Phonograph Monthly Review, Vol. 5, No. 6 (1931-03)

193 March, 1931, Vol. V. No. 6 OPERATIC Lakme— Ou va la jeune Hindou and La-bas, Dans le joret (Bell Song), sung in French by Lily Pons with orchestral ac- companiment. Victor 1502 (DIO, $1.50). This is the second American phonographic appearance of the brilliantly successful young coloratura whose every ap- pearance is greeted with sensational enthusiasm at the Metro- politan Opera House. Her roles now include Lucia, Olympia, Gilda, Rosina and Filina. The supremely exacting measures of the Bell Song hold no terrors for Mile. Pons. Not only is the music admirably exe- cuted, but the purity of intonation is remarkable especially the cruel high note at the end of part one where so many eminent, singers go astray. The cadenzas, in themselves un- conventional, are sung with genuine bravura feeling and an admirably sustained quality of tone which bespeaks excellent breath control. The clarity of the singer’s French diction adds to the effectiveness of the ensemble. Coloratura en- thusiasts will appreciate this record and hope for some of the less hackneyed numbers, like Zerbinetta’s aria from Ariadne auf Naxos. I Lombardi— Qual Volutta Trascorrere (With Sacred Joy), and Attila —Te Sol Quests Anima (To Thee My Heart Be- longeth), trio by Elizabeth Rethberg, Beniamio Gigli, and Ezio Pinza, sung in Italian with orchestral accompani- ments. Victor 8194 (D12, $2.50). The present day interest in Verdi’s older works makes this release all the more timely. With Luisa Miller at the Me- tropolitan, Simone Boccanegra at the Berlin Stadtische Oper, and Macbeth and Nabucco elsewhere in Europe, the pres- ent manager of La Scala, Anita Colombo, hit upon “I Lom- bardi alia prima Crociata” as the best way of observing the time-honored custom of opening the season with a Verdi opera, not imitating any other opera house and also giving opportunity for lavish scenic display and taking advantage of the locale- of the opera as coincident with the time of the representation. Valid reasons as these proved necessary as the revival was not a success, and disappointment was wide- spread. The opera Attila is absolutely defunct, no other mention of it coming to hand but the present record. The trio from I Lombardi was recorded acoustically but the present version does not need to suffer in comparison, the soprano especially being a notable improvement. Madame Rethberg’s voice in fact records to better advantage in this instance than in any other within memory with the exception of the Flying Dutchman Ballad. One cannot be enthusiastic over Signor Gigli’s lachrymose delivery of the tenor part, but the quality of the voice is in itself beautiful as always. Pinza records excellently here. The excerpt from Attila is of the typical old Italian style, but good opera at that. It an interesting exhumation any- way and will probably turn up at a Metropolitan Sunday even- ing concert sometime soon. R. B. TOSCA Puccini: Tosca, sung by Eminent Italian Operatic Artists, together with the Chorus of La Scala and the Milan Sym- phony Orchestra. Columbia Operatic Series No. 6 (14 D12s, Alb., $21.00). . Tosca Bianca Scacciati Cavaradossi Allesandro Granda Scarpia Enrico Molinari Cesare Angelotti Salvatore Baccaloni The Sacristan Aristide Baracchi Spoletta Emilio Venturini Chorus Master Vittore Veneziani Conductor Cav. L. Molajoli Most opera lovers have forgotten or overlooked the fact that Illica, one of the greatest of the librettists, originally wrote the libretto of Tosca for Franchetti in 1895. He will be rembered as the composer of the ill-fated Germania, one of the works which Signor Gatti mounted to freshen Signor Caruso’s repertoire. Madame Destinn and Signor Amato were others concerned in the performance. TWo arias from this opera are among the finest recorded examples of the great tenor’s voice. Strange to say Franchetti did not care for the libretto, feeling that this melodrama was unsuitable for a musical set- ting, anti-musical, in fact. Doubting his own judgment he called upon Verdi, who in turn was most enthusiastic. He liked the third act especially with the panorama of Rome as a background and its tense plot with splendid opportunity for an operatic setting. “What do you young composers want?” he asked. “If I had only had such libretti in my youth instead of the drivel I had to endure, what might I not have been able to do.” There have been interpretations of this musical Sardood- leism that almost makes one agree with Franchetti’s original idea, but the present version is not one of them, and affords a striking contrast in many ways to the version conducted by Sabajno (Victor) and reviewed in the November P.M.R. Bianca Sccaciati is first of all a human being, her career in this instance being secondary. You feel at her first en- trance that she is more anxious to find the woman with whom her lover has a probable assignation than to sweep the stage as the haughty prima-donna. Her love for Mario is the one great force of her life, the Attavanti fan the fuel for the flames. Scarpia, the brooding villain, means naught to her, except the innate loathing that she unconsciously feels for him. The final denouement is the inevitable result of this fusing of hates and circumstance. Madame Scacciati has the beauty of tone, and suavity of melodic line at her command that is indispensable in the more lyric moments of the role. At climaxes she continually pushes her voice for dramatic effect and gains it. The end justifies the means. Similarly, her resort to parlando several times when she addresses her- self to Scarpia is quite natural outgrowth of this intensity, which grows with the progress of the plot. Vocally her best moment is in the exacting Vissi d’arte. She is ably assisted by Allesandro Granda. He does not, thank heaven, find it necessary to shout at all times. He is in fact a sympathetic lover, and one, it would seem, worthy of Tosca’s affection. In the tenser moments he maintains the same repression with satisfying results. The voice of Enrico Molinari as Scarpia lacks the sensuous beauty of Granforte, but since this quality has been dissociated with the role since its earliest American performances the lack of it here matters little. This Scarpia seems more of a matter-of-fact villian and takes this particular case as he has many others. Only when he faces death is there a change in his feeling and it is obviously too late. The subordinate parts are well done, the voice of the shepherd being appropriately juvenile with- out being ludicrous. The orchestra is kept in its proper place, the back- ground, and subordinating it to the action itself. The splendid balance in that usually confused last scene in the first act is a tribute to the quality inherent in the entire performance, restraint. The same chorus master has directed both choirs, so praise would seem to again be due to a conductor who is able to achieve such/ fine effects. Certainly not one whit of dramatic force and vitality is missing. Those who like Tosca will hasten to acquire this set. Richardson Brown The Music Magazine of the Pacific West Published Monthly in San Francisco Covering the Ten Western States from Canada to Mexico The biggest Western Circulation of any Music Magazine FREDERIC SHIPMAN, Publisher Hotel Sutter San Francisco