The Harold Wayne collection, Vol.1

A Great Start to a Legendary Series of Recordings

Volume One of this now much-heralded collection offers a King's Ransom in early operatic stars on record. Among several singers in this first Volume are the famous contralto, Guerrina Fabbri, and heroic tenor, Giovanni Battista de Negri; both very significant singers during the last quarter of the 19th century. It's remarkable how well the primitive early recordings handled their large voices. These are truly major singers, with exceptional voices, and talent. Fabbri's tone and flexibility stand up to the best of such voices of the 20th century, hers is an impressive presence. What issues she reveals in technique or style are overshadowed by her best features as a singer. De Negri displays a huge rich voice for a tenor, with tremendous authority and richness still remaining after over twenty-five years of singing, including many heavier roles, and a serious throat operation. It's not surprising to read de Negri was the only singer offering competition to the trumpet-voiced Italian heroic tenor, Tamagno, creator of Verdi's Otello.

Along with 8 great rarities of Fabbri and 4 of de Negri, this volume also includes 5 1903 G&T recordings of Giuseppe Kashmann. Kashmann was one of the greatest baritones of the last quarter of the 19th century and sang as late as 1922 in buffo roles when he was in his seventies. Kashmann's singing displays the best qualities of what is referred to as the Golden Age, a long beautifully maintained cantabile, excellent diction, and handsome tone delivered with impressive dignity. A very great singer.

Also - there's more! - are three possibly even rarer recordings of the lyric soprano Fanny Toresella. The notes acknowledge technical problems, with varying speeds especially troublesome. However, I think she sounds fairly well given that these recordings were issued in 1900! Scott in his book The Record of Singing is harsh and largely dismissive, but to judge from these cuts Toresella's is a nice voice, in better shape than Scott suggests. (To be fair to Michael Scott, it should never be forgotten that Scott was attempting to evaluate an entire age of singers, many unknown, and in not always very good dubbings.) On this CD Toresella attempts a number of coloratura passages with perhaps more bravura than exactitude, but all in all you can easily appreciate her qualities yeah and nay. After a quarter century of singing Toresella was still singing at major houses.

There are also two other singers. The tenor Leopoldo Signoretti, who made five recordings for the Zonofono Company in 1901, of which three are included. These are suprisingly forward, as Dr. Henstock's fine notes point out. Signoratti's career runs about the same time period as Toresella and Kashmann - all three debuting around 1876. On record he sounds less important than Marconi - whose far more important records are issued in toto in the next two Symposium issues in the Harold Wayne series.

The other and last singer included is the bass Giovanni Gravi. I had only heard of him through one recording offered on the Record of Singing volumes. His voice is indeed 'sonorous' and he sings more freely than I normally might expect from a bass. Basses in the 19th century were apparently expected to sing more elegant roles to go along with their heavier dramatic diet.

An outstanding historical issue, and something to consider even at higher used prices. Dates and information on the recordings are included along with what biographical material is available. A few considered observations are made about the singing.

On my CD the Toresella and Signoretti tracks are reversed; Signoretti is on 21, 22, and 23, and Toresella sings on tracks 24, 25, and 26. To help you notice - as if you can't tell a soprano from a tenor - there's a delightful Italian male voice announcing each record. November 13, 2007

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