Gigli - Una Furtiva Lagrima

My last Gigli post for today. Beniamino Gigli singing Una Furtiva Lagrima from Donizetti's L'Elisir D'Amore for Victor in 1930. Now I feel guilty for criticizing him in my Tosca post. However, the run at the very end of this record is really sloppy - but the beauty of his voice compensates.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Gigli
• Victor
• Orthophonic

[78Maniac]

Comme dans "Nessun dorme" extrait de Turandot, on est surpris par la qualité du son, même lu comme ici avec un diaphragme et une rotation assurée par un moteur à ressort. La fin "sloppy" dont se plaint Merrihew est peut-être dûe au pas plus court du sillon en fin de disque, ou à un léger ralentissement de la rotation. Il n'en reste pas moins que c'est une grande voix et du très beau chant, riche en expressivité et en couleurs. Un document rare que collectionneur, je recherche.

[merrihew]

Listen to his Il Mio Tesoro which has been posted on Youtube as an example of sloppy runs. Still, all singers have faults and Gigli was incomparable with the right material.

[merrihew]

Sometimes this does happen in the recording process (the velocity under the cutting head certainly decreases as the diameter of the disc decreases). However, if you listen to others of his records (like the Il Mio Tesoro posted on YT) you see that it is a frequent problem. That does not diminish the greatness of almost all of his records.

[crapfacejoe]

@merrihew The run at the end was the best. What planet are you living on. Your criticism is without merit.

[merrihew]

@crapfacejoe Its a criticism shared by a number of well known critics, but we each have to establish our own criteria for what we like. Its still one of the 4 or 5 best performances ever recorded.

[merrihew]

@crapfacejoe I agree with you completely, especially about Bjoerling. My only very minor criticism is that the notes are blurred by Gigli in that final run (more like a slur) as compared to other singers, like Schipa, who delineate the notes in that run more distinctly. Its a tendency that became more pronounced as Gigli aged. This record was hailed as a masterpiece when it was originally issued.

[crapfacejoe]

@merrihew It's more of a masterpiece today. Lanza best emulated Gigli on this in one of his live recordings and it was much better than his more known studio recording which was sung in the typical manner.

[tukilala]

Bravo por el Video !!!!! Gracias Merrihew por subirlo !!!! *****

[crapfacejoe]

@merrihew I love Shipa's una furtiva, he sang it with both perfection and passion. I think I just prefer Gigli's animated style, he's a risk taker and with a voice like his he can afford to take liberties.

[crapfacejoe]

@merrihew Critics never like unorthodox tenors who take risks. They prefer the Bjorlings of the world who sing it from the book.

[mauroangelucci]

Buon Dio fallo rinascere! Tu che tutto puoi!

[wiseroldfart]

Had I never heard Caruso sing it, I'd have probably picked this as the best version of this aria. However, I consider Caruso's 1904 version of this aria the single best performance ever recorded by a tenor. It remains unmatched in its complexity. Caruso's amazing vocal resonance is the topper. That 1904 gem deserves an intense scrutiny by all aspiring tenors and opera fans. I've never heard a better example of what I consider to be true 'bel canto' singing, which appears to be a lost art.

[0samples0]

Cool vocal technic. very very very cool!