Lucrezia Bori: Arias

On this CD:

1. Louise, opera Depuis le jour
Composed by Gustave Charpentier
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

2. Manon, opera Gavotte: Obeissons quand leur voix appelle
Composed by Jules Massenet
Performed by Lucrezia Bori
Conducted by Frank Black

3. Les Contes d'Hoffmann, opera in 4 acts Barcarolle
Composed by Jacques Offenbach
Performed by Lawrence Tibbett, Lucrezia Bori

4. Madama Butterfly (Madame Butterfly), opera Un bel di vedremo
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

5. La bohème, opera Musetta's Waltz Song
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

6. La bohème, opera Si mi chiamano Mimi
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

7. La bohème, opera Addio di Mimi
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

8. La bohème, opera Sono andati?...Oh Dio Mimi
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Tito Schipa, Lucrezia Bori

9. Acis y Galatea, zarzuela Confiado jilguerillo
Composed by Antonio Literes
Performed by Lucrezia Bori, George Copeland

10. Don Quijote de la Mancha Consejo
Composed by Fernando J. Obradors
Performed by Lucrezia Bori, George Copeland

11. Popular Spanish Songs (7), for voice & piano, G. 40 Jota
Composed by Manuel de Falla
Performed by Lucrezia Bori, George Copeland

12. El Jilguerto con pico de oro, for voice & small ensemble
Composed by Blas De Laserna
Performed by Lucrezia Bori, George Copeland

13. Ciribiribin for voice & piano
Composed by Alberto Pestalozza
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

14. Il Bacio par Félix Arndt
Composed by Luigi Arditi
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

15. Valse d'oiseau
Composed by Louis Varney
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

16. Calm As The Night
Composed by Gotze
Performed by Lawrence Tibbett, Lucrezia Bori

17. La Primavera d'Or, for voice & orchestra (arranged from Op. 34 by LaForge)
Composed by Alexander Konstantinovich Glazunov
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

18. Works Storiella del Bosco Viennese
Composed by Richard Strauss
Performed by Lucrezia Bori
Conducted by Bourdon

19. Malagueña
Composed by Pagans
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

20. La Violetera for voice & orchestra
Composed by Jose Padilla
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

21. Clavelitos for voice & piano
Composed by Joaquin Valverde
Performed by Lucrezia Bori

Tracks:

Louise: Depuis le jour
Manon: Gavotte: Obeissons quand leur voix appelle
Tales Of Hoffman: Barcarolle
Madama Butterfly: Un bel di vedremo
La Boheme: Musetta's Waltz Song
La Boheme: Si, mi chiamano Mimi
La Boheme: Addio di Mimi
La Boheme: Sono andati? ... Oh Dio, Mimi
Acis Y Galatea: Confiado jilguerillo
Don Quijote De La Mancha: Consejo
Sieto Canciones Populares Espanoles: Jota
El Jilguetro con Pico de Oro
Ciribiribin
Il bacio
Valse d'oiseau
Calm As The Night
La Primavera d'Or
Storiella del Bosco Viennese
Malaguenas
La Violetera
Clavelitos

Customer Reviews:

Engaging, lyrical performances.......2006-11-10

I actually came to own this CD because I'm a big fan of Charlie Chaplin. In particular, his tender masterpiece: City Lights. Charlie Chaplin wrote all of the music in that move with one exception - Jose Padilla's "La Violetera". This song Chaplin used as the theme for his blind flower girl. The melody is so beautiful and haunting, that I had to hear the entire song. It turns out that there are very few releases of this song available now. This disk is the only one with a recording from the time when Chaplin was filming his movie. I love Bori's rendition - I can't stop listening to it over and over and over again. The lyrics are those of a flower girl in Madrid, imploring young men passing by to purchase a violet for their girl. Beauty and love may be expressed for so little a sum through a flower....

Let me back up a bit and discuss this CD itself. You have to realize that this is vintage material from the late 1920s and the 1930s. The producers had a dilemma. They could try to suppress all of the hiss and surface noise of the 78 rpm records. But, in the process you would also lose the high notes of the soprano. Wisely, they chose to leave the high frequencies alone. If you want to suppress them, virtually all playback systems have a "treble" control, if not a full equalizer, so this is no disadvantage. Luckily, there is no detectable wow and flutter from warped disks.

About Bori's singing. It's musical, and tastefully done. It's not overblown with excessive vocal theatrics, or sentimentality as some of the early 1900s singers were prone to. She is an excellent musician. Yet, there is a detectable accent. In Hoffman's Barcarolle, which is sung in English, you've got to listen carefully to make out the words. But then, Lawrence Tibbett also is sometimes hard to make out. It may be their operatic technique of the time as well as the limited frequency response of the recording system. Tibbett seems to be a bass or baritone, and in combination with a soprano, a wide frequency response is needed.

Ironically, even though Bori was born in Spain, when I asked my Spanish speaking friends about the lyrics of "La Violetera", they noted that the Spanish was pronounced with a heavy accent also. Perhaps people knowledgable in Italian can tell us about her Italian pronounciation.

A word about the Italian opera snippets. I'm a nut about Puccini, especially Madame Butterfly. Un bel di is so critical to this opera, that it has to be done right. I'm stuck on Renata Tebaldi's rendition, which to my mind is the gold standard. Bori has a different view, which may take some getting used to. The notes do say that she rarely performed Butterfly in the USA, and so perhaps she was aware of her own problems with this aria. Tebaldi brings out the anguish and makes you cry. Bori seems a little more perfunctory.

Overall, this is quite a fun, musical CD with material that is not often heard today. I really enjoy this one.

Music Review:

Music Review

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