Word: mezzos
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Debussy: Trois Chansons de Bilitis; Ravel: Chansons Madécasses (Jennie Tourel, mezzo-soprano; Columbia, 2 sides LP). An accomplished artist gives a six-song lesson in how to sing French. Debussy's love songs are poignant; Ravel's are sensual. Recording: excellent...
Gershwin: Porgy and Bess (Risë Stevens, mezzo-soprano; Robert Merrill, baritone; the Robert Shaw Chorale, the RCA Victor Orchestra, Robert Russell Bennett conducting; Victor, 2 sides LP). Highlights, including Summertime, My Man's Gone Now, I Got Plenty o' Nuttin' and It Ain't Necessarily So. Performance and recording: good...
...lapse in MGM's usual technical proficiency-and by pointless attempts to make Tenor Lanza look effortless while performing arias that ordinarily require opera singers to flex every muscle. But Lanza is in fine voice, and with such artists as the Met's Soprano Dorothy Kirsten and Mezzo-Soprano Blanche Thebom, he sings varied favorites by 13 composers from Verdi to Victor Herbert. On the program: La Donna E Mobile and the Quartet from Rigoletto; Vesti la Giubba from I Pagliacci; the Sextette from Lucia De Lammermoor...
Rossini: The Barber of Seville (Luigi Infantine, tenor; Carlo Badioli, bass; Giulietta Simionato, mezzo-soprano; Giuseppe Taddei, baritone; Antonio Cas-sinelli, bass; orchestra and chorus of Radio Italiana, Fernando Previtali conducting; Cetra-Soria, 6 sides LP). Barber fans, used to hearing Rosina's arias trilled airily by a coy soprano, will be surprised to hear the role sung here by a more mature-sounding mezzo - as Rossini wrote it. Mezzo Simionato brings it off beautifully; so does Baritone Taddei as Figaro. Conductor Previtali keeps it sparkling throughout. Recording: excellent...
Strauss: Fledermaus (Lily Pons, soprano; Ljuba Welitch, soprano; Richard Tucker, tenor; Charles Kullman, tenor; Martha Lipton, mezzo-soprano; John Brownlee, baritone; orchestra and chorus of the Metropolitan Opera, Eugene Ormandy conducting; Columbia, 4 sides LP). The Met's hit of the season, minus Patrice Munsel (who has a Victor contract). Recording: good...