Umberto GIORDANO
(1867 – 1948) Andrea Chenier:
"Sì, fu soldato";
Pietro MASCAGNI
(1863 – 1945) Cavalleria
rusticana: "Mamma, quell vino è
generoso;
George Frederic
HANDEL (1685 – 1759) Serse:
"Frondi tenere ... Ombra mai fu;
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO
(1858 – 1919) Pagliacci:
No! Pagliaccio non son!;
Teodoro COTTRAU
(1827 – 1879) Santa Lucia;
Gaetano DONIZETTI
(1797 – 1848) L’elisir d’amore:
"Una furtive lagrima";
Giacomo PUCCINI
(1858 – 1924) Tosca: "È
lucevan le stele";
Giuseppe VERDI
(1813 – 1901) Rigoletto:
"La donna è mobile";
Eduardo DI
CAPUA (1864 – 1917) O sole
mio;
Ernesto DE
CURTIS (1860 – 1926) Addio
bel sogno;
Cesare A BIXIO
(20th Cent) Solo
per te Lucia;
Ernesto DE
CURTIS: Senza nisciuno
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO:
Pagliacci: "Pagliaccio, mio
marito ... O Colombina" (w Iva
Pacetti)
Georges BIZET
(1838 – 1875) Carmen: "La
fleur que tu m’avais jetée;
Ruggiero LEONCAVALLO:
Mattinata;
Ernesto DE
CURTIS: Torna a Surriento;
Johann Paul
Aegidius MARTINI (1741 – 1816)
Plaisir d’amour;
Christoph Willibald
GLUCK (1867 – 1948) Paride
ed Elena: "O del mio dolce ardor";
Jules MASSENET
(1842 – 1912) Élégie;
Franz SCHUBERT
(1797 – 1828) (arr.
Alois MELICHAR) Mille cherubini
in coro (Wiegenlied, D.498);
Ernesto DE
CURTIS: Non ti scordar di
me;
Alois MELICHAR
(1896 – 1976) Serenata Veneziana
Comparative Review
http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2005/Jan05/Gigli8.htm
Another welcome dose
of Gigli comes courtesy of Naxos’s eighth
volume in its series. It takes us to
his early to mid -forties. Once more
these are in effect ex-Romophone CDs,
the transfers of which are up to the
usual standard. The majority were recorded
in Milan though the 20th
March 1933 session was in Kingsway Hall,
London and there was an October 1935
excursion to Berlin. The repertoire
is classic Gigli and the expressive
means warmly inviting in a way by now
entirely characteristic of him.
The Giordano has tremendous
histrionic power and the Mascagni –
disfigured or graced, depending on one’s
preference by sobs – equally theatrical.
He turns the recitative of the Handel
into a slice of verismo and adds a few
luxuriant portamenti in the aria. This
was the first title waxed at this Barbirolli-led
session. By the time we come to the
Leoncavallo we find the voice fully
warmed; the dramatisation is intense
and the catches in the voice fail to
impede the line. He is on pretty much
home ground for the Neapolitan songs,
so much a feature of his recorded and
concert appearances, but one does part
company in his handling of E lucevan
le stele. Recorded in Milan he gives
us a full panoply of sobs which, for
all the leonine magnificence of the
voice, fatally compromise the sense
of direction. This is of course a well-rehearsed
feature of Gigli’s legacy, one that
has been noted almost every time his
recordings are mentioned. One can note
it in passing even in a warhorse such
as Plaisir d’amour. One may
cite Di Capua’s O sole mio for
his tendency to ring every drop from
a song. De Curtis’ Senza nisciuno
is probably the pick of the 7 April
1934 bunch in which, despite or because
of syrupy strings, Gigli evinces total
freedom and tonal beauty even in the
(very) slight strain to maintain pitch
on the last note. He produces a rich
stream of tone for the Bizet, impressive
though rather more on its own terms.
Alan Blyth’s notes
are succinct and helpful, as before.
Jonathan Woolf
Beniamino Gigli (tenor), Iva Pacetti (soprano),
La Scala Orchestra/Carlo Sabajno, Franco Ghione,
Dino Oliveri, Orchestra/John Barbirolli, Berlin
State Opera Orchestra/Alois Melichar 
