Jacques HALÉVY
(1799-1862)
1.La Juive: Dieu, que
ma voix tremblante [2:27]
10 July 1924; (BT851-2) P660
Giacomo MEYERBEER
(1791-1864)
2.Le Prophète:
Pour Bertha [3:20]
10 July 1924; (BT850-2) P591
3.Le Prophète:
Roi du ciel [3:03]
10 July 1924; (BT852-2) P591
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813-1901)
4.Le Trouvère:
Supplice infâme (Di quella pira)
[2:24]
11 July 1924; (BT857-2) P582
5.Le Trouvère:
Mère tu dors!… Oui, la fatigue
(Madre, non dormi… Ai nostri
monti) [7:07]
with Marie Charbonnel, contralto
23 February 1925; (CT1264-2/CT1265-1)
W706
6.Rigoletto: Qu’une belle
(Questo quella) [2:01]
20 February 1925; (BT1257-2) P600
7.Rigoletto: Comme la
plume au vent (La donna è mobile)
[2:09]
20 February 1925; (BT1256-2) P600
8.Aida: O céleste
Aida (Celeste Aida) [3:29]
18 February 1925; (CT1239-1) W755
9.Otello: Tout m’abandonne
(Ora è per sempre addio) [1:21]
19 February 1925; (BT1248-1) P660
10.Otello: Dieu, tu pouvais
m’infliger (Dio, mi potevi) [2:31]
19 February 1925; (BT1250-2) P609
11.Otello: Que nul ne
craigne (Niun mi tema) [3:35]
19 February 1925; (BT1249-2) P609
Pietro MASCAGNI
(1863-1945)
12.Cavalleria Rusticana:
Sicilienne (O Lola) [2:06]
11 July 1924; (BT858-1) P615
13.Cavalleria Rusticana:
Moi seul ai tous les torts … Ah, servez
de mère
(Lo so che il torto è mio… Mamma,
quel vino e generosa) [5:42]
26 February 1925; (BT1283-1/BT1284-1)
P607
Giacomo PUCCINI
(1858-1924)
14.Manon Lescaut: Parmi
vous, ô belles brunes (Tra voi,
belle, brune e
bionde) [1:55]
16 February 1925; (BT1224-2) P610
15.Manon Lescaut: Oh!
Manon de nouveau tu trahis ta pensée
(Ah! Manon, mi
tradisce) [1:58]
11 July 1924; (BT860-1) P610
16.Manon Lescaut: Ah,
ne m’approchez pas (Ah, non vi avvicinate…
Guardate
come io piango ed imploro) [1:56]
11 July 1924; (Bt859-2) P588
Ruggero LEONCAVALLO
(1858-1919)
17.Mattinata [1:59]
20 February 1925; (BT1259-2) P615
Camille SAINT-SAËNS
(1835-1921)
18.Samson et Dalila: Arrêtez,
ô mes frères [1:59]
11 July 1924; (BT861-2) P614
19.Samson et Dalila: Israël,
romps ta chaîne [1:58]
19 February 1925; (BT1247-1) P614
Georges BIZET
(1838-1875)
20.Carmen: La fleur que
tu m’avais jetée [3:26]
20 February 1925; (BT1255-2) P644
Jules MASSENET
(1842-1912)
21.La Navarraise: O bien
aimée [2:11]
23 February 1925; (BT1266-2) P634
Henry FÉVRIER
(1875-1957)
22.Gismonda: Oui, vous
étiez l’enjeu splendide [ 2:11]
26 February 1925; (BT1286-1) P634
REYER
23.Sigurd: Esprits gardiens
[3:15]
18 February 1925; (BT1240-2) P624
20 February 1925; (BT1258-2) P624
Richard WAGNER
(1813-1883)
25.Lohengrin: Ah, respirons
tous deux (Atmest du nicht) [2:20]
16 February 1925; (BT1223-2) P641
26.Lohengrin: Ma confiance
en toi (Höchstes Vertraun) [2:53]
16 February 1925; (BT1222-1) P641
27.La Walkyrie: O glaive
promis par mon père (Ein Schwert
verhiess)
[4:14]
26 February 1925; (CT1285-2) W755
Jules MASSENET
(1842-1912)
28.Manon: Toi…Vous [3:56]
with Rose Heilbronner, soprano
Odeon Paris 1912-1914; (XP 6074-2) X111594
HIS MASTER’S VOICE, FRANCE, 1930-1933
Selected Electric Recordings
Gaetano DONIZETTI
(1797-1848)
1.La Favorite: Un ange,
une femme inconnue [3:33]
15 September 1931; (OW469-1) DA4863
2.La Favorite: Ange si
pur, que dans un songe [2:52]
14 September 1931; (OW457-2) DA4863
Giacomo MEYERBEER
(1791-1864)
3.L’africaine: Pays merveilleux…O
paradis [3:02]
2 April 1930; (BF3125) P854
L’africaine: Duo Act II
4.C’est de là que mon canot fragile…Combien
tu m’es chère [4:33]
with Odette Ricquier, soprano
22 November 1932; (2PG306) DB4901
L’africaine: Duo Act IV
5.Erreur fatale [4:24]
with Odette Ricquier, soprano
22 November 1932; (2PG308) DB4901
6.Les Huguenots: Ah! Quel
spectacle…Plus blanche que la blanche
hermine
[3:23]
2 April 1930; (CF3127) W1087
Richard WAGNER
(1813-1883)
Lohengrin: Duo Act III
7.Déjà se perd leur voix
(Das süße Lied verhallt)
[6:36]
8.Ah, respirons tous deux (Atmest du
nicht) [3:28]
9.Ma confiance en toi (Höchstes
Vertraun) [6:24]
with Mireille Berthon, soprano
13 October 1933; (2PG 1162-2, 2PG 1163-1,
2PG 1164-1, 2PG 1165-1) DB 4920
DB 4921
10.Lohengrin: Aux bords
lointains… (In fernem Land) [4:28]
10 September 1931; (2W 441-2) DB4828
11.Lohengrin: Mon cygne
aime (Mein lieber Schwan) [4:31]
10 September 1931; (2W 440-1) DB4828
12.La Walkyrie: O glaive
promis par mon père (Ein Schwert
verhiess)
[4:23]
28 January 1932; (2W 1219-1) DB 4857
13.La Walkyrie: Plus d’hiver,
déjà le printemps commence
(Winterstürme)
[3:01]
27 January 1932; (2W 1218-1) DB 4857
14.Siegfried: Nothung!
Nothung! [2:50]
21 November 1932; (OPG 302-2) DA 4847
Camille SAINT-SAËNS
(1835-1921)
Samson et Dalila: Duo
Act II, Scene III
15.En ces lieux, malgré moi [9:18]
16.Mon cœur s’ouvre à ta voix
[5:43]
17.Mais!…non! que dis-je, hélas!
[6:01]
with Marie Duchene, contralto
15 September 1931; (2W 470, 2W 471)
DB 4845
16 September 1931; (OW479-4, 480-1,
481-1, 482-2) DA4819, DA4820
César Vezzani (tenor)
CD1:
All recordings accompanied by orchestra
Languages: Track 17 in Italian, all
other Tracks are in French
CD2:
All recordings accompanied by orchestra;
Tracks 2, 12, and 13 conducted by
Pierro Coppola; Tracks 3 and 6 conducted
by Henri Busser.
Languages: All Tracks are in French
This is the second
volume in Marston’s series devoted to
the complete recordings of the Corsican
tenor César Vezzani (1888-1951).
The first was exclusively of acoustic
material and indeed the first CD of
this second volume covers the remaining
1924-25 acoustics made for French HMV.
The second disc jumps ahead, passing
over the early eclectic remakes (which
will appear in volume 3) to the 1930-33
sequence of discs that Vezzani made.
These sides cover Donizetti, Meyerbeer,
Saint-Saëns but predominantly Wagner,
and sung in French of course. For various
reasons Vezzani’s career was never international
though he certainly made the rounds
of French and North African houses –
Algiers included – and was busy in Rouen,
Marseille, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Toulon
as well as Parisian recording studios.
He never sang at the Paris Opéra
and seems to have preferred the South.
Though he sang French
repertory he wasn’t naturally in the
line of French tenors. His voice had
an Italianate, heroic ring, a powerful,
declamatory attack, a masculine attack
reflective of his Corsican heritage.
It’s a big voice, often well-shaded,
and the chance to study it in such comprehensive
detail is warmly to be welcomed. It’s
almost certainly the case that this
is the first time that his surviving
recordings have been collated in such
a way and Ward Marston has maximised
every crevice of the late acoustics.
They sound forward and full of detail.
He’s retained a degree of shellac crackle
but upper frequencies are intact and
the discs are a pleasure to listen to.
Whether the same can
universally be said of the artistic
performance is perhaps another matter.
For all the masculine charge and the
recommendation of the eloquent booklet
notes Vezzani remains something of an
acquired taste. There’s no doubting
his passionate conviction nor some very
special examples of a tenor’s arsenal
of expressive devices but more worrying
is a lack of uncomplicated, simple lyricism.
Of the late acoustics here the aria
from La Juive has a real outsize strident
heroism but the upper register sounds
effortful and forced. Yes, his Verdi
has a real Corsican ring and concomitant
drama and delivery but there’s something
rather vulgar about the vocal production
and its application that tends to limit
pleasure. Too many of these arias begin
hopefully and end in disappointment.
Celeste Aida lacks a sense of legato,
the tone roughening, toughening, the
texture and colour in a state of constant
change. This eruptive charge is better
suited to his Otello and it’s certainly
more than a mere curiosity to hear his
Manon Lescaut, in French. But the sense
of incipient hysteria in his Leoncavallo
sounds rather more put on than lived,
as indeed does the half catch in the
voice in the Aida. His Wagner is a bizarre
exercise, to my ears, and his Lohengrin
sounds as if three tenors were singing
not one. It’s a tribute to his power
of colour and constant inflection that
this should be so, I suppose, though
it can hardly be counted a musical success.
His arias from La Favorite
begin with a certain caressing intimacy
but then he changes gear and we get
another eruption of torrid, rather ill-defined
machismo, the polar opposite of French
lyric elegance. In itself this is characterful
and individualist; it’s certainly worth
hearing. But listening to Ah! Quel
spectacle ... Plus blanche que la blanche
hermine (Les Huguenots) once can
hear how, though he begins well, the
runs aren’t clear at all and he blusters
his way through to the end. It’s the
kind of singing that puts the coarse
into Corsican.
In the end Vezzani
seems to have reached his just, provincial
level. Though a harsh judgement it seems
borne out by the recorded evidence of
a singer of unquestioned vocal gifts
whose Italianate powers of declamation
were not matched by commensurate artistry
or sensitivity. They certainly could
not wish for a better arena to be heard
however than this splendidly produced
and transferred double CD set.
Jonathan Woolf
MARSTON 52045-2 [79.02 + 78.19] 
