VERDI Vocal Rarities/1903-48 RECS/EMI PATHE Mono 8LP BOX SET/FACTORY SEALED

$

78

BUY SIX ITEMS and get a 10% BID DISCOUNT!!

BRAND NEW FACTORY SEALED (!)

1980s EMI PATHE MARCONI Records 2910753 (8)

(EIGHT LP BOX SET, French pressing!)

vintage re-mastered HISTORIC 1903-1948 mono LP recordings of

"LES INTROUVABLES DU CHANT VERDI" (Verdi Vocal Rarities)

performed by

BORIS CHRISTOFF, MARTHA MODL, Lotte Lehmann, Enrico Caruso and many others with the world's leading opera orchestras as shown!!

What makes this collection truly remarkable, however, are the singers whose names are known only to a handful of specialists. Turn your attention, then, to Olimpia Boronat, who sings "Tutte le feste" from Rigoletto (1908) with heartbreaking yet girlish intensity, or, from the same opera, "Caro nome" (1914, and in Russian!) sung Lydia Lipkowska, whose plangent coloratura establishes a vivid character even through the limitations of the recording medium. (And, compare Lipkowska's "Caro nome" to Maria Ivogün's even more plaintive 1917 recording of the same music to hear how she creates a completely different character!) Francesco Navarini's 1907 "Il lacerato spirito" (Simon Boccanegra) is utterly imposing and powerfully grieving, and what a voice! Hardwick follows it with Kipnis's 1931 recording – a perfect contrast because of Kipnis's restraint, which is no less effective. Who was Maria Kousnezoff, whose circa 1920 recording of "Ah fors'è lui" (La traviata) distills unbearable longing into three minutes and eight seconds (a questionable high note notwithstanding)? Who was Paul Franz, whose French "Celeste Aïda" (1912) is so sexily heroic? Natalia Yushina? Hertha Stolzenberg? Melanie Kurt? Margarete Arndt-Ober? Paul Payan? Leonce Escalais? These recordings reflect the traditions of the times. Some of the singers depart significantly from what Verdi wrote. Try, for example, Selma Kurz's 1911 "Saper vorreste" from Un ballo in maschera for whole chains of trills and roulades that gratify her ego (and, to be honest, her willing listeners) but not the composer. Words cannot describe Clara Butt's truncated 1915-16 "O don fatale" (Don Carlos), an exciting battle between her low and high registers, which seem to belong to two different people. Today's singers, for better or worse, wouldn't dare to sing like this. Unfortunately, many of them couldn't do it if they tried. Even while one is scandalized by some of the more "incorrect" interpretations in this collection, one usually can't help being mightily impressed. Intelligently, Hardwick has grouped the selections by opera, not in chronological order, and not by voice. Disc Two, for example, contains 16 selections from Rigoletto, ranging from Alfred Piccaver's 1912 "Questa o quella" to Titta Ruffo and Graziella Pareto's 1908 recording of the final scene. In effect, one gets a potted version of the opera, and aural fatigue is avoided by varying voice types, as well as by breaking up blocks of more difficult acoustic recordings with electric ones. The transfers make use of the most modern technologies. Pitches have been corrected (Hardwick reminds us that "78-rpm" records frequently were cut at higher or lower speeds, and that speeds could vary even over the course of a single side.) Computer technology has allowed Hardwick to minimize surface noise, thereby allowing the music on even the most faded acoustic discs to jump out into high relief.

This VERY hard to find 30 year old FRENCH PRESSING EMI re-mastered mono EIGHT LP BOX SET, from a top NYC collector, is

BRAND NEW FACTORY SEALED with NO HOLES OR CUTS!! (small shrink-wrap tear on the bottom back corner) VERY RARE FIND!!!

A MUST HEAR!!

SHIPPING RATES:

US Media Mail- 1LP- 2.90, 2LPs- 3.30, 3LP Box Set-3.50, 4LP Box Set-4.00

BUY FOUR ITEMS and get FREE MEDIA MAIL (U.S. Only)

All Buyers-BUY SIX ITEMS and get a 10% BID REFUND!!

**FIRST CLASS INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING RATES:

One LP-17.00, 2LPs-20.00 3LPs-25.00

(Canadian rates start at 12.00). PRIORITY AIRMAIL is available starting at 30.00 and has tracking & insurance.

GREAT BULK RATES (about 15-20 LPs):

*SPECIAL 59.00 FLAT RATE

(Worldwide, except Canada is less) For USPS PRIORITY AIRMAIL for packages no larger than 16 LPs (with no extra-large box sets)!

Depends on the Post Office Service. All items are shipped within 24 hours of payment (except weekends)

REFUNDS:

Any item found to be not as described/missing/lost gets a *100% refund, no questions!

*more expensive items will get delivery confirmation, PLEASE NOTE: First Class International Airmail has NO tracking.

All (10%) refunds are sent by PAYPAL with NO FEES!

PACKING:

All items are SECURELY PACKED, single/double LPs (unsealed) are removed from their covers to avoid seam splitting, multiple LPs are wrapped in bubble wrap and packed well inside sturdy boxes.

FEEDBACK:

5-star positive feedback is my goal on each & every transaction. Any buyer that is not happy makes ME unhappy! I will do whatever it takes to gain your trust and forgiveness on any item that fails to meet your satisfaction. I appreciate your communicating with me BEFORE leaving less than positive feedback. I offer 100% refunds, free LPs to those who are kind and the buyer usually keeps the LP for free.

GOOD LUCK and THANKS FOR BIDDING!! .