This is volume 4 of
Mark Obert-Thorn’s to-be-completed survey
of Gigli’s song and aria recordings
not issued as part of complete opera
sets. It is a curious, but interesting
mélange. First points of interest
are the repeats of earlier pre-electric
(acoustic) recordings. By this date
Victor were able to get a good balance
between voice and orchestra, albeit
that the strings of the latter often
come over as thin and wiry (tr. 5).
In respect of the singer’s voice the
comparisons are more interesting. ‘Recondita
armonia’ from Tosca (tr. 1) is one such
remake. The role of Cavaradossi had,
somewhat surprisingly given its demands
in terms of tonal weight, been in Gigli’s
repertoire since his earliest years
on the stage. Whilst in the first recording
the tone is markedly lighter and the
vocal emission rather nasal, here it
is given its full open-throated due
with a much greater strength in the
lower voice. I am also struck by Gigli’s
tone in all these October 27th
1926 recordings which include ‘Donna
non vidi mai’ (tr. 2), the Drigo aria
(Tr. 3) and Toselli’s ‘Serenata’ (tr.
4, an unpublished version, and tr.5),
in that the singer’s voice has a distinct
baritonal. This colouration is absent
in the recordings of 9th December, all
Neapolitan Songs, where his tone is
wholly tenorish and much lighter. Maybe
a touch of a head cold or perhaps the
influence of the role(s) he was concurrently
singing at the ‘Met’ were influences.
Interesting also are
the duets with Titta Ruffo, recorded
on December 17th (trs. 10-12)
and the repeats of the Puccini and Verdi
with Giuseppe De Luca (trs. 16 and 17)
set down a mere nine weeks later. Ruffo
(1877-1953) had a big voice that he
had used to the full and by 1926 this
usage had taken some toll on his tone;
the results of these sessions were not
published for some years. Giuseppe De
Luca (1876-1950) had used his fine-tuned
and -toned vocal resources more circumspectly.
This together with his musicality makes
him an ideal partner for Gigli, drawing
out the best of the tenor’s golden tone,
elegant phrasing and vocal characterisation.
Ignore the baritones
and compare Gigli at the start of the
‘Bohème’ duet (tr. 11 with Ruffo
and 16 with De Luca). Also note that
both start with ‘In un coupe’ not, as
shown, ‘O Mimi, tu piu non torni’ at
1:55 later. The two Mefistofele arias
(trs. 13 and 15) were repeats of pre-electric
recordings with Gigli’s stronger lower
voice and added control of legato being
additional virtues to his honeyed mezza-voce.
The purist policy of this series means
that Cottrau’s more vigorous ‘Addio
a Napoli’ splits these two related arias
as the contents are presented in order
of recording.
Mark Obert-Thorn notes
that the contents of this volume were
originally issued in 1996 as part of
the Romophone label’s survey of Gigli’s
Victor recordings. However, he also
notes that ‘in remastering my original
transfers I have tried to remove the
clicks and pops that remained…and have
made adjustments to the equalisation
of each track’. The results are
certainly very satisfactory to my ears
with Gigli’s voice well caught and very
little extraneous noise. Enthusiasts
need not hesitate.
Robert J Farr
see also review
by Jonathan Woolf
Victor Orchestra/Josef Pasternack; Rosario Bourdon;
Nathaniel Shilkret 