Episode 194. Great Mozart Tenors

Episode 194. Great Mozart Tenors

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Today’s is a mammoth episode, one of my longest ever, so I suggest you listen to it in easily digestible segments. It’s mammoth because it’s a gigantic subject: great Mozart tenors of the 20th century, covering more than 100 years of recorded documents of the finest examples of tenorial interpretations of the big Mozart operas as well as some of his lesser-known works, including his concert arias. You will be dazzled (and that is a promise and a guarantee) by performances by Fritz Wunderlich (for many of us, the ne plus ultra of lyric tenors), George Shirley, Richard Tauber, Anton Dermota, Léopold Simoneau, Nicolai Gedda, Gösta Winbergh, John McCormack, David Rendall, Peter Schreier, and countless others, including lesser-known figures such as John van Kesteren, Kálmán Pataky, and Wiesław Ochman, and duets featuring Pilar Lorengar, Leontyne Price, Roberta Alexander, and Margaret Price. I also feature a peek into the future with a special salute to the young tenor Alex Banfield, whose work has impressed me enormously. The entire episode is dedicated to the memory of my friend Jerry Hadley, one of the supreme Mozart tenors of all time.

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

Harry Belafonte, Robert Freedman: Turn the World Around. Harry Belafonte live at Jim Henson’s Memorial Service, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine [live New York 21.V.1990]

Welch ein Glück [Che beltà!] (Die Gärtnerin aus Liebe [La finta giardiniera]). Fritz Wunderlich, Josef Dünnwald, Württembergisches Staatsorchester Stuttgart [live Ludwigsburg, 08.09.56]

Un’ aura amorosa (Così fan tutte) Luigi Alva, Guido Cantelli, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala di Milano [live 27.I.1956]

My love is a flower [Un aura amorosa] (Così fan tutte). George Shirley, Joseph Rosenstock, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra (live Boston 14.IV.62]

Dalla sua pace (Don Giovanni). Léopold Simoneau, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Salzburg 24.VII.56]

Dalla sua pace (Don Giovanni). Charles Kullman, Bruno Walter, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra [live New York, 07.III.42]

Il mio tesoro (Don Giovanni). John McCormack [1916]

Il mio tesoro (Don Giovanni). Alfredo Kraus, Ferdinand Leitner, Orchestra of the Lyric Opera of Chicago [live 06.XII.69]

In quegli anni (Le nozze di Figaro). Ryland Davies, Charles Mackerras, Scottish Chamber Orchestra [1994]

Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (Die Zauberflöte). Richard Tauber, Karl Alwin, Wiener Symphoniker [1938]

Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (Die Zauberflöte). Stuart Burrows, Georg Solti, Wiener Philharmoniker [1969]

Wie stark ist nicht dein Zauberton (Die Zauberflöte). Marcel Wittrisch, Clemens Schmalstich, Orchester der Staatsoper Berlin [1930]

Tamino mein, O welch ein Glück! (Die Zauberflöte). Waldemar Kmentt, Pilar Lorengar, István Kertész, Wiener Philharmoniker [live Salzburg 12.VIII.64]

Anima mia, consolati… Fuggi, crudele, fuggi! (Don Giovanni). Cesare Valletti, Leontyne Price, Herbert von Karajan, Wiener Philharmoniker [Salzburg 08.VIII.60]

Herbert von Karajan and Leontyne Price during Tosca recording session, 1962.

Volgi a me pietoso il ciglio (Così fan tutte). Peter Schreier, Margaret Price, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Bayerisches Staatsorchester [live München 28.II.1978]

Lei mi chiama?… Alme belle innamorate (La finta giardiniera). John Aler, Roberta Alexander, Semyon Bychkov, Nouvel Orchestre Philarmonique [live Aix-en-Provence 30.VII.1984]

Welch’ ein Geschick! (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). Karl Erb, Maria Ivogün [1916]

Hier soll ich dich denn sehen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). Anton Dermota, Ferenc Fricsay, RIAS Sinfonie Orchester [Berlin 1949]

Konstanze! O wie ängstlich (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). Kálmán Pataky [1928]

O wie ängstlich [sung in English] (The Abduction from the Seraglio). John Alexander, Julius Rudel, New York City Opera Orchestra [live New York 22.X.66]

Wenn der Freude Tränen fließen (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). John van Kesteren, Otto Ackermann, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln [1955]

Ich baue ganz (Die Entführung aus dem Serail). Hermann Jadlowker [1909]

Va, dal furor portata, KV 21. Gösta Winbergh, György Fischer, Wiener Kammerorchester [1983]

Si mostra la sorte, KV 209. Francisco Araiza, Gerhard Wimberger, Mozarteum-Orchester Salzburg [live Salzburg 23.VI.1981]

Misero! O sogno, KV 431. Nicolai Gedda, Claude Génetay, National Musei Kammarorkester [1970]

Misero! O sogno, K. 431. Charles Holland, Arthur Goldschmidt, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire [1952]

Per pietà, non ricercate, KV 420. Ernst Haefliger, Jörg Ewald Dähler, English Chamber Orchestra [1984]

Se all’impero (La clemenza di Tito). Philip Langridge, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Orchester der Oper Zürich [1993]

Vedrommi intorno l’ombra dolente (Idomeneo). Wiesław Ochman, Karl Böhm, Staatskapelle Dresden [1979]

Fuor del mar (Idomeneo). David Rendall, Jeffrey Tate, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra [live 15.II.1986]

Se di lauri il crine adorno (Mitridate) [Alex Banfield] [demo 12.2020]

Non ho colpa (Idomeneo). Jerry Hadley, Bernard Haitink, London Philharmonic Orchestra [live Glyndebourne 1983]

Wackrer Freund, voll tiefer Scham (Zaide). Fritz Wunderlich, Hans Müller-Kray, Sinfonieorchester des Süddeutschen Rundfunks [live Stuttgart 24.X.56]

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