Gioacchino ROSSINI
(1792 – 1868)
Il barbiere di Siviglia:
1. Largo al factotum [4:57]
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813 – 1901)
La traviata:
2. Di provenza il mar [4:41]
Un ballo in maschera:
3. Eri tu [6:22]
Richard WAGNER
(1813 – 1883)
Tannhäuser:
4. O du mein holder Abendstern
[4:55]
Jules MASSENET
(1842 – 1912)
Hérodiade:
5. Vision fugitive [4:35]
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO
(1858 – 1919)
Pagliacci:
6. Si può (Prologue) [5:29]
Modest MUSSORGSKY
(1839 – 1881)
The Nursery:
7. I With Nurse (Tell me a story) [2:44]
8. III The Cockchafer (The beetle) [3:41]
9. IV With the Doll (Dolly’s lullaby)
[2:17]
10. V Going to Sleep (Prayer at bedtime)
[2:42]
11. VI On the Hobby-horse (The hobby
horseman) [3:36]
12. VII The cat Sailor (No, you don’t!
Pussy) [3:12]
Dimitri SHOSTAKOVICH
(1906 – 1975)
13. Song of the United Nations [3:25]
Albert Hay MALOTTE
(1895 – 1964)
14. Song of the Open Road [2:47]
Oley SPEAKS (1874
– 1948)
15. Sylvia [3:21]
Rudolf SIECZYNSKI
(1879 – 1952)
16. Vienna, City of my Dreams [3:52]
Blanche Ebert
SEAVER (b. 1891)
17. Just for Today [3:21]
Johann Sebastian
BACH (1685 – 1750)
18. Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring [3:23]
Robert Coningsby
CLARKE (1879 – 1934)
19. The Blind Ploughman [3:11]
Luigi DENZA (1846
– 1922)
20. Had You but Known [3:38]
Albert Hay MALOTTE
21. The Lord’s Prayer [3:21]
Born Ignatz Grünberg
in Grodek, Ukraine, on 26 October 1904,
Igor Gorin had a varied childhood. His
father was a rabbi and Ignatz studied
in a Talmudic school. His mother died
when he was seven and was taken into
care, together with a brother and a
sister, by an aunt. Through the political
unrest they fled to Vienna where Ignatz
earned money by cleaning, delivering
milk and occasionally teaching. He started
to take singing lessons. He gained a
scholarship to the Vienna Conservatory
following recuperation at a spa following
a collapse due to tuberculosis. While
continuing his studies in Vienna he
was able to see many famous singers
at the opera, among them Mattia Battistini,
who despite his advanced age was still
a superb bel canto singer; he
became a model for young Ignatz. He
worked as a cantor but his mentor arranged
for him to be member of a touring opera
company, where he sang many of the great
baritone roles. At the suggestion of
an agent he changed his name to Igor
Gorin and was for some time contracted
to an opera house in Czechoslovakia.
He also sang in Vienna at the Volksoper.
When Hitler came to power in 1933 Gorin
managed to flee to the USA on forged
documents. He had appeared there before
with success but now it took some time
before influential people he came to
know helped him to secure contracts
with several radio stations. In 1937
he was signed by RCA Victor and his
recordings became very successful. He
met Mary Smith, a radio actress, in
1939 and they married the same year.
Gradually several American opera houses
opened their doors to him and he sang
opposite famous names like Giovanni
Martinelli and, much later, Boris Christoff.
In 1964, when he was already nearing
60, he was finally offered a contract
with the Metropolitan Opera. There he
sang Germont in La traviata on
10 February, but this was his only appearance
there. The same year he contracted glaucoma
which led to the removal of his right
eye. His singing career was over but
he moved to Tucson and a teaching post
at the University of Arizona for some
time until he had to retire due to further
illness. Igor Gorin died in 1982.
The above information
I have culled from Alan Bilgora’s as
usual extremely well researched and
well-written liner-notes. There is an
earlier volume in the Prima Voce series
with unusual opera excerpts recorded
in the 1930s. I haven’t heard that disc
but am familiar with Igor Gorin’s voice
from other compilations.
The six standard baritone
arias on the present disc were all recorded
in 1955. We hear a singer who had been
singing professionally for almost thirty
years but there is not a trace of deterioration.
His breath-control is phenomenal, the
tone is beautiful and smooth, a mite
darker than in the 1930s and the steadiness
is something many singers half his age
would envy. He has power in reserve
and sings high G naturals effortlessly
but what impresses most is the natural
flow of lovely sounds and his musical
phrasing. His Largo al factotum
is a tour de force from beginning
to end, Germont’s Provence aria – his
signature role – healthy and rounded.
In Renato’s Eri tu the desperation
and anger come through without any distortion
of the musical line. There is a lot
of feeling, delivered in long Verdian
phrases and with an elegant diminuendo
near the end. Wolfram’s song to the
Evening Star from Tannhäuser
is beautifully sung with deep involvement
and impeccable legato. Vision fugitive
is impassioned but beautifully nuanced
without histrionics and even Tonio’s
prologue from Pagliacci, which
has been shouted to pieces by sundry
stentorian can belto singers,
is light and rather elegant. Singing
off the words his message still
comes over. The legato singing of the
memorable phrase Un nido di memorie
is disarmingly simple and beautiful.
Mussorgsky’s cycle
The Nursery is no doubt one of
the most penetrating musical portraits
of the world of a child. There have
been many recordings through the years
in different languages but the original
Russian text is preferable. The recording
that stands out as the definitive is
– to most song lovers – Boris Christoff’s.
That this monumental bass can transform
his voice to fit into a little child’s
is remarkable. But Igor Gorin is not
too far behind. His voice is naturally
lighter and apart from the cycle being
sung in English this is a version that
is highly admirable. What a pity that
he only recorded six of the seven songs!
Gorin again sings off
the words and never overdoes anything.
But he is careful with nuances and colours
the tone expressively. Sometimes he
is soft and inward and the voice is
close to a whisper, but in the song
about the hobby-horse he is jolly and
enthusiastic, bubbling with joy – until
he falls and then there is no one in
the whole world feeling more miserable.
The whole cycle is ample proof, not
only of his vocal resources but also
of his artistry. The pianist is good
and the recorded sound excellent for
its time.
I don’t know anything
about the background to Shostakovich’s
Song of the United Nations and
Mr Bilgora has no information either.
It is in a way stock-patriotic but the
main melody is catchy and it is beautifully
sung. Thirteen years later, the same
year that he recorded the opera arias,
Gorin also set down eight popular songs
and ballads. He sings them all with
affection but without the tearful delivery
of some other singers, whether classically
schooled or popular artists. Malotte’s
Song of the Open Road is impressive,
Speaks’s Sylvia is almost tenoral
in his soft reading. No, he isn’t exactly
crooning but very close to. Wien
du Statt meiner Träume, sung
in English like all the other items,
is rather straightforward but there
is some Viennese lilt and he makes a
lovely portamento near the end. Just
for Today offers some of the most
superb singing on this disc. I searched
for some time in Internet before I found
any information on the composer, who
obviously must be 117 this year. Readers
with further knowledge about Blanche
Ebert Seaver are welcome with comments
on our bulletin board. The song was
once recorded by John McCormack.
There is little baroque
feeling about Jesu, Joy of Man’s
Desiring but Gorin pours out tone
so golden that it’s futile to complain.
The Blind Ploughman
is in the track-list attributed to Clark-Hall,
which turns out to be the composer Robert
Coningsby Clarke and the text-writer
Marguerite Radclyffe-Hall. The song
is not devoid of sentimentality but
Gorin avoids the ‘sob-trap’ and sings
with excellent legato, beautiful absolutely
steady tone – neutral but not insensitive.
Luigi Denza is best
known for the hit-song Funiculi-Funicula,
but he wrote a lot more and Had You
But Known, usually sung in French,
is a fine composition. Gorin sings it
slower than I have heard it before but
his breath control serves him well and
he sustains the legato admirably. Malotte’s
The Lord’s Prayer was once frequently
heard. Today it is more of a rarity,
even though I have sung it in choral
arrangements. Gorin gives it an inward
reading with fine legato.
Alan Bilgora writes:
‘… one of the most attractive baritone
voices ever to have recorded.’ To this
I would like to add: ‘… and expressive
as well.’
Göran Forsling
Igor Gorin (baritone) 
