Record of Singing 5 / Various

The history of EMI's mammoth "The Record of Singing" is complicated. To simplify matters, Volumes I and II (the brainchild of Vivian Liff) were published in 1977 and 1979 on LP, and were accompanied by fascinating books by Michael Scott (who died in 2019). The series continued, though without the contribution of Mr Scott, who later wrote biographies of Enrico Caruso, Maria Callas, and Rachmaninoff.In 2009, Tony Locantro was instrumental in EMI's publication of "The Very Best of Volumes I-IV," from 1899 to 1952, on ten Compact Discs. The same year, he compiled Volume V, from 1953-2007, also on ten Compact Discs. Again, it is a wonderful achievement. Notable accounts include Callas (but was a 1954 excerpt from "I vespri siciliani" the best choice?), Beverly Sills ("Il barbiere di Siviglia"), Galina Vishnevskaya (in Shostakovich, a refreshing break from all the Romantic and post-Romantic scores), Shirley Verrett ("Don Carlos"), Jon Vickers ("Carmen," as well as the final duet from "Fidelio"). Happily included are also Renata Scotto ("Madama Butterfly," 1966) and Dame Gwyneth Jones ("Elias," 1968), though the recordings chosen are too early; both divas became far more interesting in their later careers.It is good to have a section on "Singers of Baroque and Early Music," and Derek Lee Ragin, greatest of counter-tenors, is heard in Vivaldi.Significant omissions from "The Record of Singing" are Herva Nelli (as noted in a Letter to the Editor of Gramophone, in their September 1989 issue), Leyla Gencer, Norman Treigle (pictured), Marisa Galvany, Anja Silja, Susanne Marsee, Karan Armstrong, and Dunja Vejzovic. Part of the problem is that, "All the recordings in this set are from the catalogues of companies that are now part of EMI." In fact, Treigle ("Mefistofele"), Silja ("Der fliegende Holländer"), and Vejzovic ("Lohengrin" and "Der fliegende Holländer") were EMI artists, and Marsee's recording of "Les contes d'Hoffmann" was once part of their catalogues.

This vocal survey of the EMI catalogue of recordings offers a generous sampling of one aria per singer, all chosen by Tony Locantro of EMI, and commented on by the esteemed vocal historian and critic John Steane in the introduction. All the best known EMI-recorded singers are represented from 1953 through 2007, as well as many lesser known singers such as Dame Joan Hammond, Elsie Morison, Martha Angelici, Aase Nordmo-Lövberg, June Bronhill, Melitta Muszely, Amy Shuard, Hanny Steffek, Andrée Esposito, Sari Barabas, Albert Lance, Eugenio Fernandi, Joao Gibin, Charles Craig, Giuseppe Campora, Ronald Dowd, Wilfred Brown, Michel Dens, Irina Arkhipova, Donald Smith, Aage Haugland, Dagmar Schellenberger, Hera Lind, Katarina Karnéus, Emily Van Evera, Catherine King, Nigel Rogers, Aris Christofellis, Charles Brett, Harry van der Kamp, Dominique Visse, Gerard Lesne, Sandrine Piau, Sine Bundgaard, Christine Rice, Yu Qiang Dai, Max Emanuel Cencic, Toby Spence & Rodion Pogossov. Any compilation is necessarily subjective and I find this one very satisfying yet intriguing for my own discovery of previously unheard singers worthy to be included among the great. A few of the selections are perhaps not the best representations of the specific singers such as Leontyne Price who is here represented by her third and final recording of the complete il trovatore by Verdi in the aria "D'amor sull'ali rosee" from 1977. Better are her previous recordings of this aria on RCA, but EMI is obviously limited to their own recordings. Nevertheless it is a fascinating collection which offers many vocal pleasures.

I purchased this set for my Uncle who loved the opera. I am more interested in the instrumentalclassical music, but I now own this due to the death of my Uncle. I have not listened to it sinceshortly after he died and I remember there are some really pretty things on it by singers I wouldnever have had a chance to see in person due to the time period they sang in. From Birgit Nilsson,Kirsten Flagstad, Jussi Bjorling, Nicolai Gedda, and Tito Gobbi to Maria Callas, Kiri Te Kanawa,Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras most of the greatestsingers of the time period are featured. There are some notable omissions and that is probablydue to record label issues. Renee Fleming is not on this set and definitely sang in this timeperiod. There are 208 performers and performances. No one sings more than once. The set isdefinitely well titled!

Pleased with this - intenresting anhang to other emi box - Pearl's sets of the Russian Imperial opera singers are an essential complement.

Me encanta, sopranos desconocidas y grandes arias.

Einerseits finde ich es interessant, die Stimmen von in der Vergangnenheit bekannten Künstlern zu hören, die ich sonst nur vom "Hören-Sagen" kenne. Andererseits ist - logischerweise - die Tonqualität von sehr alten Aufnahmen eben doch zum Teil sehr schlecht. Ich hätte mir ein etwas umfangreicheres und damit informativeres Booklet gewünscht.