PACO002:
Pagliacci (sung in English) - Leoncavallo
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Principals,
Chorus & Orchestra of the British National Opera Company
Conductor: Eugene Goossens Snr. Recorded
in the Scala Theatre, London, 1927.
Released as Columbia 4347-4358
Duration 62'13"
CAST:
Miriam Licette- Nedda/Columbine Frank Mullings - Canio/Punchinello
Harold Williams - Tonio/Taddeo Heddle
Nash - Peppe/Harlequin
Dennis Noble - Silvio
Play excerpt
Fine
singing on excellent transfers. The clarity and immediacy of sound
reveal performances which at best give pleasure by any standards…
fascinating as period documents. Startlingly fine transfers....
- John Steane (The
Gramophone, 2006)
Before
we consider any musical aspects of this recording we ought to consider
its groundbreaking technological achievement. We've taken the advice of
the British National Sound Archive in dating this recording to 1927, probably
early spring. The first commercial recordings made with microphones ('electric'
recordings) were released in 1925.
This
recording was made entirely on location at the Scala Theatre, London,
with full cast, chorus and orchestra, and released across 24 sides of
10" 78rpm discs - the first electric opera recording in history in
the English language. This is the first time this recording has been restored
and reissued.
You
might therefore expect it to be a bit sonically challenged. What surprised
us is just how good it does sound, and how relatively straightforward
the restoration turned out to be compared to similar recordings of this
era. It's a cracking performance that whisks you straight into Leoncavallo's
masterpiece!
Of
the cast members it is perhaps Heddle Nash whose name is still
well known, with many reissues of his recordings available on CD. The
soprano Miriam Licette made her stage debut in Rome in 1911 in
Madame Butterfly and went on to become a mainstay of the London opera
companies of the era, both with the BNO and Covent Garden. Frank Mullings
was later to become Professor of Singing at the Royal Manchester College
of Music. Australian Harold Williams made a number of recordings
for Columbia, including the title role in a 1930 recording of Mendelssohn's
Elijah that we've restored for CD release on Divine Art Historic
Sound in March 2005. Dennis Noble's 1923 opera debut was in the
Silvio character he plays here - he also went on to make many fine and
renowned recordings.
REVIEW
OF LEONCAVALLO'S 'PAGLIACCI'
Leoncavallo
had one great success at 35, but kept on trying for another
24 years. He had a near success in "La Boheme",
but was unlucky to collide with Puccini's great masterpiece.
Another bit of bad luck is to be always paired with Mascagni's
"Cavalleria Rusticana", which is the greater and
fresher work. Still, so splendid are the performance and remastering
provided for review that one has no doubt of "I Pagliacci"s"
lasting place in the operatic repertoire.
Was
there even an English National Opera in 1927? To hear opera
in English is such joy. No libretto, no subtitles. The clarity
of pronunciation is fabulous. Canio, Tonio and Silvo are full
and rich; where is that pinched, white tone we have come to
expect? Nedda is even greater; what happened to Miriam Licette?
The ensemble is superb. The orchestra is spot on! So superior
to many Italian orchestras of later years. I didn't know Eugene
Goosens was so fine an opera conductor; the pacing doesn't
allow for any dull spots. The prologue, Nedda's bird aria
and the finale where Canio stabs Nedda are so passionate.
This is one of the great performances of "I Pagliacci".
I've
run out of superlatives to describe the remastering. I don't
know what the source was. In any case, I detected no surface
noise and no joins. It sounded like a good early 1950's mono
to me. Does it get better than this?
Reviewer:
Bill Rosen
Restorer's
note: Bill asks about the source material for this
transfer. This recording was restored entirely from the original
UK Columbia 10" 78rpm shellac discs, made in the late
1920's.
Fine
singing on excellent transfers. The clarity and immediacy of sound
reveal performances which at best give pleasure by any standards…
fascinating as period documents. Startlingly fine transfers....
