All posts tagged Puccini

Carmen excerpts: 1920 Columbia abridged recording; highlights on LP from Walter Goehr and Erasmo Ghiglia; orchestral and choral excerpts – Weingartner, Pitt, Maclean, Ronald, Sabajno, Matacena, Mackenzie-Rogan, Weissmann, Coates; excerpts from 1911 Pathé recording; other vocal excerpts in French, English, German, Italian and Russian

It has taken a long time to prepare this update, which focuses on Bizet’s Carmen. The centrepiece is the abridged 1920 Columbia set on 10” records. This is complemented by two LPs of excerpts from the 1950s, and then a wide selection of 78s of orchestral and vocal excerpts, whether in more or less their […]

Aida excerpts and other items with Sydney Rayner, Eva Turner, Giovanni Inghilleri, Tina Poli-Randaccio, Agustarello Affre, Jane Marignan, Frank Mullings, Elsa Stralia, Andreina Beinat, Vincenzo Bettoni, Valentina Bartolomasi, Guido Fernandez, Rosita Pagani, Enrico Trentini, conducted by Beecham, Haarth, Albergoni, Barbirolli, Sabajno, Harty; Mackenzie-Rogan, Coldstream Guards Band – Orth, Tchaikovsky; Stanley Chapple – excerpts from Stravinsky’s Firebird; Franz André – Liszt, Richard Strauss

When you have a lot of free time, it sometimes turns out that the things you planned to use it for just don’t happen. Such was the case with my summer holidays. This is why it’s been two and a half months since the last update. I hope the new selection proves interesting. I’ve been […]

Lilian Stiles Allen; Hamilton Harty and Henry Wood – Schubert; winners of Columbia’s Schubert competition; Lilac Time

The first selection of recordings this time is of the soprano Lilian Stiles-Allen. She was widely respected in her day, though her performances were confined to the concert platform and broadcasting as she was “not suited to the operatic stage.” She was one of the original sixteen soloists in Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music, and […]

Rousseau – “Le Devin du Village” with Micheau, Gedda and Roux, conducted by Louis de Froment; Selections from Rameau operas, conducted by Nadia Boulanger; Renee Chemet – Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso; Eugene Goossens – selections from Tosca

La Guerre des Bouffons reaches my site today, with works from opposing sides of the French operatic conflict. Rousseau is better known as a philosopher, but fancied himself as something of a musician, and his “Le Devin du Village” was extremely influential in its day. It was later parodied by Mozart in “Bastien und Bastienne.” […]

Georg Hann, Harry Secombe and Franz André conducts

The Viennese bass, Georg Hann, was born in 1897, and died in Munich in 1950, still at the height of his powers. He left a substantial recorded legacy. Mediafire link for Georg Hann singing Verdi, Rossini, Cornelius (This is a zip file – left click the link, download the file, then unzip when downloaded) Cornelius […]

Eleanor Jones-Hudson in oratorio and opera

Eleanor Jones-Hudson (1874-1946), the Welsh soprano and wife of the flautist Eli Hudson has appeared here in a number of ensemble recordings, so it seems time to present some of her solo work. In this anniversary year, it’s somehow appropriate to hear her in two of the best known soprano arias by Handel and Haydn. […]