Release Date: 31 January 2004
Label: Naxos - Nostalgia / Naxos Nostalgic
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943274828
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: McCORMACK, John
Description
JOHN McCORMACK Vol.2 Come Back To Erin Original 1910-1921 Recordings'Irish songs? ... We all sang them - and got theapplause! I never could understandall this fuss about McCormack's Irish songs ... His Italian songs were muchbetter!' (Cavan O'Connor) All great singers - and others less-than-great - have always benefited from localisedforms of hero-worship, and in the days before radio and TV McCormack'spopularity hinged largely on the fact that he was an Irishman who arrived inAmerica at the right moment to delight mass-audiences with his Irishyarns. Which may sound like anover-simplification or even a solecism - for his vast and cultured repertoirewas soon to span arias, art-song and lieder, all of which he sang with artistryand commitment, if not always total idiomatical accuracy. The difference between McCormack andthe others, however, resided in a superior technical perfection (his finediction and exemplary articulation were founded on the principles of bel canto)- and to these were added, fortuitously perhaps, certain otheringredients: an outgoing, evenforceful personality, an uncanny power to communicate simple emotions and, noless advantageous, connections in the right places - not least an exclusivecontract to record for the prestigious Victrola and HMV Red Labels (the veryrecords restored on this CD) which ensured that his voice would be heard inliving-rooms around the world. John Francis McCormack was born of mixed Scots-Irishextraction on 14 June 1884 in Athlone, where his father, Andrew, was a localwool-mill worker. RespectablyGod-fearing, his upbringing was scarcely privileged. At school, however, he was a bright student and was awardedvarious scholarships and by 1902, despite parental opposition, he already had aburning ambition to become a singer, although after failing the entrance examto the Dublin College of Science he at first took up a clerical job in thepostal service. Through friendswho already sensed the exceptional quality of his voice, however, he wasintroduced to his mentor and preceptor Vincent O'Brien (1871-1948), thenconductor of Dublin's Pro-Cathedral's celebrated Palestrina Choir. O'Brien coached the raw McCormack andunder his tutelage, in May 1903, the tenor won the Gold Medal at the Feis Ceoil(Irish Music Festival). Hisaccompanist on that occasion was the Co. Down-born composer-conductor HamiltonHarty (1879-1941) and he here sings Harty's haunting My Lagan Love, from the1909 cycle Three Ulster Airs - settings of Songs of Uladh, a folksongcollection arranged by 'PadraigmacAodh O'Neil' (aka Herbert Hughes!) in collaboration with 'SeosamhmacCathmhaoil' (otherwise Joseph Campbell (1879-1944), noted Belfast-born poet,Irish folklorist, Secretary of the Irish National Literary Society and sometimeRepublican internee). By 1905 funds were raised for
Tracklisting
Various
Wisdom:Grenfell:Murray
Whiteman
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
John Mccormack
Mccormack
Maccormack
Maccormack
John Mccormack
John Mccormack
