitioner in Warren
and there are intimations of McCormack
in A Little Bit of Heaven.
The transfers, as noted
briefly above, are warm and very "present"
– which certainly suits the performances.
Alan Bilgora writes the good notes.
A disc of two halves then, reflecting
Warren’s very considerable gifts and
exposing one or two flaws.
Jonathan Woolf
