mum: t_rnuni (excerpts). t-eontync Litmus and Urcnestia, Wutred Pelle- with upright and Tiffany lamp. Trivial Price (s), Carlo Bergonzi (t), Mario tier, cond. RCA Victrola VIC 1365. music perhaps, but there's an art dis- Sereni (b). Ezio Flagello (bs); RCA $2.50 (mono only) [from various RCA played here that you never heard in Italiana Orchestra, Thomas originals, recorded in 19391. grandmother's parlor. Schippers, cond. RCA Red Seal LSC Giovanni Martinelli capped his long 3035. $5.79 [from RCA Red Seal LSC career in 1937 when. at the age of fifty - 6183. 1968). two, he first sang Mello at the Met. LAWRENCE TIBBETT: "The Art of VERDI: Laica Miller (excerpts). Anna Two years later he recorded these ex- Lawrence Tibbett." Arias from Car- Moffo (s). Shirley Verrett (ms), Carlo cerpts now reissued on Victrola - and men. Faust, I/ Barbiere di Siviglia, Bergonzi (t), Cornell MacNeil (b). their reappearance affirms that there Un Ballo in Maschera, Tosca, and Giorgio Tozzi (bs), RCA italiana has not been an Otello of equal stature Pagliacci. Songs by Schubert, Loewe, Opera Orchestra, Fausto Cleva, cond. during the interim. Martinelli never Tchaikovsky. and Mussorgsky. Law- RCA Red Seal LSC 3037, $5.79 [from had a particularly beautiful voice and rence Tibbett, baritone; various orches- RCA Red Seal LSC 6168. 1965]. its quality hardly improved the older tras and accompanists. RCA Victrola VERDI: La Traviata (excerpts). Mont- he became -there are numerous instances VIC 1340 or VICS 1340, $2.50 [from serrat Caballé (s). Carlo Bergonzi (t). here where the music strains hint severe- various RCA Victor originals, 1926- Sherrill Milnes (b); RCA Italiana ly. Even so. if there is an Otello today 1940]. Opera Orchestra, Georges Prêtre, cond. who can more fully project the musical Here is a generous cross -section of Tib- RCA Red Seal LSC 3036, $5.79 [from essence of Verdi's score and at the same bett recordings made in the baritone's RCA Red Seal LSC 6180. 19tí81. time maintain such a pitch of dramatic prime vocal years. Side I contains six VERDI: (Jo Balln l maschera (ex- fervor and intensity of declamation. he arias from the nine once available on cerpts). (s), Reri Grist is unknown to me. Camden CAL 171 (not transferred, un- (s), Shirley Verrett (ms), Carlo Ber- Tibbett is a splendid lago 1r a fortunately. are the excerpts from Han - gonzi (t). Robert Merrill (b): RCA vocal standpoint. although his charac- son's Merry Mount and Taylor's The Italiana Opera Orchestra. Erich Leins- terization is pretty obvious. The really King's Henchman, two of the American dorf. cond. RCA Red Seal LSC 3034. unfortunate aspects of this disc are Helen in which Tibbett created leading $5.79 [from RCA Red Seal LSC 6179. Jepson's pallid Desdenxsna and Pelletier's roles). Side 2 includes six songs by Schu- I967). routine conducting. Victrola has made bert ( Die Allmacht and Der Wanderer), Compiling a disc of excerpts 11o111 a the sound a bit more presentable than it Loewe (Edward), Tchaikovsky (None complete opera set is a thankless task- - originally was. but the sonics still require but the Lonely Heart and Pilgrim's Song), everyone will have his own ideas about a patient listener. Martinelli. however. and Mussorgsky (Song of the Flea), all what constitutes a bona fide highlight makes the forbearance more than worth- sting in English. and no one is likely to be entirely satis- while. With his dashing good looks, mellow fied with anyone else's choice. In select- baritone. his sensational triumphs in me- ing a generous hour's worth of music dia ranging from opera to radio to the front each of its four most recent Verdi FRITZ KREISLER: "Fritz Kreider Sou- silver screen, his waning vocal powers, productions. RCA has attempted to give venirs." Fritz Kreisler, violin: Carl and troubled final years, Tibbett pursued a good over -all view of the opera in Lamson, piano. RCA Victrola VIC a career that reads like a Hollywood question rather than concentrating on a [372. S2.50 (mono only) [front various cliché -even his virile, robust baritone few extended scenes. RCA originals. recorded in 1924-291. brings on scenes of the open prairie. He The relatively unfamiliar and Here is a nostalgic grab hag of Kreislcr was an uneven musician and a sensible will most likely attract dainties -most of them new to LP- rather than penetrating interpreter, but the curious collector who hesitated to which should revive pleasant memories everything he sang had an appealing invest in the complete sets. Actually of the old days when recitalgoing was a honesty and directness. Perhaps the best neither opera lends itself to the ex pleasure. Nine selections are Kreisler's moments here are the tender ones- cerpt treatment very successfully. Ernani, own salon -type pieces often played by the Valentine's reflective "Aram de quitter." a mosaiclike series of vigorous and re- composer as encores: Liehesleid. Liebe.s- the wistful "dulcezzc perdute" of the latively undeveloped set pieces, makes frei,1. The Old Refrain, Schiin Ro.s- Ballo "Eri lu," and a really poetical a very choppy effect here. And the best marin, Gypsy Caprice are among the statement of the Poe/hied Prologue sec- music of Luisa Miller is not in the arias giveaway titles. Also included are four tion beginning "un nido di memorie." and duets (amply represented on RCA's Dvoriki Kreisler arrangements and Doh - The swaggering Figaro and Escamillo Ciyp.sy disc) but in the long Act 1 finale (not n:ínyi's Andante. are a hit hammy and Scarpia's "Te included here) and in the two extensive Needless to say everything reveals the Deane" is only a sketch -and those mag- duets that comprise all of Act Ill (both masters touch- leisurely charm and nificent Tibbett recordings of light music represented only in part). Interested bittersweet melody provided by a genius would have been more appropriate than parties are urged to save up for the com- of the miniature. A less bars of Kreis- the Lieder offered on Side 2. Still. the plete sets. which are. on the whole. ler's cozy version of Humoresque and record is a fair enough representation of worthily sung and recorded. you've got a soothing vision of an over - a peculiarly American operatic phenom- Few will quibble over the Truriutu furnished 19111 sitting room complete enon. PETER G. Dsvis and Ballo selections -nothing of major importance has been omitted and one's interest in these discs will depend on whether the singers featured appeal or not. Montserrat Cahallé's very precious Violetta and Prêtre's eccentric conducting disqualify this Trariaia for mc. but the Hallo is as well sung as any version pres- ently in the catalogue. Each disc con- tains texts and translations of the ex- cerpts with an interconnecting plot précis.

VERDI: Ocello (excerpts): Brindisi; Giù nella nette densa: Credo: Ora per .sempre addio: Era la now: Si, pet ciel: Dio! mi poteri ca liai: Vieni. /'aule ì deserta: Canzone del salice; Are Maria; Nita, noi tema. Helen Jep- son (s). Giovanni Martinelli (t). Law- rence Tibbett (b): Fritz Kreisler and his accompanist Carl Lamson- colleagues for thirty -six years,

I 10 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE