Gigli, Beniamino: London, Milan And Rio De Janeiro Recordings

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Cat No: 8111103

Release Date: 30 September 2006

Label: Naxos - Historical / Naxos Historical

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 747313310326

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: GIGLI, Beniamino

Description
Beniamino Gigli (1890-1957) The Gigli Edition Vol. 14 • London, Milan & Rio de Janeiro Recordings 1949 and 1951By the time these discs were cut, Gigli was very much in the veteran stage of his career, yet like his successors today - Domingo and Pavarotti - he continued his activity, both in the opera house and on concerts tours well into his sixties. Perhaps even more than his successors, he continued to portray romantic leads in the opera house, and was pretty indefatigable in touring to faraway places, unstinting in the generous outpouring of his art. He always thrived on popular acclaim and his public stayed faithful to a much-loved artist. As in this CD in recital, he mixed operatic items with a lengthy offering of songs.Tracks [10] to [20], some of which have never been issued in Britain before, provide special interest to the penultimate issue in this long running project. All the duets with the tenor's daughter Rina were recorded in Milan, and issued at the time in Italy. Gigli, just over sixty, is in remarkable voice, and with the years he has tamed his exuberance, singing with stylistic care and a long breath.Otello is a rôle he would never attempt on stage, but here in the Act I love duet he sings with untarnished tone and exemplary phrasing a notable and idiomatic performance on his side. Rina is a perfectly acceptable, idiomatic Italian soprano, but her tone does not fall too easily on the ear. Her career when the recordings were made was already of ten years extent, and there is some wear on her voice - she had appeared with her father at Covent Garden in 1946 as Nedda to her father's Canio in Pagliacci. She phrases here, and in the other pieces with some distinction, but I doubt if HMV would have bothered with her had it not been for her father's reputation. There is also the slightly incestuous feeling one has when listening to these duets, all impassioned love duets.Gigli is at his most sensuous and beguiling in the duet from L'elisir d'amore. He had recorded the 'Lontano' duet from Boito's Mefistofele at the start of his long recording career, in his first sessions, in Milan, in 1918. It is true his tone is no longer as sweet or mellifluous as it had then been, but he still makes a remarkably pleasing sound. The piece from Bizet's Pêcheurs de perles, a welcome addition to the tenor's discography, is sung with ardour on both sides. What I found quite remarkable is that all these excerpts were recorded on a single day in 1951, with Gigli showing no sounds of tiring. Such is the benefit of a rock-solid technique and a lifelong care over preserving his resources.Nine months later, during a tour of South America, he found time to go into a Victor studio in Rio de Janeiro. These four titles are extreme rarities, and their issue here is thus doubly welcome. It is typical of Gigli's apparent resourcefulness that at this late period of his career he was willing to tackle unfamiliar
Tracklisting