RECORDS strumentai purity that makes a perfect at the Metropolitan. This kind of gaffe is SINGING BOYS OF MEXICO a small, blend for this music. (The voice of one bad enough when it comes from Singing Boys of Mexico (Ninos Cantores com- soprano - Miss Cantelo? - has more vi- understaffed company; from such a de Morelia), Romano Picutti, cond. not as RCA it seems inexcusable. brato and warmth than the others, but pany PERIOD SPL 1625. 12 -in. $5.95. disturbingly so.) The presence of Mr. Suitably adjusted as to pitch, the per- Deller as director assures the stylistic formances are all well worth hearing, A virtuosic, well- disciplined ensemble, the security of the performances. Labeled Vol. though in some instances the singer made Singing Boys of Mexico make sounds that r, this disk whets the appetite for future artistically superior pre -electric versions; are more often shrill than appealing. Part issues. Highly recommended. R. E. and even with the sharped bands as of the trouble, I think, is that their reper- they are (but the bass picked up) the toire consists largely of ornate, sometimes MARIA JERITZA temperament and inner vitality tell. It is offensive, arrangements of folk or popular Opera Arias not seamless singing, much of it, but it songs. The group sounds best in its least is all truly of the opera house, and the pretentious and most sentimental numbers, Massenet: Hérodiade: Il est doux, it est "Vissi d'arte" alone is worth the price such as the Cancion de Cuna lullaby bon. Thaïs: L'Amour est un vertu rare. -a of the whole disk. But no one should give of the Virgin Mary, of Austrian origin. Tchaikovsky: Jeanne d'Arc: Adieu forêts. away the 78s particularly those who are Schubert's setting of the Twenty-third Bizet: Carmen: L'Amour est un oiseau re- - lucky enough to own Jeritzá s recording of Psalm, also sung in Spanish, is likewise helle (Habanera); Les tringles des sistres Marietta's lute song from Korngold's Die tonally attractive, because of its melodic (Chanson bohème). Gluck: Alceste: Divi- Tote Stadt, which unaccountably was not R. E. La Gioconda: Sui- and harmonic simplicity. nités du Styx. Ponchielli: included in this reissue. No texts; no notes. d'arte. Wagner: cidio!; Puccini: Tosca: Vissi J. H., JR. Tann- Lohengrin: Einsam in trüben Tagen. MILIZA KORJUS GLADYS SWARTHOUT haüser: Elisabeths Gebet. Die Walküre: Arias and Songs Opera Arias War es so schmälich? Der Fliegende Hol- länder: Trafit ihr das Schifi. Verdi: Einani: Ernani involami. I Vespri Gounod: Roméo et Juliette: Que fais -tu, Siciliani: Bolero. Mozart: Die Zauberflöte: blanche tourterelle? Faust: Faites -lui mes Maria Jeritza, soprano; Merle Alcock, Der Hölle Rache. Delibes: Lakmé: Bell aveux. Saint-Saëns : Samson et Dalila: mezzo -soprano (in Carmen) ; orchestra. Song (in Italian). Adam: Le Toréador: Amour, viens aider; Mon coeur s'ouvre à 275. 12 -in. $1.98. RCA CAMDEN CAL Variations on Ah, vous dirai -je, maman? ta voix. Bizet: Carmen: L'Amour est un Although she has made fairly recent ap- Arditi: Parla Valse: Il Bacio. Strauss: The oiseau rebelle (Habanera); Près des rem- pearances both in this country and in her Fledermaus: Mein Herr Marquis. Früh- parts de Seville (Séguidille) . Thomas: ever -adoring Vienna, as Rosalinda in The lingsstimmen. Denza: Funiculi, funicula. Mignon: Connais -tu le pays ?; Je connais Fledermaus and as Tosca (a role in which Strauss-Hammerstein : One Day When un pauvre enfant (Styrienne). We Were Young. ; There she was one of Puccini's favorites) , Maria Tiomkin (arr.) Gladys Swarthout, mezzo -soprano; Victor Will Come a Time. Proch: Air and Jeritza has nearly brought to an end her Orchestra, Wilfred Pelletier, cond.; orches- Variations. distinguished career, a career that began tra, Alexander Smallens, cond. (in Samson well years ago. All the more over forty Miliza Korjus, soprano; various orchestras et Dalila and Mignon) . cause to be delighted at the issue of this and conductors. RCA CAMDEN CAL 273. 12 -in. $1.98. LP miscellany from her operatic 78s- RCA CAMDEN CAL 279. 52-in. $1.98. except that the RCA engineers apparently If not one of the very greatest names either napped while it was being made I distinctly remember my first impression among singers, Gladys Swarthout's surely or kept themselves awake by exercising of the Korjus voice, some time in the mid - deserves a place among those of well- above- perverse ingenuity. This is a great pity. Thirties. One day in the lamented Gramo- average professional accomplishment. And For though Mme. Jeritza (like other phone Shop I was handed an HMV record - although it may seem ungallant to notable operatic actresses, including, for of her Ah, vous dirai -je, maman? with the make a point of it, since she is still active, one, Mary Garden) got latterly something suggestion that it was worth hearing. I and charming, as a recitalist - she oc- of the reputation of being a great per- bought it, of course, and over the years cupies a rather interesting place in the sonality rather than a great singer, she have had my money's worth many times history of American operatic singing; for was, in fact, a splendid vocalist at best over. Nothing like this had been heard her career bridges what might otherwise and never less than a compelling one. since the heydays of Frieda Hempel and be a gap between generations. Born in Not all the performances re- released here Galli- Curci, unless perhaps from Toti dal Missouri, she made her first public appear- are of her very best, but they certainly Monte. ances (to go by managerial arithmetic) deserve better treatment than they have For a while I watched the lists for new at the age of twelve; her officially mature been given. The trouble is that eternal bug- Korjus importations; and of course a few operatic debut was in Chicago in 1924. bear of 78 -to -LP reissues: pitch. of her recordings actually found their Mary Garden was still in full control; Rosa At standard LP speed, something like way into the domestic Victor catalogue. Raisa and Claudia Muzio were at their half of the arias offered sound sharp by Then she went to Hollywood. I cannot say peaks; Toti dal Monte was making her as much as a half -tone, quite enough to that she ever again quite equaled that first American appearances. In Chicago, alter the timbre of the voice substantially, first recording, though some of the others and at the Metropolitan at first, the let alone prejudice other musical values. were (and are) phenomenally brilliant. Swarthout roles were mainly secondary - It is true that some Victor 78s of the 193o Nor did she maintain at all times the Frederick in Mignon, Siebel in Faust, Sté - period were cut to run fast and so, pre- purity of her intonation, as witness her phano in Roméo et Juliette. Then, with sumably, sound more brilliant, but spot - performances of the Ernani and Vespri the retirement of Marion Telva, she was checking of originals against the LP bands Siciliani numbers included here, dazzling promoted to Adalgisa status, and later here makes this explanation inapplicable. as they are in certain respects. But her became a Carmen rather than a Mercédès. Of course, it is possible -given a variable - Queen of the Night aria remained for Through it all she maintained and im- speed turntable, a pitch pipe, all the a time the only acceptable electric record- proved the gifts she had -a very good originals, and scores of all the operas repre- ing; what it lacks in dramatic force seems and truly mezzo voice (if one with an odd, sented - to set matters to rights. But this more apparent now. Korjus does the Arditi characteristic break in quality between is asking rather much of the average waltzes and the Proch Variations well with- registers) and a personality so attractive listener who has paid out his $1.98 to get out making them seem more important that it led her into the movies (remember an accurate idea of how Mme. Jeritza than they are. I like the Fledermaus piece Rose of the Rancho ?) . She was, in fact, sounded in particular arias. In her case less, partly because it is sung in unintel- successor to the generation of Telva and the effect of this mysterious mechanical ligible Spanish; and One Day When We Homer and, at the same time, the precursor sharpening and speeding is especially mis- Were Young is not nearly so good a and contemporary of the generations of leading; for her voice was a forward, number as the duet from Der Zigeuner- Risë Stevens and the present crop of clean-cut, bright one, without great depth baron upon which it is based. mezzo -soprano hopefuls. of color perspective, and speeded up a The dubbings are quite successful, This Camden reissue of 78 -rpm record- semitone it sounds thin and rather peepy though I found I had to cut a brilliant ings made in the 1930 -40 period gives a and lacking in punch - things it certainly edge off the voice before it sounded very good idea of Miss Swarthout's best was not, as witness her success in Turandot natural. P. L. M. singing. The voice is ripe and plummy 78 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE .