110273-74 bk Boito US 02/06/2003 09:10 Page 12 Great Opera Recordings ADD 8.110273-74 Also available: 2 CDs BOITO Mefistofele Nazzareno de Angelis Mafalda Favero Antonio Melandri Giannina Arangi-Lombardi Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan 8.110117-18 Lorenzo Molajoli Recorded in 1931 8.110273-74 12 110273-74 bk Boito US 02/06/2003 09:10 Page 2 Ward Marston Great Opera Recordings In 1997 Ward Marston was nominated for the Best Historical Album Grammy Award for his production work on BMG’s Fritz Kreisler collection. According to the Chicago Tribune, Marston’s name is ‘synonymous with tender loving care to collectors of historical CDs’. Opera News calls his work ‘revelatory’, and Fanfare deems him Arrigo ‘miraculous’. In 1996 Ward Marston received the Gramophone award for Historical Vocal Recording of the Year, honouring his production and engineering work on Romophone’s complete recordings of Lucrezia Bori. He also BOITO served as re-recording engineer for the Franklin Mint’s Arturo Toscanini issue and BMG’s Sergey Rachmaninov (1842-1918) recordings, both winners of the Best Historical Album Grammy. Born blind in 1952, Ward Marston has amassed tens of thousands of opera classical records over the past four decades. Following a stint in radio while a student at Williams College, he became well-known as a reissue producer in 1979, when he restored the earliest known stereo recording made by the Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1932. Mefistofele In the past, Ward Marston has produced records for a number of major and specialist record companies. Now he Opera in 4 Acts and a Prologue is bringing his distinctive sonic vision to bear on works released on the Naxos Historical label. Ultimately his goal is to make the music he remasters sound as natural as possible and true to life by ‘lifting the voices’ off his old 78 rpm recordings. His aim is to promote the importance of preserving old recordings and make available the works of great Margherita . Mafalda Favero musicians who need to be heard. Elena . Giannina Arangi-Lombardi Faust . Antonio Melandri Mefistofele . Nazzareno de Angelis Pantalis . Rita Monticone Wagner . Giuseppe Nessi Nereo . Emilio Venturini Marta . Ida Mannarini Chorus and Orchestra of La Scala, Milan Orchestra conducted by Lorenzo Molajoli Chorus conducted by Vittore Veneziani Recorded in Milan by Italian Columbia on 34 sides 19th November - 27th December 1931 Matrices: WBX 1130/1163 Catalogue: GQX 10619/10635 The Naxos historical label aims to make available the greatest recordings in the history of recorded music, in the best and truest sound that contemporary technology can provide. To achieve this aim, Naxos has engaged a number of respected restorers who have the dedication, skill and experience to produce restorations that have set new standards in the field of historical recordings. 8.110273-74 2 11 8.110273-74 110273-74 bk Boito US 02/06/2003 09:10 Page 10 Producer’s Note CD 1 78:53 Scene 2: The Pact This recording of Boito’s Mefistofele, the only one to appear during the 78rpm era, was originally released by Prologue in Heaven 23:27 ! Dai campi, dai prati 4:31 Italian Columbia in 1932 and three years later by Columbia’s American counterpart. I began to work on this project Faust, Mefistofele using three sets of Italian pressings and four sets pressed in America which I carefully compared. I soon found that 1 Prelude 4:53 although the American discs played with less surface noise than those pressed in Italy, the sound was so distorted Orchestra @ Son lo Spirito che nega sempre tutto 3:29 as to render them totally useless. Apparently, the American sets were all pressed from defective metal stampers. Mefistofele This defect also mars the American Columbia pressings of Il trovatore and Andrea Chenier. This transfer had to 2 Ave, Signor degli angeli 3:23 be made, therefore, exclusively from the somewhat noisier Italian Columbia pressings. The original recording was Falangi celesti # Strano figlio del Caos 0:57 made in a studio with no acoustic ambiance. Therefore, I have taken the liberty of adding a slight amount of Faust, Mefistofele artificial digital reverberation in order to give the voices a sense of space and to soften the effects of the often too 3 Ave, Signor 3:57 close microphone placement. I have, likewise, added reverberation to the group of De Angelis solo recordings at Mefistofele $ Se tu mi doni un’ora di riposo 1:03 the end of CD two. Faust, Mefistofele 4 T’è noto Faust? 3:19 Ward Marston Chorus mysticus, Mefistofele, Falangi celesti % Fin da stanotte 2:32 Faust, Mefistofele 5 Siam nimbi volanti dai limbi 2:05 Cherubini, Mefistofele Act 2 29:24 6 Salve, Regina! 5:51 Scene 1: The Garden Le Penitenti, Cherubini, Falangi celesti ^ Cavaliero illustre e saggio 4:43 Act 1 26:02 Margherita, Faust, Mefistofele, Marta Scene 1: Sunday & Dimmi se credi, Enrico, nella religione? 4:16 Margherita, Faust 7 Perché di là? 3:46 Chorus * Dio clemente, nuova, ignara son del mondo 1:40 Margherita, Faust, Marta, Mefistofele 8 Al soave raggiar 1:52 Faust, Wagner Scene 2: Walpurgis Night 9 Juhé! Juhé! Juheisa! Juhé! 2:41 ( Su, cammina, cammina, cammina 2:49 Chorus Mefistofele, Chorus 0 Sediam sovra quel sasso 5:11 ) Folleto!...Folletto! 4:48 Faust, Wagner, Chorus Faust, Mefistofele, Streghe, Stregoni ¡ Popoli! E scettro e clamide 2:23 Mefistofele, Streghe, Stregoni 8.110273-74 10 3 8.110273-74 110273-74 bk Boito US 02/06/2003 09:10 Page 4 ™ Ecco il mondo, vuoto e tondo 3:14 0 Forma ideal purissima della bellezza eterna 7:35 5 She prepares to meet her death, praying to Heaven Epilogue Mefistofele, Streghe, Stregoni Faust, Elena, Mefistofele, Pantalis, Nereo, Coretidi and the angels, and rejecting Faust, who leaves with Mephistopheles, while the executioner approaches. The Death of Faust £ Stupor! Stupor! 5:29 Epilogue: The Death of Faust 12:10 Faust, Mefistofele, Streghe, Stregoni Act IV ! The scene is again Faust’s study, now marked by ! Cammina, cammina…superbo pensier 4:11 the passing of time. There are voices in the air, as Faust CD 2 75:04 Mefistofele, Faust The Night of the Classical Sabbath meditates, sitting in his chair. Behind him stands Mephistopheles. It is night and the book stands, as Act 3: The Death of Margherita 18:15 @ Giunto sul passo estremo 3:33 6 The scene is set in the vale of Tempe. There are before, on the lectern. Mephistopheles urges Faust on Mefistofele, Faust limpid streams and thickets of laurel and oleander, lit by his journey, as death draws near. Faust has experienced 1 L’altra notte in fondo al mare 7:20 the light of the moon. Helen and Pantalis call on the real and ideal love, but the real was sorrow and the ideal Margherita, Faust, Mefistofele # All’erta! All’erta! 4:26 sirens and nymphs to sing to them. Faust calls out to a mere dream. Mefistofele, Faust, Falangi celesti, Cherubini Helen. 2 Dio di pietà! Son essi…eccoli…aita! 3:47 @ He wishes only for the good of humanity, the Margherita, Faust Appendix: 7 Mephistopheles declares this the night of the happiness of mankind, and Heaven, as he journeys Selected Arias Sung by Nazzareno De Angelis classical Sabbath. Faust, entranced, goes out, while towards life’s end. 3 Lontano, lontano, lontano 2:16 Mephistopheles too seems under the spell of the place, Margherita, Faust $ ROSSINI: Barbiere di Siviglia: La calunnia 3:53 so unlike his familiar Harz mountains, with their # Mephistopheles seeks to exert his power, but Faust Rec. 5th November 1927 witches. seems to hear the celestial choir. The tempter does his 4 Sorge il dì! 1:48 mat.wbx 190; cat. English Columbia D 18042 utmost, but Faust falls, leaning on the sacred volume Mefistofele, Margherita, Faust 8 He leaves, as dancers enter, praising Helen. before him, as the heavenly vision appears to him. % ROSSINI: Mosè: Invocazione 4:29 Mephistopheles finally sinks down, under the flowers 5 Spunta…l’aurora pallida… 3:05 Rec. 4th October 1929 9 Helen, however, recalls the horrors of the fall of scattered by the celestial beings, as Heaven finally Margherita, Faust, Mefistofele, Falangi celesti mat. wbx 662; cat. English Columbia GQX 10207 Troy. Faust enters, dressed as a knight of the fifteenth prevails. century. He kneels to Helen, protesting his love, Act 4: The Night of the Classical Sabbath 20:52 ^ VERDI: Nabucco: Sperate o figli 3:48 observed by fauns and sirens, and by Mephistopheles, Rec. 1st October 1928 in some wonder at the sight. Keith Anderson 6 La luna immobile innonda 3:27 mat. wbx 334; cat. English Columbia D 18059 Elena, Pantalis, Faust & VERDI: Nabucco: Tu sul labbro dei veggenti 4:20 7 Ecco la notte del classico Sabba 2:29 Rec. 2nd October 1928 Mefistofele, Faust mat. wbx 341; cat. English Columbia D 18059 8 Ah! Trionfi ad Elena 2:50 * VERDI: Don Carlo: Ella giammai m’amò 7:16 Coretidi Rec. 7th and 8th November 1927 mats. wbx 193-194; cat. English Columbia L2071 9 Notte cupa, truce, senza fine, funebre! 4:31 Elena, Coretidi Thanks to: Michael Gray, Lawrence Holdridge, R. Peter Munves, Norbeck, Peters & Ford 8.110273-74 4 9 8.110273-74 110273-74 bk Boito US 02/06/2003 09:10 Page 8 Act II world, in all its wickedness, laughing at the human Arrigo BOITO (1842-1918) predicament. He dashes the glass orb to the ground, and Meifstofele Scene 1: The Garden the witches celebrate the shattering of the world. When the introduction of electrical recording in Europe other Italian opera houses, so the work was in no way ^ Faust, now under the name of Enrico, Margherita, £ Faust seems to see a girl, pale and in chains, his began in the latter half of 1925 the Columbia unfamiliar.