Word: basse
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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...soprano, red-haired Herva Nelli, who had had to hold herself in as Desdemona in his 1947 broadcast of Otello, was getting a chance to open up as Aida. He had picked three newcomers: slim Norwegian Contralto Eva Gustavson (Amneris), who arrived in the U.S. last October, young Canadian Bass-Baritone Dennis Harbour (the King of Egypt), who a fortnight ago won the Met's radio auditions, and Soprano Teresa Randall (the Priestess), a finalist in the same contest. Baritone Giuseppe Valdengo (Amonasro), big Bass Norman Scott (Ramfis), Tenor Virginio Assandri (the Messenger), were all Toscanini veterans...
Verdi: Aïda (Beniamino Gigli, tenor; Maria Caniglia, soprano; Ebe Stignani, mezzo-soprano; Gino Bechi, baritone; Italo Tajo, bass, and others with the Rome Opera Orchestra and chorus, Tullio Serafin conducting; Victor, 40 sides). With such a cast, Aïda should have come off brilliantly; instead, it just barely comes off, with some good singing (Ebe Stignani's) and some bad (e.g., Gigli's Celeste Aïda is painful). Recording: fair...
Verdi: La Forza del Destine (Maria Caniglia, soprano; Ebe Stignani, mezzo-soprano; Galliano Masini, tenor; Tancredi Pasero, bass; Carlo Tagliabue, baritone, and others with the EIAR Symphony Orchestra and chorus, Gino Marinuzzi conducting; Cetra-Soria, 36 sides). Some of the singers made Verdi's less worthy opera sound far better than the Aïda. Recording: good...
...Minor yesterday afternoon and evening in Symphony Hall would not have satisfied a purist. The retards on cadences were exaggerated, the orchestral part at the end of "Et Resurrexit" was omitted and so was the first Osanna. The soles were taken more slowly than regulation, particularly the bass aria, "Et in Spiritum Sanctum," for it is quite frankly a pastoral dance, inspired by the word "Vivificantem" (Giver of life...
...soloists both vocal and instrumental, were unformly good. Special notice must go to Leo Wolovsky, the bass. Though he suffered some in the "Quonian" from the competition of the horn, he showed complete understanding of words and music in the "Et in Spiritum Sanetum," with enough technical skill to make both apparent...