RECORDING OF THE MONTH     CHOPIN Waltzes and Impromptus Vladimir Feltsman £11 post free World-wide VIVALDI The four seasons London Mozart Players/Juritz £12 post free World-wide BEETHOVEN Symphonies 4 and 5 LSO/Yondani Butt £12 post free World-wide

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Jennie Tourel (1900-1973) Jacques OFFENBACH (1819-1880) Les contes d’Hoffmann: Belle nuit, oh nuit d’Amour La Périchole: Ah, quel diner je viens de faire La Périchole: Je t’adore La Périchole: Ah, que les hommes sont bêtes La vie parisienne La Périchole: O mon cher amant, je te jure Georges BIZET (1838-1875) Carmen: Les tringles des sistres tintaient Carmen: En vain pour eviter Carmen: Pres des ramparts Carmen: L’amour est un oiseau rebelle Vincenzo BELLINI (1801-1835) Norma: Sgombro e la sacra selva Gioacchino ROSSINI (1792 – 1868) La Cenerentola: Nacqui all´affanno L’Italiana in Algeri: Cruda sorte Semiramide: Bel raggio lusinghier Il Barbiere di Siviglia: Una voce poco fa Jennie Tourel (soprano) Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera Association/Pietro Cimara and Fausto Cleva Columbia Symphony Orchestra/Maurice Abravanel and Jean Morel Recorded 1946-52 PREISER 89589 [78.22]

AVAILABILITY www.preiserrecords.at Tourel admirers have quite a wide choice at the moment. Fortunately a relatively large slice of her discography is currently available but this Preiser screws the focus tightly to 1945-47 and her Offenbach and Carmen, which derive from sessions made for LP in 1952. In her middle years – from say 1942-46 (she was born in 1900) - she undertook progressively prestigious engagements, singing Berlioz with Toscanini, Debussy with Koussevitzky and Prokofiev with Stokowski. It was around this time that she gave a well received Town Hall recital and made renewed assaults on the Met where she was only an intermittent guest. She sang a lot of Poulenc, formed a notable partnership with Bernstein and proved a fine teacher. So these recordings come from the period of her vocal maturity. The Rossini shows her rather girlish timbre, despite her mezzo extension, and the razor sharp divisions and not least in L’Italiana in Algeri a very subtly inflected portamenti style. Lest one thinks of her at this time as lacking in heft she proves in La Cenerentola to have quite a taste for the florid – with its corollary of a floated lightness of production and a wonderfully equalized scale. It’s certainly not incendiary but then Tourel wasn’t that kind of inflammatory artist. There’s a lot of colour and expression in her Offenbach – just a hint of too much maybe in O mon cher amant, je te jure – but her cosmopolitan theatre style is just right in the main for Offenbach – highly witty and effective. Similarly her infectious, mocking laugh in Pres des ramparts shows how coquettish her Carmen could be. The transfers are blemish free – unproblematic as to surface noise and speed. Notes are biographical as is generally the case with Preiser though they do go into the famous business concerning her obscure beginnings, about which some may still be unaware. Jonathan Woolf   Advertising Rates Visitor stats MusicWeb International has over 40,000 Classical CD reviews on offer Discs received Having a problem Donating? Gerard Hoffnung Concerts & The Bricklayer Story   New Releases New Releases   MusicWeb sells the Polish catalogue CDAccord £10.50 post free W-W MusicWeb sells the Arcodiva catalogue £12.00 post free W-W £11.75 post-free world- wide MusicWeb can now offer you discs from the following catalogues: Prices include postage [Acte Préalable £13.50] [Arcodiva £12.00] [Avie from £6.25] [British Music Society £12.00] [CDACCORD from £13.50 ] [ClassicO £12.50] [Hallé from £11] [Heritage £10] [Hortus £14.99 ] [Lyrita ONLY £11.75 ] [Nimbus Special prices] [Northern Flowers £13.50] [REDCLIFFE £11 ] [Sheva £11] [Tactus £11.50 ] [Talent from £12.00 ] [Toccata Classics £10.50 ] Musicweb Special Offers Monthly Best Buys     Google Ads - for information about privacy matters, click here.  Amazon Musicweb International is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com

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