This is the third in Marston’s fine series devoted to Conchita
Supervia’s complete recordings and takes us from 1929-32. It also
covers a wide range of stylistic ground, from Carmen extracts
to traditional English songs to ballads.
The first selection is devoted to the Carmen
sessions recorded for Spanish Odeon in Barcelona in October
1930. The Supervia vibrato is always a matter for debate, at
least for Anglophones, and one can hear it at its fastest and
most fluttery in some of these sides. Her generous portamenti
are also emblematic of her taste and expressive armoury. Fortunately
she had with her the fine tenor Gaston Micheletti. He can –
and does – sound a little taxed at the top of his register in
Près de remparts de Séville but there are numerous compensatory
features – not least his strongly resonant theatrical presence
and the provocative interplay with Supervia. In the booklet
there is a long article on Supervia’s Carmen written by Michael
Aspinall in which he delineates the intricacies of her singing
of the role in a broader context and is well worth reading even
if you don’t share his views. What is undeniable is that these
are indispensable extracts for anyone deeply immersed either
in Supervia or the history of the role on record.
The rest of the first of this two-disc set
takes in Barcelona sessions made in 1930 and ’31 and a French
Odeon session made in Paris in April 1931. The Serranilla
[Canción Montañesa] suits her voice perfectly with its eager
vibrancy and conversational fluency. It’s instructive to hear
her in Mompou – his L’Hora grisa from which she evokes
a real sense of torpor. Nin’s arrangement of El paño murciano
is vivaciously done as is another of the composer’s arrangements,
El vito with its open throated and triumphant conclusion.
One thing that a company such as Marston is generous at providing,
where possible, is alternative takes. No admirer should spurn
the chance to hear the two takes, numbers –1 and –3 of that
delicious standby ¡Ay! ¡Ay! ¡Ay!
The second disc begins with a sequence of
arias. Her Werther is brightly and crisply executed,
transposed down a semi-tone, and was never released on 78. The
aria from La Bohème is transposed down a whole tone.
The examples of her French repertoire are distinctive, valuable
and in the case of the two Fausts – Gounod’s and Berlioz’s -from
very quiet pressings. They were not issued on 78 and collectors
will know they appeared on Historic Masters HMB11, released
in the 1970s. There is a long, idiomatic and frequently irresistible
sequence of things from the lighter Spanish muse made
in Paris in 1931, which also includes a rather kitschy arrangement
of a Mendelssohn Song without Words. The selection of English
songs contains one real rarity – John Alden Carpenter’s setting
of Rabindranath Tagore’s When I bring to you color’d toys
from the opera Gitanjali. It too never saw 78 release
and made its first commercial appearance on another Historic
Masters LP. Ivor Newton is the eloquent accompanist in these
sessions, which also include a disarmingly personal Oh no,
John with its myriad teasing rubati. She brings drawing
room suavity to that echt salon piece, A lesson with a fan.
Volume three in short happily coincides with
the recording of major Carmen extracts, idiomatic Spanish repertoire,
unexpected traditional, British songs and general operatic arias
and some rarities. The transfers are as good as ever and along
with Michael Aspinall’s note there is a biographical essay on
the singer by Desmond Shawe-Taylor.
No further recommendation needed.
Jonathan Woolf
see also Review
of Volume 2
Track details
CD 1
Georges BIZET (1838-1875)
Carmen
French Odeon, Paris, 1929, 1930 and 1931
With orchestra, conducted by Gustave Cloëz
L’amour est un oiseau rebelle [Habanera] [4:16]
Près de remparts de Séville [Séguedille] [4:11]
with Gaston Micheletti, tenor
Les tringles des sistres tintaient [Chanson bohème] [3:19]
Attends un peu, Carmen [4:13]
with Gaston Micheletti, tenor
La fleur que tu m’avais jetée [3:26]
solo by Gaston Micheletti, tenor
Non tu ne m’aimes pas [4:08]
with Gaston Micheletti, tenor
Mêlons! Mêlons, coupons! [3:59]
with Andrée Vavon and Andrée Bernadet, sopranos
En vain pour éviter [Scène des cartes] [2:57]
with Andrée Vavon and Andrée Bernadet, sopranos
C’est toi, c’est moi! [3:46]
with Gaston Micheletti, tenor
Mais moi, Carmen je t’aime encore [Finale, Act 4] [4:25]
with Gaston Micheletti, tenor
Spanish Odeon, Barcelona, 24 October 1930
With orchestra, conducted by Antonio Capdevila
Sebastian de YRADIER (1809-1865)
La paloma [3:31]
Spanish Odeon, Barcelona, 24 February 1931
With piano, Alejandro Vilalta
RODRIGO
Serranilla [Canción Montañesa] [2:24]
Lamotte de GRIGNON
Cançó de Maria [2:43]
TRADITIONAL
Els cants dels ocells (Arranged by Joaquin NIN (1879-1949)) [3:25]
Federico MOMPOU (1893-1987)
L’Hora grisa [2:42]
Spanish Odeon, Barcelona, 25 February 1931
With piano, Alejandro Vilalta
TRADITIONAL
El paño murciano (Arranged by Joaquin NIN (1879-1949) [1:28]
El vito (Arranged by Joaquin NIN (1879-1949)) [1:40]
French Odeon, Paris, 25 April 1931
With orchestra
E REOYO, J GUERRERO and L
le TENA
El Huesped del Sevillano: Las lagarteranas [2:35]
J PADILLA
El relicario [3:04]
Joaquín VALVERDE
Clavelitos [2:08]
Osman PÉREZ-FREIRE (1880-1930)
¡Ay! ¡Ay! ¡Ay! [3:01]
¡Ay! ¡Ay! ¡Ay! [3:09]
Johann Sebastian BACH (1685 – 1750)/Charles
GOUNOD (1818 – 1893):
Ave Maria [2:28]
CD 2
French Odeon, Paris, 24 October 1931
With orchestra, conducted by Gustave Cloëz
Jules MASSENET (1842–1912)
Werther (1892) -Va, laisse couler mes larmes [Air des larmes]
[2:31]
Transposed down a semi-tone
Georges Charles GOUNOD (1818-1893)
Faust (1852-59) - Faites-lui mes aveux (Gounod) [3:08]
Giacomo PUCCINI (1858-1924)
La Bohème - D’un pas léger [Quando me’n vo’soletta] (Puccini) [2:39]
Transposed down a whole tone.
Ambroise THOMAS (1811-1896)
Mignon - Connais-tu le pays? (Thomas) [4:26]
Camille SAINT-SAËNS (1835-1921)
Samson et Dalila - opera in three acts - Printemps qui commence (1877) [4:23]
Charles GOUNOD (1818–1893)
Faust - Il était un roi de Thulé (1859) [3:35]
French Odeon, Paris, 26 October 1931
With orchestra, conducted by Paul Minssart
Hector BERLIOZ (1803-1869)
La Damnation de Faust - Autrefois
un roi de Thulé (1846) [4:26]
Joaquim ZAMACOIS
Rey y señor [3:29]
F M ALVAREZ
La partida [4:18]
French Odeon, Paris, 30 October 1931
With orchestra, conducted by Paul Minssart TRADITIONAL
Santa Lucia [2:56]
Alfonso Esperanza OTEO
Mi viejo amor [3:03]
Pascal GODES
Porque me besó [3:09]
MURILLO
La pastora [3:00]
French Odeon, Paris, 31 November 1931
With orchestra, conducted by Paul Minssart Pedro PUCHE
Flor y luz [2:27]
Felix MENDESSSOHN (1809-1847)
La primavera (from Songs without Words No. 30, op. 62, no. 6) [2:42]
English Parlophone, London, 17 March 1932
With Ivor Newton (piano)
Henry BISHOP (1786-1855)
Should he upbraid [3:35]
TRADITIONAL
Oh no, John (Arranged by Cecil Sharp) [2:32]
Alfonso FERRABOSCO I (1543-1588)
So sweet is she (“Have you seen but a whyte lillie grow?”) (arr. Dolmetsch) [2:26]
John Alden Carpenter (1876-1951)
When I bring to you color’d toys [No. 1 from the opera Gitanjali] [2:40]
Cyril SCOTT (1879-1970)
Lullaby, op. 57, no. 2 [2:11]
Guy D’HARDELOT (1858-1936)
A lesson with the fan [3:31]
Spanish Odeon, Barcelona, 21 May 1932
With Pedro Vallribera (piano)
Juan MANEN (1883-1971)
Flecha [3:27]
F LONGAS
La noia bonica [2:31]
Modeste POMERO
Soleá [3:26]
Esteban FUSTÉ
Háblame de amores [2:51]
Conchita Supervia
(soprano) 
