Charles GOUNOD
(1818 – 1893)
Faust
1. Salut! Demeure chaste et pure²
[5:01]
Georges BIZET
(1837 – 1875)
Les Pecheurs de perles
2. Au fond du temple saint ¹²
[4:40]
Carmen
3. La fleur que tu m’avais jetée²
[4:08]
Giacomo MEYERBEER
(1791 – 1864)
L’Africaine
4. O Paradiso!² [3:34]
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813 – 1901)
Don Carlo
5. Io l’ho perduta!¹² [10:30]
Rigoletto
6. Cortigiani, vil razza dannata¹
[4:26]
Il trovatore
7. Il balen del suo sorriso¹
[3:14]
La forza del destino
8. Solenne in quest’ora¹² [4:15]
Un ballo in maschera
9. Eri tu¹ [4:15]
Otello
10. Credo in un Dio crudel¹ [4:45]
11. Si, pel ciel¹² [4:29]
Pietro MASCAGNI
(1863 – 1945)
Cavalleria rusticana
12. Il cavallo scalpita¹ [2:44]
13. Mama, quell vino è generoso²
[3:58]
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO
(1858 – 1919)
Pagliacci
14. Si può? Si Può?¹
[4:57]
15. Vesti la giubba² [4:00]
Giacomo PUCCINI
(1858 – 1924)
La bohème
16. Che gelida manina² [5:11]
17. O mimi, tu più non torni¹²
[4:14]
Jussi Björling (tenor)², Robert
Merrill (baritone)¹, RCA Victor Orchestra/Renato
Cellini (1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 11, 15, 16,
17); Arthur Fiedler (6, 7, 9, 10, 12,
14); Swedish Radio Orchestra/Nils Grevillius
(3; 13)
rec. New York, November 1949 (6, 7,
9, 10 12, 14); November 1950 (5); January
1951 (2, 8, 11, 16, 17); March 1951
(1, 4, 15); Stockholm, September 1950
(3, 13)
NIMBUS NI 7945 [78:31]
There are few recordings
of the same vintage – or indeed from
any period of recorded history – that
have been so frequently issued and reissued
than the five legendary duets that Björling
and Merrill set down in 1950-51. One
can wonder if there is one single lover
of great singing that doesn’t have a
copy. I hope that there is still a market
and that new generations will be able
to discover gems from earlier times.
These duets are among the most luminous
of all. Björling and Merrill took
part in the premiere of the new production
of Don Carlo at the Metropolitan
Opera on 6 November 1950, a performance
that was televised. Less than a week
later the same cast appeared in a radio
broadcast, from which there exist excerpts
issued on record. On 30 November RCA
Victor and HMV in a joint effort recorded
the long duet in a New York studio with
Renato Cellini conducting. It was issued
in Europe on HMV DB 21622 (78 rpm) and
in the US on a 45 rpm disc (ERB-7027)
and after that probably everyone – with
the possible exception of Harald Henrysson,
the curator of the Jussi Björling
Museum – has lost count of the number
of issues. Just a month later they were
back in the studio and recorded four
more duets, including the one from The
Pearl Fishers, which has been one
the most requested recordings ever since.
What is the secret
of their popularity? The music of course,
but with so many other recordings to
choose from this is hardly the main
reason. The quality of the recordings
is no more than adequate for the period
and the playing of the studio orchestra
is professional but no more so than
on other recordings. But the singing
is special. Not only do the two voices
blend so well, they are also clearly
contrasted, which is especially obvious
in Solenne in quest’ora from
La forza del destino. Björling,
who never sang Forza on stage,
opens with hushed lyrical singing, far
removed from some world-famous singers
who try to break the sound-barrier,
and then comes Merrill, who sang his
role, he even recorded it with Thomas
Schippers in the 1960s, and attacks
the music with considerably more power.
They recorded the Bohème duet
a few years later in the complete recording
with Beecham, who perhaps is more individual
but whose slow tempo also makes it slightly
turgid. Cellini has a more natural flow.
Maybe the most interesting item is the
Otello duet. The title role is
the pinnacle for an Italianate tenor
and Björling wanted to sing it
but he wished to wait some years until
his voice had darkened. It did, which
can be heard on his later recordings,
but before he was ready for the role
death intervened, a fate that also fell
upon Caruso a generation earlier. Neither
of them reached the age of fifty. That
Björling had the measure for some
aspects of the role as early as 1951
is obvious from this duet, which actually
is one of the more strenuous scenes
in the opera. Merrill had recorded Iago’s
Credo a year earlier – included
here – and he returned to the aria for
a later recital, recorded in Rome in
1956 in connection with the complete
Rigoletto, where both singers
participated.
Even in 1949 Merrill’s
voice was one of the most beautiful
and brilliant, surpassing even contemporaries
like Warren, Gobbi and Bastianini, though
falling short on interpretative depth.
One can compare in detail his early
readings with those from the mid-fifties
and again – in Trovatore and
Rigoletto – with complete recordings
from the early sixties. The voice has
not aged all that much but neither have
the readings. He is no cipher dramatically
but his readings are of the all-purpose
kind that could without great loss be
interchangeable between operas. Even
so it is a special pleasure to listen
to him for the supreme singing and these
recordings with Arthur Fiedler are relative
rarities in the reissue catalogues and
therefore especially welcome.
This also goes for
Björling’s recordings of roughly
the same period. We find his aria recordings
from the late thirties and early forties
on sundry labels but these sides – there
are also arias from Aida and
La Gioconda from the same session
as Che gelida manina and the
two Tosca arias recorded with
Grevillius at a session the week before
the Carmen and Cavalleria
arias – have been largely forgotten.
This is a pity since they show Björling
at the absolute peak of his powers,
having honed them on numerous performances
and recitals while still with the voice
in mint condition.
If you haven’t got
the duets, by all means buy the disc
for them – they have rarely been challenged
and never surpassed> however even
if you do have them in threefold versions
this disc remains a gem for the sake
of the arias.
Göran Forsling
NIMBUS
NI 7945 [78:31] 
