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 Great Singers - Caruso - Complete Recordings Vol 4
Release Date: 06/19/2001 
Label:  Naxos Historical Catalog #: 8110719   Spars Code: AAD 
Composer:  Giuseppe Verdi,  Giacomo Puccini,  Georges Bizet,  Giacomo Meyerbeer,  Friedrich von Flotow, 
Karl Goldmark,  Arturo Buzzi-Peccia,  Francesco Paolo Tosti,  Emanuele Nutile

Performer:  Enrico Caruso,  Louise Homer,  Frances Alda,  Johanna Gadski,  Marcel Journet

Orchestra/Ensemble:  Metropolitan Opera Chorus

Number of Discs: 1 
Recorded in: Mono 
Length: 1 Hours 8 Mins. 
Back Order: Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks.
Notes & Reviews   Works on This Recording  
 Notes & Reviews Back to Top 
Volume Four of Naxos' complete, chronological Caruso collection (how's that for alliteration!) brings us to 1908-10. These were prime years for the legendary tenor, and every selection on this disc is an outright winner. Treat Buzzi-Peccia's slight but charming "Lolita" as a curtain-raiser to Caruso's final and foremost recorded versions of "Questa o quella" and "La Donna è mobile" from Verdi's Rigoletto--the latter boasting a famous added cadenza. From the same inspired March 16, 1908 session comes the tenor's ravishingly intense "Ah, sì ben mio", followed by another Il Trovatore chestnut: the Act 4 duet "Ai nostri monti ritorneremo", with Louise Homer (recorded the next day). A few weeks later, Caruso took another look at "Celeste Aida". This fifth of his six recordings improves on his relatively sluggish 1906 attempt (see Vol. 3), but we'll have to wait a few volumes for the incandescent 1911 version.

Still, we have Caruso's valedictory "E lucevan le stelle" from Puccini's Tosca, where the tenor harnesses the gushing ardency of his earlier traversals and emits but a solitary sob. Then there are Caruso's celebrated back-to-back "Flower Songs" from Bizet's Carmen: one in the original French and one in Italian. I marginally prefer the Il Trovatore "Miserere" (with Frances Alda) in its unissued version without the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, which adorns the originally issued take. Last but not least, Caruso pairs up with the great French bass Marcel Journet for a memorable Act 1 duet from Flotow's Martha. You're in safe hands with Ward Marston's truthful, well-equalized transfers. In sum, a must for Caruso fans. [7/12/2001]

--Jed Distler, ClassicsToday.com
 Works on This Recording Back to Top 
1.  Rigoletto: Questa o quella by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1851; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 03/16/2008 
Length: 2 Minutes 2 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
2.  Rigoletto: La donna è mobile by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1851; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 03/16/2008 
Length: 2 Minutes 14 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
3.  Il trovatore: Ah si, ben mio by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1853; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 03/16/2008 
Length: 3 Minutes 25 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
4.  Il trovatore: Ai nostri monti by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Louise Homer (Mezzo Soprano), Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1853; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 03/17/2008 
Length: 4 Minutes 13 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
5.  Il trovatore: Quel suon...Ah! che la morte "Miserere" by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor), Frances Alda (Soprano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1853; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 12/27/1909 
Length: 3 Minutes 49 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
6.  Aida: Celeste Aida by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1871; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 03/29/2008 
Length: 3 Minutes 25 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
7.  Aida: La fatal pietra...O terra, addio by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1871; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 11/07/1909 
Length: 4 Minutes 21 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
8.  Aida: O terra, addio by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor), Johanna Gadski (Soprano)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1871; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 11/06/1909 
Length: 4 Minutes 4 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
9.  La forza del destino: O, tu che in seno agli angeli by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1862/1869; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 11/06/1909 
Length: 4 Minutes 7 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
10.  Tosca: Recondita armonia by Giacomo Puccini
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1900; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 11/06/1909 
Length: 2 Minutes 23 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
11.  Tosca: E lucevan le stelle by Giacomo Puccini
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1900; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 11/06/1909 
Length: 2 Minutes 59 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
12.  Carmen: La fleur que tu m'avais jetée "Flower song" by Georges Bizet
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1873-1874; France 
 		Date of Recording: 11/7/1909 
Length: 3 Minutes 43 Secs. 
Language: French 
13.  Carmen: La fleur que tu m'avais jetée "Flower song" by Georges Bizet
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1873-1874; France 
 		Date of Recording: 11/7/1909 
Length: 3 Minutes 44 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
14.  Les Huguenots: Plus blanche que la blanche hermine by Giacomo Meyerbeer
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1836; Germany 
 		Date of Recording: 11/07/1909 
Length: 4 Minutes 1 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
15.  Martha: Solo, profugo, rejetto! by Friedrich von Flotow
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor), Marcel Journet (Bass)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1847; Germany 
 		Date of Recording: 01/12/1910 
Length: 4 Minutes 7 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
16.  Die Königin von Saba, Op. 27: Magische Töne by Karl Goldmark
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: by 1875; Vienna, Austria 
 		Date of Recording: 11/07/1909 
Length: 3 Minutes 5 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
17.  Lolita "Spanish Serenade" by Arturo Buzzi-Peccia
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1892; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 03/16/2008 
Length: 2 Minutes 54 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
18.  Pour un baiser by Francesco Paolo Tosti
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1892; England 
 		Date of Recording: 11/06/1909 
Length: 2 Minutes 36 Secs. 
Language: French 
19.  Il trovatore: Quel suon...Ah! che la morte "Miserere" by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor), Frances Alda (Soprano)
Orchestra/Ensemble:  Metropolitan Opera Chorus
Period: Romantic 
Written: 1853; Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 1/6/1910 
Length: 3 Minutes 44 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
20.  Mamma mia, che vo' sapè by Emanuele Nutile
Performer:  Enrico Caruso (Tenor)
Period: 20th Century 
Written: Italy 
 		Date of Recording: 11/06/1909 
Length: 3 Minutes 33 Secs. 
Language: Italian 
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