Naxos may have started
its Schipa series recently but Preiser
has been productively going through
his extensive discography for some time.
This is the fourth volume in their series
and it takes us up to 1930. In truth
Schipa reissue discs are hardly thin
on the ground but with a voice as honeyed,
and an aristocracy of utterance so seldom
if ever equalled, it still makes pleasurable
acquaintance to meet these early electrics
and to admire once more his lyric generosity
in even the most lowly of songs.
Not that Schipa would
ever have seen it in those terms. He
was an assiduous cultivator of the lighter
repertoire and wrote a number of songs
that his eminence gave him the right
to record – there are a fair few here,
and a number of his appropriations as
well, not least the Granados which falls
in spectacular fashion to his unremitting
charm.
There are no art songs
here and none of the central roles.
Instead there’s a steady diet of effulgent
warmth and light heartedness. If that’s
not what you want from Schipa – or if
there’s too much of a high calorific
diet - maybe another volume in the series
would be a better place to start. To
admirers and interested parties I can
vouch for the transfers which are first
class and Preiser’s notes are succinct
and in English as well as German.
A very few highlights
will have to suffice to whet the aural
appetite. The open vowels and sheer
elegance of the Huarte for one, complete
with Moorish melismas or the manly legato
and wit of Schipa’s De Crescenzo. Fancy
maracas? Try the Di Capua O sole
mio, done with 1925 style and restraint
(compare and contrast the Three Tenors).
The de Falla is a delight, showing once
more his exceptional popularity in Spain
and his own Ave Maria is wondrously
prayerful, with the voice not quite
as forward as it can be in some of the
other recordings. La farfalletta
gets a tongue twisting from Schipa
and his honeyed legato is paramount
in La nina querida. The Pergolesi
has grave sentiment, and the Mascagni
(despite swoony theatre strings) has
noble ardour, with emotive gestures
kept reined in. There’s plenty of Spanish
vim and vigour, some songs in English
(his English is better than Caruso’s)
and plenty of spicy exotica throughout.
In fact, unusual though
an all-light Schipa disc may be, there
are constant examples of his art here
and very recommendable they are in these
fine transfers.
Jonathan Woolf