Customer Reviews

The Complete Johanna Gadski, Vol. 1 (The Victor Recordings 1903-1909)

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Ward Marston has developed an amazing ability to bring old recordings back to life. The Gadski collections - there are two of them on his label - are amazing preservations of one of the great but neglected dramatic sopranos of the first 50 years of the 20th century. Listeners brought up on modern sound will have trouble with the surface noise; but learn to listen beyond it. Nobody sings like this today.

Here is the "Golden Age" dramatic soprano, captured at her best in excerpts from the German and Italian operas in which she excelled, with some truly exquisite recordings of songs thrown in for good measure. This long-neglected artist has finally achieved the recognition she has so long-since deserved.

This is a wonderful CD of times gone by! Yes, there is a bit of "white noise" at the beginning of Song 1, and I suppose it's there all through the CD, but honestly, after a few minutes I got swept away by the voice and music and no longer heard the white noise at all! This is a great CD to just listen to, I like to play it as I do my housework. Well worth purchasing!