Search MusicWeb Here Custom Search     International mailing

Searching Musicweb Monthly index Recordings of the Year Label index Masterwork index Series index Search engines Review Archive Classical Downloads Jazz Concerts Nostalgia Books Film music Resources Composer pages National discographies Online books Piano Trio Survey Gerard Hoffnung Arthur Butterworth's columns Philip Scowcroft's British light music collection Interviews Programme notes Other material Articles Seen & Heard Jazz reviews Message Board Announcements About Musicweb About Musicweb Contact Musicweb Contributors What they say about us Visitor stats Site Map

Founder: Len Mullenger

Classical Editor in Chief: Rob Barnett

BUY NOW  Crotchet   AmazonUK   AmazonUS

John McCormack. The McCormack Edition - Volume 1 Gaetano DONIZETTI (1797-1848) Lucia di Lammermoor – Fra pocoa me ricivero; Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali L’elisir d’Amore – Una furtive lagrima La Fille du Régiment – Per viver vicino a Maria William BALFE (1808-1870) Killarney Georges BIZET (1838-1875) Carmen – Il fior che avevi a me dato [sung in Italian] Charles BARNARD (Charlotte ALLINGTON) (1830-69) Come back to Erin Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924) La Bohème – Che gelida manina; O, Mimì, tu più non torni with Mario Sammarco (baritone) TRADITIONAL The Minstrel Boy Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes The Snowy Breasted Pearl - arranged ROBINSON My Lagan Love - arranged Hamilton HARTY Molly Bawn - arranged MacMURROUGH Has Sorrow Thy Young Days Shaded? Lady John SCOTT Annie Laurie Giuseppe VERDI (1813-1901) La Traviata – Lunge da lei Georges GOUNOD (1818-1893) Faust – Salve dimora, casta e pura [sung in Italian] Charles MARSHALL (1808-74) I Hear You Calling Me When Shadows Gather Leo DELIBES (1836-1891) Lakmé – Immenso vienteso [sung in Italian] John McCormack (tenor) Victor Orchestra Recorded 1910 NAXOS 8.110328 [75.58]

Gerard Hoffnung CDs Advertising on Musicweb Donate and get a free CD   New Releases   Musicweb sells the following labels Acte Préalable (THE Polish label) Altus 10% off Arcodiva Atoll 10% off CDAccord CRD 10% off Hallé 10% off Hortus Lyrita 10% off Nimbus 10% off Nimbus Alliance Prima voce 10% off Red Priest 10% off Retrospective 10% off Saydisc 10% off Sheva £2 off Sheva Contemporary Sterling 10% off Toccata Classics Follow us on Twitter Subscribe to our free weekly review listing sample Sample: See what you will get Editorial Board MusicWeb International Founding Editor    Rob Barnett Seen & Heard Editor Emeritus    Bill Kenny Editor in Chief    Vacant MusicWeb Webmaster    David Barker MusicWeb Founder    Len Mullenger

It took some wrangling but Odeon released John McCormack from his contract thus allowing him to make a series of sides for Victor in New York in 1910. They are here in all their early glory and essentially in chronological order. The records divide fairly evenly between the operatic (McCormack did sing on stage early in his career but that was never his metier), ballads and folk songs – English, Scottish and of course Irish. It was in a sense a template of the recordings to come. The Victors, from the shelves of some noted collectors, are in an excellent state of preservation and have been adroitly remastered by Ward Marston. The Victors were forward in their presentation of the voice as we can immediately hear in the Donizetti. Whilst stylistically the Italian-trained tenor may not unambiguously convince, the pessimistic voices who used to write off McCormack as an operatic failure would have a job demonstrating it from the examples here. His breath control is almost peerless – he could take phrases in one breath (Mozart most famously) that others would routinely have to split into two. The tone is clear, sweet, beautifully equalized and utterly inimitable. True there are perhaps some weak lower notes in the compass in Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali and I happen to find a touch of cover in the voice in Che gelida manina along with an effortful ascent as well. But Una furtive lagrima is much better – an exemplar of his bel canto singing, with head voice superbly floated, a spun legato, and a lightly shaded and inflected rendition; perhaps a touch studied but formidable nonetheless. The Puccini duet with Sammarco is dichotomous vocally – McCormack is ardent and bright, Sammarco rather woolly of tone. There’s a slight wear in the tenor’s voice in the Delibes – this was the first side of the session on 25th March so maybe the voice was cold. The other takes, of lighter songs, are in good voice. In that lighter fare we find McCormack in fresh voice. His liquid ease in The Minstrel Boy is palpable – and there’s no barking here (where he raps it out) - of the kind that could creep into his performances in the 1920s and 1930s and certainly did in the later recordings of it. In Charles Marshall’s When Shadows Gather he holds the head note with exquisite perfection. The transfers are first class, allowing the voice free rein unimpeded by treble cut or unnecessary noise suppression. It’s good that the booklet writer translates some of the Gaelic and Scottish phrases that might prove tricky – one tends to take them for granted without stopping to ask oneself if one understands them – though translating "bonnie" is rather over zealous. Otherwise a fine start to another essential vocal edition from Naxos Jonathan Woolf Gerard Hoffnung CDs Advertising on Musicweb Donate and get a free CD   New Releases   Musicweb sells the following labels Acte Préalable (THE Polish label) Altus 10% off Arcodiva Atoll 10% off CDAccord CRD 10% off Hallé 10% off Hortus Lyrita 10% off Nimbus 10% off Nimbus Alliance Prima voce 10% off Red Priest 10% off Retrospective 10% off Saydisc 10% off Sheva £2 off Sheva Contemporary Sterling 10% off Toccata Classics Follow us on Twitter Subscribe to our free weekly review listing sample Sample: See what you will get Editorial Board MusicWeb International Founding Editor    Rob Barnett Seen & Heard Editor Emeritus    Bill Kenny Editor in Chief    Vacant MusicWeb Webmaster    David Barker MusicWeb Founder    Len Mullenger

Return to Index

Reviews from previous months Join the mailing list and receive a hyperlinked weekly update on the discs reviewed. details We welcome feedback on our reviews. Please use the Bulletin Board Please paste in the first line of your comments the URL of the review to which you refer.