Notes and Editorial Reviews
Warren comes second in the quartet of American Verdian baritones who dominated the Metropolitan between, roughly, 1930 and 1990 – Tibbett, Warren, Merrill, Milnes – all of whom have a house likeness consisting of full, rounded, powerful tone, yet each of whom had merits entirely his own. In Warren’s case it was the soft velvet in his voice and what Francis Robinson described in his note to the RCA LP, “The Art of Leonard Warren”, as his “fanatical pursuit of perfection”. His popularity at the Met knew no bounds and his premature death (dramatically on-stage at the Met in 1960) at almost exactly the same age as Caruso robbed the operatic world of an appreciable artist.
His singing here combines a confidence of style with a
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histrionic commitment second to none. His Luna bespeaks frustrated lust, his Rigoletto inner agony, his Don Carlo vengeance, his Iago and Barnaba thoroughgoing evil. Yet the voice and manner can lighten for the musings of Valentin, the breathless busyness of Figaro, the preening of Escamillo. The sheer volume of his voice is best heard in “Scintille diamant”, which ends on a full-throated G sharp, and in Tonio’s Prologue, where his interpretation suggests just why he amazed his hearers with this piece at the Met Auditions in 1938. The largesse and vocal beauty of the reading are stupendous.
Nobody is perfect. Warren lacked the nuances of tone and verbal colouring found in the singing of Tibbett and, to a lesser extent, in Milnes, but neither could create quite the visceral excitement of Warren, a presence very much ‘felt’ on these lifelike performances, excellently accompanied, forwardly recorded in the 1940s, now available in these faultless transfers.'
Alan Blyth, Gramophone [9/1997]
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Works on This Recording
1.
Il trovatore: Il balen del suo sorriso by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Jean Paul Morel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1853; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/02/1947
Language: Italian
2.
Il trovatore: Per me ora fatale by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Jean Paul Morel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra,
Robert Shaw Chorale
Period: Romantic
Written: 1853; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/02/1947
Language: Italian
3.
Rigoletto: Pari siamo by Giuseppe Verdi
Period: Romantic
Written: 1851; Italy
Date of Recording: 12/14/1945
Language: Italian
4.
Rigoletto: Povero Rigoletto...Cortigiani, vil razza dannata! by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Frieder Weissmann
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1851; Italy
Date of Recording: 12/14/1945
Language: Italian
5.
La forza del destino: Invano, Alvaro...Le menaccie by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone),
Jan Peerce (Tenor)
Conductor:
Jean Paul Morel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1862/1869; Italy
Date of Recording: 1946
Language: Italian
6.
Un ballo in maschera: Eri tu che m'acchiave quell' anima by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Frieder Weissmann
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1859; Italy
Date of Recording: 12/14/1945
Language: Italian
7.
Otello: Credo in un Dio crudel by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Frieder Weissmann
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1887; Italy
Date of Recording: 12/14/1945
Language: Italian
8.
Falstaff: E sogno, o realtà? by Giuseppe Verdi
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Wilfrid Pelletier
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1893; Italy
Date of Recording: 09/03/1941
Language: Italian
9.
La Gioconda: O monumento! Regia e bolgia dogale by Amilcare Ponchielli
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Wilfrid Pelletier
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1876; Italy
Date of Recording: 09/03/1941
Language: Italian
10.
La Gioconda: Ah! Pescator affonda l'esca by Amilcare Ponchielli
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone),
Jan Peerce (Tenor)
Conductor:
Jean Paul Morel
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra,
Robert Shaw Chorale
Period: Romantic
Written: 1876; Italy
Date of Recording: 01/02/1947
Language: Italian
11.
Faust: Avant de quitter ces lieux by Charles Gounod
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Wilfrid Pelletier
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1859; France
Date of Recording: 09/04/1941
Language: French
12.
Les contes d'Hoffmann: Scintille diamant by Jacques Offenbach
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Wilfrid Pelletier
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1881; Paris, France
Date of Recording: 09/04/1941
Language: French
13.
Carmen: Votre toast je peu vous le rendre "Toreador Song" by Georges Bizet
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
William Tarrasch
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1873-1874; France
Date of Recording: 03/26/1945
Language: French
Notes: Composition written: France (1873 - 1874).
14.
I Pagliacci: Sì può? [Prologue] by Ruggero Leoncavallo
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
Frieder Weissmann
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1892; Italy
Date of Recording: 03/07/1946
Language: Italian
15.
Il barbiere di Siviglia: Largo al factotum by Gioachino Rossini
Performer:
Leonard Warren (Baritone)
Conductor:
William Tarrasch
Orchestra/Ensemble:
RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Period: Romantic
Written: 1816; Italy
Date of Recording: 03/26/1945
Language: Italian
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