Peerce, Munsel, Merrill, Pinza, Votipka, & Frank - Sextet from "Lucia di Lammermoor"

[billcarr54]

Just beautiful !

[mapuche888]

I grew up listening to this opera and it is very dear to me. I have two copies of scratched LPs of the recording but would love to see it get re-issued. Does anyone know if it has been or if there are any plans. I'm looking to buy another copy that hopefully will be in better shape.

[VinylToVideo]

@mapuche888 You haven't said which recording of "Lucia" it is so how can anyone know?

[mapuche888]

@VinylToVideo . Sorry, I thought it was obviously the recording that is playing. Patrice Munsel and Jan Peerce Highlights of Lucia di Lammemoor recorded by RCA . My father purchased the LP while he was a student in Chicago sometime after World War 2 but I'm not sure exactly when since I was born later.

[VinylToVideo]

@mapuche888 I was confused when you said "two copies" I guess I thought you meant a 2 LP set which would mean the full opera and this one was only partially recorded unfortunately. The recordings were made between 1949 and 1951 and released in the early 50s. It has never been reissued.

[mapuche888]

@VinylToVideo> No, I did mean two copies. I have two identical LP's. The original one my father bought and another one I purchased from a rare record store in Hollywood. I'm still looking for an LP in better condition. I may never find it which is why I wish it would get reissued. I would love to hear it without the scratches and clicks.

[VinylToVideo]

@mapuche888 Message me if interested in a copy.

[billyguns2]

Peerce is much better here than in the later complete recording, and Merrill vastly superior to Maero; I have a soft spot for Tozzi, but Pinza is no slouch even at this late date in his career. Munsel is one of the tweety bird Lucias, but I prefer her to Peters. RCA often recorded highlights only when they should have done the whole operas: BOHEME, SAMSON ET DALILA, for example.

[GermanOperaSinger]

Pons was past her prime by then so I would have preferred Peters but still you have Peerce, Merrill, and Pinza which is about as good as it can get. Near perfect cast.

[halavey]

Pons recorded it in 1954 with tucker for columbia and Mc Cracken was in it! he was Normanno. When I met Pons in 1974 after she attended a Tucker Recital in Palm Springs (march 1974) I mentioned the Lucia LP Recording but she did not seem to be really happy with it. She was in her 50's in 1954 and Columbia re released it on Odyssey in the early 70's it is on CD under another label.

[InBoccaChiusa]

In spite of the recording date, one can hear each principal clearly. This is a great recording. Bravi a tutti!

[jmccracken1963]

It's a VERY, VERY good performance; but I think you're wrong in asserting that, had RCA recorded the opera complete, Pons would have replaced Munsel as Lucia. At that time, Lily Pons was a Columbia artist, and she would hardly have graced an RCA recording of any opera, such was the competition between Columbia and RCA in those days of "cut-throat" wooing of each other's major classical artists. But thank you VERY much for sharing the snippet of a "golden era" with us!!!

[VinylToVideo]

You're right; earlier I was thinking about it and by then she was with Columbia and even recorded the Met's production of the opera with Tucker for Columbia around the same time. Perhaps they would have used Munsel for the recording. Between 1949 and 1951 Pons and Munsel were the only two Lucias at the Met and what other coloraturas did RCA had at hand in New York at that time anyhow?

[jmccracken1963]

The Met recording for Columbia, with Pons, Tucker, Guarrera, and Scott (and with a VERY young James McCracken as Normanno), with Cleva conducting, was done in 1954 and was the last of the recordings made by the Met for Columbia under their contract. Pons still had "it" vocally when she recorded that opera, but for me, the MEN are the story on that recording; some really GREAT singing by both Tucker and Guarrera, in particular!!!!!

[ShawDAMAN]

Musically, one of my favorite pieces and definitely one of the best recordings of it I've heard. Thanks!

[titaruffo2]

Hélas, nous ne trouvons plus ce style

[j72050]

...truly the end of the Golden Age.....

[MaestroJosephShore]

Great singing. I dare you to try to match this today.

[VinylToVideo]

Couldn't have been done for many years.

[billyguns2]

Really lovely, unforced signing of a bygone age; RCA should have recorded the opera complete with this cast, as they should have done with Albanese BUTTERFLY, Stevens SAMSON ET DALILA ( TWICE highlights only! ), and the ALbanese-di Stefano-Warren LA BOHEME (still the best cast for that opera, IMO).

[VinylToVideo]

Luckily there's a Met broadcast of "Boheme" with the almost equally great cast of Albanese, Di Stefano, Guden, and Guarrera.