The Art of Singing

Much stunningly good, some not so much
This disc has a large number of small snippets, and several more extended bands, of very fine singers of the past. For the most part, these selections should be considered as supplementary material - giving an interesting visual representation of the great singers and their performance practices of the past 100 years - rather than as exciting performances, which you would watch frequently for their entertainment value. Needless to say, the quality of the audio and video varies widely from the crude early selections, through the fuzzy cinemas of the 1930's to the relatively acceptable quality of the later singers in the 1960's.

While there are several singers who are also very capable actors presented here, most artists are concentrating on their singing. One also needs to consider that not only is it difficult to accompany what are essentially sung monologs with meaningful gestures, these performers normally performed on stage in large concert halls; thus their gestures and...

Bjorling and Tebaldi...
The Boheme scene featuring Bjorling and Tebaldi is the greatest opera perfomance on film. Tebaldi is radiant and charming and in prime voice. Bjorling is the ideal Rodolfo and his acting is completely natural. He does nothing more or less than needed. Charles Laughton's personal and heartfelt introduction is obviously in his own words. Magda Olivero's Vissi D'arte is incomplete as is Parigi, o cara by Callas and Kraus. Leontyne Price's nearly perfect vibrato is on display in a well done O patria mia and the great Wunderlich delivers a great performance of Tamino's aria. The "singing actors," Christoff,Callas and Vickers deliver intense performances that may seem over the top as taken out of context and on the small screen. The young Sutherland and Corelli are both spectacular and De Los Angeles,Gigli and Schipa all deliver prime performances.



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