The Golden Age of Singing: Vol. 3 1920-1930 [ORIGINAL RECORDING REMASTERED]

Emilio Sagi-Baba (Performer), Guglielmo Masini (Performer), Franco Alfano (Composer), Emilio Arrieta (Composer), Vincenzo Bellini (Composer), Georges Bizet (Composer), Alexander Borodin (Composer), Eugeno Diaz de la Pena (Composer), Gaetano Donizetti (Composer), Umberto Giordano (Composer), Christoph Willibald Gluck (Composer), Charles Gounod (Composer), George Frederick Handel (Composer), Erich Wolfgang Korngold (Composer), Ruggero Leoncavallo (Composer), Albert Lortzing (Composer), Pietro Mascagni (Composer), Jules Massenet (Composer), Giacomo Meyerbeer (Composer), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Composer)

Product Details

• Performer: Emilio Sagi-Baba, Guglielmo Masini
• Composer: Franco Alfano, Emilio Arrieta, Vincenzo Bellini, Georges Bizet, Alexander Borodin, et al.
• Audio CD (March 6, 2001)
• SPARS Code: ADD
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Nimbus Records
• ASIN: B000058TFX
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #214,369 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #12 in	Music > Classical > Featured Composers, A-Z > ( L ) > Lortzing, Albert
  #29 in	Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Baroque (c.1600-1750) > Vocal & Song
  #86 in	Music > Classical > Historical Periods > Modern, 20th, & 21st Century > Composers > Korngold, Erich Wolfgang

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Voices of the 1920s in Opera and Operetta., December 29, 2001

By	John Austin "[e-mail]" (Kangaroo Ground, Australia) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

The Nimbus method of reprocessing historical recordings is particularly kind to singers who recorded by the acoustic process, before the advent of electric recording in 1925. In this third issue of their "Golden Age of Singing" series, Nimbus Records cover the years 1920-1930. About a dozen recordings from the pre-electric era are found here, including items by Galli-Curci and de Luca who featured in the second issue in this series. Other singers featuring again in this third series include Lotte Lehmann and Giovanni Martinelli, heard here in 1927 recordings.

Whatever criteria you use to assess anthologies of great singers, you will probably be well satisfied with this splendid issue. If you collect the works of particular singers, you will find not only representative but also rare items. I count the Pinza item as both. It shows him at his best, and has hitherto not found its ways into my CD collection. Occasionally items are not sung in their original language. Frida Leider's "Don Giovanni" aria sung in German in 1922 is preferred to her 1927 remake sung in Italian. Hina Spani sings Elsa's Dream in Italian. Some singers are recorded at the very end of their careers. Scottish soprano Mary Garden, Debussy's first Melisande, is heard in 1927 at her last recording session. Representing a miracle of good singing and longevity is Lucien Fugère recording a Gluck aria in 1928 at the age of 80. Tauber is heard near the beginning of his career in 1923. Youngest of all is the German baritone Gerhard Hüsch, aged 27.

I doubt that many who are considering purchase, every heard any of these singers. I happen to have heard two of them, when a very young man - Ninon Vallin and Elisabeth Schumann. To those who collect great voices on record, whether ever heard in performance or not, I restate that these Nimbus anthologies offer recreations of acoustic recordings that are well worth considering.