Outside her native Ireland Margaret Burke Sheridan is perhaps
an unfamiliar name, even to those interested in singers of Italian
opera in the first half of the last century. Her career was indeed
short. Her debut, as Mimi in “La Bohème” was in 1918 in Rome,
but as Anne Chambers’ helpful notes to this disc explain, following
an operation on her vocal chords in 1931 she lost confidence in
her vocal technique and soon after gave up singing in public altogether,
although she recorded two of the Irish songs here in 1944. She
is now perhaps best known for taking the title role in an early
electrical recording of “Madama Butterfly”. The booklet states
that this was made in 1929 but Edward Greenfield in the first
volume of “Opera on Record” says that it was made in 1931 and
that the first electrical recording was made in 1929 but with
Rosetta Pampanini in the title role. Both versions were made with
the orchestra of La Scala. Who recorded the role first is perhaps
of little importance but this does indicate her international
reputation in this role. Substantial extracts from that opera
are included here but in earlier recordings from 1926 and 1927
with two different tenors taking the part of Pinkerton – Aureliano
Pertile and Browning Mummery, the latter only briefly. Lionello
Cecil took the part in the complete recording. The excerpts here
are sung in a wonderfully forward, idiomatic and full-blooded
manner even if occasional inaccuracies and imperfections of line
suggest that her loss of confidence in her technique may have
been well placed. The Act I duet with Pertile is in many ways
the highlight of the disc, with both singers thoroughly involved
in the music, and responsive to its changes of mood. It is slightly
truncated but worth hearing nonetheless as an explanation as to
why her singing appealed to both Puccini and Toscanini. The former
coached her in the role of Manon, so that unsurprisingly the love
duet from that opera, again with Pertile, is another highlight
of the disc, with both singers displaying all the fervor and belief
that is needed in this music.
The
closing pages of “La Bohème” were recorded at a performance
at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 4 June 1926. As
might be expected, this is idiomatic and full of theatrical
life, even if coordination between stage and pit is approximate
throughout and by the end they are well apart. Incidentally
both this and the spoken track are described as “bonus tracks”.
This term is much used by the manufacturers of CDs without any
indication as to what it might mean. Here it could be intended
to indicate items not previously issued on commercial disc,
but this is not made clear.
Of
the remaining items, the Giordano duet is sung with great panache
by both singers. The Verdi duet is sung in a similar manner
although this is less appropriate here, and for all the obvious
conviction that she brings to the role it is hard to imagine
the very mature-sounding Sheridan as obvious casting for Desdemona.
The
Irish items are less compelling, although it is good to hear
“I dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls” sung faster than usual.
The other songs are worth hearing once but the performances
lack the charm that might encourage repetition. The brief speech
at the end is of modest interest but again unlikely to be listened
to more than once.
The
transfers appear to have been made sympathetically. Sensibly
the well designed booklet concentrates entirely on the singer
and says nothing about the music. No texts are included, neither
are the contexts of the various extracts explained. Clearly
a disc like this will appeal mainly to specialists with a specific
interest in singers of this period or country or in this particular
artist. I am glad to have heard it, especially for the Puccini
items, but this is not singing of such quality that it could
be safely recommended to a wider audience.
John
Sheppard
