Beniamino Gigli.
New York Recordings 1929-30. Gigli Edition:
Volume 6
Albano SEISMIT-DODA
Notte lunare [2 takes]
Friedrich von
FLOTOW (1812-1883)
Martha - M’appari
Amilcare PONCHIELLI
(1834-1886)
La Gioconda – Cielo e mar!
Georges BIZET
(1838-1875)
Les Pêcheurs de perles – Je crois
entendre encore [2 takes]
Gaetano DONIZETTI
(1797-1848)
L’elisir d’amore – Una furtive lagrima
Luigi DENZA
(1846-1922)
Se
Occhi turchini
Stanislao GASTALDON
Musica probita
Ernest DE CURTIS
Carmela
Fritz KREISLER
(1875-1962)
Vecchio ritornello
Emanuele NUTILE
Mamma mia, che vo’ sapè
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813-1901)
I Lombardi – Or non più dinanzi
al cielo [2 takes]
With Elisabeth Rethberg (soprano), Ezio
Pinza (bass)
Attila – Te sol quest’anima [2 takes]
With Elisabeth Rethberg (soprano), Ezio
Pinza (bass)
Beniamino Gigli (tenor) with singers
as noted above and orchestras conducted
by Bruno Reibold and Rosario Bourdon
Recorded New York, 1929-30
NAXOS 8.110267 [66.51]
Volume Six of Naxos’s
exhaustive chronological Gigli series
derives from Romophone 82005-2, which
collectors will know covered the complete
Victor recordings 1929-32. The exciting
news about this Naxos disc is that it
includes an unpublished take of Seismit-Doda’s
Notte lunare – take two, which
makes its first appearance. As before,
readers will know that Mark Obert-Thorn
has done some more restorative work
on his earlier transfers. The differences
are slight.
Volume Six is one that
will appeal mostly to Gigli Completists.
Apart from the two takes of Notte
lunare – excellent to have but not
a particularly interesting song – we
have takes one and three of Je crois
entendre encore (sung in Italian),
two takes of Or non più dinanzi
al cielo from I Lombardi –
takes one and two, the first unpublished
on 78 - and two of Attila’s Te sol
quest’anima. Both these last were
with the resplendent Elisabeth Rethberg.
We also have a deal of Gigli in lighter
fare singing the Neapolitan songs for
which he was famed and also some Kreisler,
and Flotow.
He is at something
like his best in Ponchielli – the colours
and half voice superbly deployed – and
ringingly so. His Bizet is less
impressive, Gigli seemingly intent on
breaking legato, and his Donizetti much
admired by some but not by me. The run
is loose and the sobs a portent of the
stylistic anachronisms to come. But
mainly we get the charm and the effulgence
of a voice that so captivated his listeners.
This applies to De Curtis, whom Gigli
did so much to popularise on disc and
the honeyed Nutile which, despite a
few catches in the throat and emotive
pleading, is a superb example of his
art in lighter material. The all-star
vocal trio he formed with Rethberg and
Pinza is devoted to two Verdi performances,
in two takes of each. Rethberg is immensely
impressive in I Lombardi and Pinza in
Attila with Gigli providing the metallic
spark to set their voices off. There’s
little to choose between the takes and
the previously unpublished ones have
survived in an excellent state of preservation.
Jonathan Woolf
Beniamino Gigli (tenor) with singers as noted
above and orchestras conducted by Bruno Reibold
and Rosario Bourdon 
