 |
 |
This short selection of four HMV sides has been restored and reissued as much out of personal curiosity value as for historical purpose. We are not currently offering it as a CD - at a mere 18 minutes long this would perhaps be considered poor value for money - and the price of the MP3 download has been lowered to reflect the overall duration. What is fascinating about these recordings is the different way that HMV was packaging them and re-working them, right back in the earliest days of reissues. HMV launched their DB series of twelve-inch 78rpm discs in 1924, three years after the tenor's death, with a number of their classic vocal recordings from performers such as Chaliapin, Gigli and Caruso. Indeed, the Caruso series runs from DB.111 through to DB.145 (excluding 114 and 135) and from the evidence of DB.142, presented here in our first two songs, they seem to be well-made straight reissues of the originals. The DB series does use smaller labels than previous issues, and the recordings here do run right into the centre, so it may be guessed that the HMV engineers re-cut their masters for these issues - certainly the sound quality we've found from DB.142 seems an improvement on earlier discs in our collection, suffering none of the groove distortion we've found elsewhere. When we turn to the later disc, DB.1875, we discover something new - yes that's Caruso's voice, and yes they are recordings originally made in 1911 and 1916, but we immediately hear a frequency range which far exceeds that of the early acoustic recordings. Furthermore there's something akin to a slight reverberation at times - or possibly some sort of echo - as can just be heard if you listen very carefully to our 30s sample. This is taken from the third track - it's the recitative Se quel guerrier lo fossil prior to Celeste Aida, and the brass section threatens to drown out the singer! On closer listening this is clearly be a result of newer instruments overdubbing older ones - the echo is the sound of the older recording underneath the new one! Considering we're listening on high quality equipment, it's not too difficult to discern the joins between the 1911 and 1916 originals and the 1932 orchestral overdub - but back then it must have sounded quite convincing. It certainly works quite well, especially after the removal of a mains hum which seemed to coincide with the fading in and out of the original discs! So for curiosity value, if nothing else, we're delighted to present these new remasterings. Naturally with a performer so accomplished as Caruso all of these recordings are well worth hearing - and of course studio trickery with his recordings continues to this day.
|
