4.0 out of 5 stars
In Honour of Kieth, November 18, 2010
This review is from: Keith Hardwick in Memoriam (Audio CD)
Keith Hardwick may have had his own generation in mind when he set about preserving their operatic history on record, but he must have also had younger generations, like mine, in mind as well. I would never have known that people like Armand Crabbe (such artistry), Nina Koshetz (such emtional power and vocal glories) and Aksel Schiotz (elegant, measured, Motzartian) ever existed. Keith wasn't alone of course, but he is one of those to whom we who love singing, are endebted.
This selection from Keith's own records has some relatively rare and memorable tracks. The previously mentioned Nina Koshetz singing Eili Eili (a rare performance and song), Stracciari's Tosti item and Schiotz' Il mio tesoro are stand outs. So also, for me at least, Meta Seinemeyer's steely and graceful Liszt and two items that turn up elsewhere fairly regularly, the Schorr and the Melchior. In fact, Melchoir's Otello aria is so ideal I always forget about being sung in German. It seems irrelevant. Being, as I am, an antipodean, I have to mention Dawson. Dawson for me ticks all the boxes: voice, technique, diction and communication. He is my personal pick of Austrlian singers of the twentieth century and I remain eternally grateful for his small but utterly wonderful number of operatic recordings. The Handel is astonishingly good but my personal pick is his prelude from Pagliacci (available on Hamburger Archiv Fur Gesangkunst 10063).
The sound is fairly typical Pearl. The transfers are impecably done with no great attempt to pretty them up but that suits some people. I'm easy but I generally prefer what Nimbus and others have done.
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