Release Date: 30 April 2004
Label: Naxos - Nostalgia / Naxos Nostalgic
Packaging Type: Jewel Case
No of Units: 1
Barcode: 636943275221
Genres: Classical
Composer/Series: TAUBER, Richard
Description
RICHARD TAUBER Vol.3'Love's Serenade' Original 1939-1947 RecordingsDecked in monocle and top-hat, in his own lifetime Tauber'the voice of tenor romance incarnate' was both an operetta matinee idol and abest-selling balladeer through scores of mid-price magenta-label Parlophones(which, being so frequent, were know jocularly at EMI as 'Tauberphones'). Indeed, so all-embracing was thepopulist Tauber's assumption of the latest frivolities from show and film thatin some circles his stature was for a time positively underrated. However, whereas it was for many yearsfashionable to regret his investment of so many trifles with thatquintessentially Viennese charisma, during recent decades it has become morefashionable to reappraise Tauber as a pioneer of 'cross-over' whose highmusicality and fiercely self-critical standards transcended all purelycommercial considerations - a master to whom any song worthy of hisconsideration was Schubert.The product of an age in which individuality in performancewas actively encouraged, Tauber was essentially Schubertian - or, perhaps moreprecisely, Mozartian (that is instrumental) in his approach to singing. An acclaimed recitalist, in morepopulist guise he gave a captivating, if rather stylised, portrayal of Schubertin the 1934 BIP film Blossom Time, while operas by Mozart were to provide thevehicles both of his stage debut in 1913 and of his Covent Garden 'farewell',two weeks before his death, on 8 January 1948. Musicianly and stylish, beneath that all-pervading and often distracting veneer ofromanticism, Tauber was always disciplined in his art, his controlled lyricismconsciously attuned to the more intimate dimensions of lieder and miniatures ingeneral. A fine songwriter in hisown right, he was also an above-average pianist and an underestimated (anduntil his last years a frustrated) conductor.Richard Denemy Tauber was born illegitimately to theatricalparents in Linz, Austria, on 16 May 1891 and although he was never far removedfrom singing he at first showed no great inclination for it, despiteencouragement offered him during his teens by the tenor Heinrich Hensel. Richard's joint talents for piano andcomposition were honed at the Conservatory of Frankfurt-am-Main while hisburning ambition to become a conductor would remain latent for the rest of hislife. In 1910 he was finallypersuaded to embark on a short course of study in Freiburg with the HeldentenorCarl Beines, the 'great musician' whom he would later acknowledge as 'the mostimportant man in my life'. Instantlyrecognising his young pupil's potential, Beines proceeded to fulfil his promiseto make him 'the greatest Mozart singer in the world'. In 1912 Tauber was offered a contract by the WiesbadenTheatre, of which his father had been made Director, but opted instead tocontinue his studies with Beines. In March 1913 the fledgling tenor made a more high-profile solo debut atthe Neues Stadt-Theater in
Tracklisting
Various
Wisdom:Grenfell:Murray
Whiteman
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
Various Artists
