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The Complete Conchita Supervia: Volume 4
Conchita Supervia (soprano)
Complete tracklist at end of review
MARSTON 52061-2 [79:16 + 78:00]

Volume four of Marston’s chronological Supervia series takes us from May 1932 to May 1933, though one should note the out-of-sequence July 1930 items, ones that turned up only recently, added as an appendix.

The repertoire is overwhelmingly light: songs, Boleros, traditional items - Habañeras, Zortzicos and Sardanas, as well as the occasional Pasodoble and their near cousins. It makes for light listening too - no Mahlerian angst disturbs the proceedings - but as ever with Supervia, the delights may be airy but they are still delightful.

With a chamber orchestra (and accordion) she essays Capa española with delicious vitality. Her flirty, flighty indeed feisty side responds well to La buenaventura which she seduces with her extravagantly rolled ‘r’, her wonderful parlando and sheer brio. The quality of bringing things to life was a constant of her singing, but even so a double album of predominately jaunty popular songs might be thought too much. Indeed you’ll need to break things up to savour the full complement of her expressive arsenal deployed to make these pieces so lively and delightful a body of performances. The hazy flamenco element of the Romance de Solita, a ballet piece, is for instance laced with jaunty trumpet accompaniment. The smiling verve of La del puñuelo rojo is a tonic. Castanets jiggle through Suspiros de España. We also have the recordings she made with the Serramont Accordion Orchestra, a lively and colouristic band, with a perky bass clarinet, trumpet à-la-staccato and an on-the-ball percussionist. We have a soupy fiddle player in an anonymously backed La rosa oriental. The orchestrations are not always subtle but they are invariably succulent.

The October 1932 sessions offered some greater opportunities for fulsome expression. She evinces great charm and femininity here, as well as her formidable coloratura in the piece from El Juramento which has its melancholy vistas.

There are sequences with the pianist Pedro Vallribera. Their performances of the traditional songs arranged by Nin are vibrant, though the Rodrigo song they essay, Cantiga, is a harmonic cut above its companions. Frank Marshall, a stellar exponent of the Iberian muse, is the other pianist involved. Together he and Supervia perform Granados’s Tonadillas, seven brief but evocative infusions of Spanish tracery. They all fitted onto two sides of a 78, which was happily economical. Note in passing the rallentando in Callejeo, the fluttering delicacy of their La maja dolorosa, and Marshall’s witty playing in El majo timído. These are the most important items in this set.

But there is also a fascinating curio; Lehár sung in French. Frasquita was recorded in a French version by Eddy and Marietti, in Paris, in May 1933. Supervia was partnered by the French tenor Louis Arnoult, and the Paris Opéra-Comique Orchestra was conducted by Paul Bastide. The results were captured on five 78s, and attest to the allure Supervia evoked across a wide repertoirial range. There’s the radiant brio of her ‘la-la’ in Ce que c’est que l’amour no less than her entrance scene. Arnoult has an ingratiating style and a decent head voice, often transposing down a semi-tone.

Throughout the two discs vitality and élan are never in short supply. The long booklet note is culled from the writing of, and a talk given by, the pianist Ivor Newton, who knew her well. The booklet is fully up to the expected, exemplary standard, and the transfers equally so.

Jonathan Woolf
Complete Tracklist
CD 1 [79:16]
SPANISH ODEON, BARCELONA
23 MAY 1932
1. Capa española (Francisco Cotarelo; Emilio Pisón) 3:27
With orchestra, conducted by Pascual Godes
(SO7706) 184296
2. La buenaventura (Ignacio Tabuyo; F. Moya Rico and J. Colorado) 3:24
With orchestra, conducted by Pascual Godes
(SO7707) 184286
3. LA ROMERÍA DE LOS CORNUDOS (ballet) : Romance de Solita (Gustavo
Pittaluga; Cipriano Rivas Cheriff) 2:54
With orchestra, conducted by Gustavo Pittaluga
(SO7708) 184296
4. Lola la Manola de Escayola (Francisco Cotarelo; Emilio Pisón) 3:29
With orchestra, conducted by Pascual Godes
(SO7709) 184303
25 MAY 1932
With piano, Pedro Vallribera
5. El amor es como un niño (Traditional; Arranged by Joaquín Nin) 1:37
(SO7714) 184345
6. Jota valenciana (Traditional; Arranged by Joaquín Nin) 1:29
(SO7714) 184345
7. Canción gallega, No. 1 (Traditional; Arranged by Joaquín Nin) 2:47
(SO7715) 184329
8. Cantiga (Canción antigua) (Joaquín Rodrigo; Marqués de Santillana) 2:53
(SO7716) 184329
27 MAY 1932
With orchestra, conducted By Pascual Godes
9. El pañuelo de lunares (Francisco Alonso; S. and J. Álvarez Quintero) 3:08
(SO7717) 184303
10. La del pañuelo rojo (Zortzico) (Traditional; Arranged by Ignacio
Tabuyo) 3:29
(SO7718) 184345
11. Consejos (Habanera) (F. M. Álvarez; Eusebio Blasco) 3:13
(SO7719) 184294
28 MAY 1932
12. Rubores (Pasodoble) (Pascual Marquina; A. Corral Moraleda) 2:30
With band
(SO7722) 184289
13. Suspiros de España (Pasodoble) (A. Álvarez Alonso; Felipe Ferrer) 3:24
With band
(SO7723) 184289
14. Java apache (Java musette) (Pascual Godes; Felipe Ferrer) 3:29
With the Serramont Accordion Orchestra
(SO7724) 184294
15. Bésame (Habanera) (Pascual Godes; Felipe Ferrer) 3:33
With the Serramont Accordion Orchestra
(SO7725) 184294
3 JUNE 1932
16. Les fulles seques (Sardana) (Enrique Morera; Ángel Guimerá) 3:06
With orchestra, Cobla Barcelona “Albert Marti”
(SO7733) 184289
17. Llevantina (Sardana) (Vicente Bou; R. Libera and J. Serracant) 2:38
With orchestra, Cobla Barcelona “Albert Marti”
(SO7734) 184289
18. Melodía (Vocal arrangement of Melody in F, op. 3 no. 1) (Anton
Rubinstein; T. Ramos Fernando) 3:10
With orchestra, conducted by Pascual Godes
(SO7735) 184333
19. L’ángel de la son (Juan Lamote de Grignon; Apeles Mestres) 2:57
With piano, Pedro Vallribera
(SO7736) 184301
27 OCTOBER 1932
With orchestra
20. La rosa oriental (Bolero) (Ramón Espigul) 2:41
(SO7882) 185012
21. Lamento borincano (Song in Cuban style) (Rafael Hernández; Arranged by
Brito) 3:21
(SO7883) 247
28 OCTOBER 1932
22. Moreno es el bien que adoro (Vicente Romero; Fidel Prado) 3:12
With piano, Pedro Vallribera
(SO7884) 184339
23. Sentir gitano (Tomás de Aquino; V. Moro and L. Muñoz Arenillas) 3:34
With piano, Pedro Vallribera
(SO7885) 184339
24. Las meninas (Canción de la guitarra) (F. Diaz Giles; Lucio and
Capella) 3:24
With orchestra, conducted by Pascual Godes
(SO7886) 184313
25. Un barberillo alegre (J. L. Mediavilla; Fidel Prado) 3:13
With orchestra, conducted by Pascual Godes
(SO7887) 184313
30 OCTOBER 1932
With piano, Pedro Vallribera
26. Flor del terruño (Canción Castellana) (R. Martinez Valls; Felipe
Ferrer) 3:32
(SO7890) 184325
CD 2 (78:00)
30 OCTOBER 1932 (continued)
With piano, Pedro Vallribera
CD 2 [78:00]
1. Canción de antaño (R. Martinez Valls; Felipe Ferrer) 3:43
(SO7891) 184325
2. Hay en mi jardín (Lizcano de la Rosa; M. Poal Aragall) 3:32
(SO7892) 184333
31 OCTOBER 1932
With orchestra, conducted by Pascual Godes
3. EL JURAMENTO: ¡Ay! yo me ví en el mundo desamparada (J. Gaztambide; D.
L. Olona) 3:25
(SO7893) 184326
4. LA TEMPRANICA: Sierras de Granada (Jerónimo Giménez; Julián Romea) 3:36
(SO7894) 184326
5. EL MAL DE AMORES: Canción de la gitanita (José Serrano; S. and J.
Á lvarez Quintero) 2:34
(SO7895) 184305
6. LA ALEGRÍA DEL BATALLÓN: A una gitana preciosa [Dolores’s Gypsy Song]
(José Serrano; Arniches & Quintana) 2:56
(SO7896) 184305
1 NOVEMBER 1932
With piano, Frank Marshall
TONADILLAS (Enrique Granados; Fernando Periquet)
7. Las currutacas modestas 1:21
(SO7897) 184335
8. Callejeo 1:29
(SO7897) 184335
9. La maja dolorosa3:08
(SO7898) 184335
10. Amor y odio2:22
(SO7899) 184336
11. El tra-la-la y el punteado1:08
(SO7899) 184336
12. El majo discreto1:44
(SO7900) 184336
13. El majo tímido1:03
(SO7900) 184336
4 NOVEMBER 1932
With piano, Pedro Vallribera
14. Pandereta andaluza (Esteban Fuste; Justino Ochoa) 2:21
(SO7903) 184315
15. Hojas muertas (Charles Maduro; José Mojica) 2:29
(SO7904) unpublished on 78 rpm
FRENCH ULTRAPHONE, PARIS
MAY 1933
With the Paris Opéra-Comique Orchestra, conducted by Paul Bastide
FRASQUITA (Franz Lehár; French version by M. Eddy and J. Marietti)
16. Qui a dit “Voleurs”? [Frasquita’s entrance]3:11
(P76392) AP1020 transposed down a semi-tone
17. Deux yeux très doux3:23
Louis Arnoult, tenor solo
(P76394) AP1021
18. Ce que c’est que l’amour3:06
(P76393) AP1020 transposed down a semi-tone
19. J’ai ma jeunesse ensoleillée … C’est là qu’est écrit mon secret [Act 1
Finale]6:17
With Louis Arnoult, tenor
(P76398/99) AP1022 transposed down a semi-tone
20. Il y avait une fois [Couplets de la cigarrière]4:36
(P80127) EP1024 transposed down a semi-tone
21. Quand un coeur veut parler le langage d’amour3:37
With Louis Arnoult, tenor
(P76400) AP1023 transposed downa semi-tone
22. Ne t’aurais-je qu’une fois3:42
Louis Arnoult, tenor solo
(P76395) AP1021
23. Le beau rêve est fini3:38
Louis Arnoult, tenor solo
(P76401) AP1023
MAY 1933
With guitar, A. Cuenco
24. Tengo dos lunares (Valverde; traditional) 1:53
Note: Supervia interpolated this song into Act 2 of FRASQUITA
(P80128z) EP1024
25. Los ojos negros (Barta; traditional) 2:04
(P80128z) EP1024
APPENDIX
The following two sides were recently located and are included here out of
chronological sequence.
FRENCH ODEON, PARIS
5 JULY 1930
With orchestra, conducted By Gustave Cloëz
26. Cançó de passar cantant (Eduardo Toldrá; José M. de Sagarra) 2:49
(Ki 3513) 184191
27. Cançó de l’oblit (Eduardo Toldrá; Tomas Garcés) 2:38
(Ki 3515) 184191
CD 1:
Languages: Spanish [1-6, 8, 10-15, 18, 20-26]; Galician [7]; Andalusian
[9]; Catalan [16-17, 19]
CD 2:
Languages: Spanish [1-13, 15, 24-25]; Andalusian [14]; French [16-23];
Catalan [26-27]
Conchita Supervia (soprano) and accompaniments as above