Veteran collectors will recall that the 1903 Columbia Grand Opera Series (recorded 1902-03) was first reissued on LP by Columbia in 1963, in a magnificently produced box set that included a facsimile of the original sales brochure for the series. It was a model historical release for the time, but it has been surpassed in almost every way in its new incarnation on Sony's Masterworks Heritage series. Everything that was on the LP set is present, including the facsimile brochure, but there is much new material, including alternate takes as well as some intriguing recordings made through 1907.

Although the LP set was very well transferred for the time (using as was then the norm, discreet reverb), it has all been newly transferred by Seth B. Winner and remastered by Dawn Frank so that the old recordings yield up sound that was previously obscured. According to the producer, Dennis D. Rooney, Sony achieved an unprecedented 8,000 hz on Marcel Journet's 1905 “Infelice! E tu credevi,“ by using a mint set of metal parts. To hear this level of fidelity from an acoustic and not an electric, and with such sharply etched sibilants, is uncanny. What a testament to those pioneering inventors! The rest of the material, the majority taken from the New York Public Library's pristine copies of salesmen's samples, is mostly at a less spectacular, but still impressive, 4,000-4,500 hz. Winner has been very discreet in his filtering, but the surface noise is rarely intrusive and the voices in these old recordings emerge with a startling immediacy.

The set's cover bills it as “the first recordings of opera in America,“ not accurately, since Bettini was offering his cylinders of top opera stars in the 1880s, and the first commercially produced opera record was made by Berliner in Philadelphia by the tenor Ferruccio Giannini in 1896. However, the Columbias are likely the first flat discs of celebrity opera singers to have been made here and, more importantly, they offer performances of the highest artistic and historic significance.

First and foremost are the three records by bass Edouard de Reszke, the only ones he would ever make. The premiere bass of the last quarter of the nineteenth century, a far bigger star than his great contemporary, Pol Plançon, Edouard with his brother, the tenor Jean de Reszke (who, alas, had his record masters destroyed), ruled the opera world like kings. Edouard's three recordings, “Infelice! E tu credevi,“ the “Porterlied,“ and “Don Juan's Serenade,“ are sung with a uniquely cultivated tone and style. Although the bass was forty-nine at the time of these recordings, and his once mighty voice had no doubt considerably lightened, all three, but particularly the Ernani selection, relay the impression of unmistakable greatness and magisterial authority.

Except for the one surviving Bettini cylinder of Marcella Sembrich, these Columbias find her voice in its freshest state. She was regarded as the finest Violetta of the time and her “Ah, fors' è lui“ is passionately sung, and with a rich tone that is less apparent on her Victors. The same can be said of Schumann-Heink's selections: although technically less impressive than her Victors, these are dazzling enough, and her unsurpassed contralto has a depth in “Der Tod und das Mädchen“ that is soul stirring. The baritones, Antonio Scotti, Giuseppe Campanari, and Charles Gilbert (a bass-baritone), are fabulous sounding on these Columbias; Scotti and Campanari are especially exuberant and unrestrained, with rousing “Toreador Song“s the like of which we don't hear anymore.

Although she is scarcely remembered anymore, the American soprano Suzanne Adams, a pupil of Mathilde Marchesi, was a superb singer with a luscious soprano voice bearing a remarkable resemblance to Patti's in the middle register. During her brief career, Adams was a first-rank star, a favorite of Gounod, and her recordings of the Roméo “Waltz“ and Faust “Jewel Song“ are not approached by modern interpreters. Another forgotten, but exquisite-voiced soprano was Lillian Blauvelt, whose pinpoint trills (real ones, not phony martello) in “Les filles de Cadix“ are eye-opening. There is a welcome Schubert selection by the famous Wagnerian bass-baritone Anton van Rooy, a singer who did not generally fare well on recordings, but is impressive in “Die beiden Grenadiere.“

Beautifully packaged, this is one of the great historic releases of the CD era.

-- James Camner, FANFARE [1/1997]

...Sony has restored some great singing to the catalog. Eileen Farrell offers vocalism of extraordinary ease, power, and presence. If I had to single out just one more thing that warrants really sitting up and taking note, it would need to be the seamlessness with which the voice is produced. This is stunningly even singing; one listens in vain for any sign of a break between registers. And I must also call attention to the limpidity of tone in the opening Boccanegra aria, and the well-considered approach to the recitativelike passages of “Ritorna vincitor.“ On the other hand, one cannot help but hear a certain sameness in many of the arias, a sameness that necessarily reflects her limited experience on the operatic stage. (A much-admired Puccini album, not yet reissued, apparently demonstrates a wider interpretive range than the present selection of Verdi arias.) Farrell was already thirty-six when she made her operatic debut in 1956, and she sang just five roles in her five seasons at the Met, where she first appeared in 1960. A Met Gioconda and a Forza from Philadelphia are preserved on CD. But she was unhappy in the world of opera; according to Philip Kennicott's accompanying essay she often found the genre superficial and contrived and simply did not care to face an opening-night audience. Ultimately she concentrated her efforts on concert appearances and more popular venues, so this Verdi disc is, in Kennicott's words, “a document of what was not to be.“

-- Marc Mandel, FANFARE [5/1997]

Tchaikovsky & Arensky: Piano Trios

WAGNER: ORCHESTRAL MUSIC BOUL

"...there's no denying that this performance has only infrequently been matched. Here's display with the brains and heart intact..." -- Raymond Tuttle, www.classical.net

"...the dazzling Liszt E flat Concerto he recorded in 1952 with Eugene Ormandy which [Arrau] told me was done virtually in one take..." -- Robert Layton, Gramophone [8/1991]

There will be listeners who have come across the Paris string quartets in the so-called quatuor cancertant manner, that is to say with a soloistic firstviolin part that turns the work into something of a chamber concerto. This is something more unusual; a set of quintets in which a cello is the concertante instrument with a string quartet in attendance. Written in Paris in the middle of the first decade of the nineteenth century, the heyday of the quatuor concertant, they are typical of the ingenious Reicha in his use of the unexpected. He was a clever composer, as his pupils Berlioz and Liszt (among many other famous men) discovered to their benefit. These pieces find him in a more relaxed mode: no quirky fugues here. The minuets have been dropped, accentuating the chamber concerto manner; but the style is closer to the intimacies of chamber music without the intellectual subtleties of Haydn or Beethoven. They are really for cellists with a curiosity about the byways of their repertory; but others could enjoy this easy-going, undemanding music, nicely played by a group clearly out for enjoyment, and well recorded too.

-- Gramophone [10/1993]

Gregorian Chant: Paschale Mysterium

Track Listing
1. Little Tree - (with Mark Isham)
2. Through Cherokee Eyes - (with Mark Isham)
3. She's Comin' Alive - (with Mark Isham)
4. Trail of Tears - (with Mark Isham)
5. Testifyin' Day - (with Mark Isham)
6. Revenooers! - (with Mark Isham)
7. Understanding, The - (with Mark Isham)
8. At Notched Gap - (with Mark Isham)
9. There's All Kind of Dyin' - (with Mark Isham)
10. Talking to the Dog Star - (with Mark Isham)
11. Secret Place, A - (with Mark Isham)
12. We'll All of Us Be Together - (with Mark Isham)
13. Willow John - (with Mark Isham)
14. Education of Little Tree, The - (with Mark Isham)

Original music composed by Mark Isham.

Recorded at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, California.

Personnel: Mark Isham (trumpet, synthesizer); Geoff Levin (banjo, dulcimer); Dan Greco (hammer dulcimer); Dean Parks (autoharp); Norm Hughes, Sid Page (violin); Martin Tillman, David Speltz (cello); Jon Clarke (flute).

Audio Mixer: Stephen Krause.

Recording information: Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA.

Editor: Tom Carlson.

Mark Isham's score for The Education of Little Tree is a surprisingly rich, full musical experience, avoiding many of the minimalistic, spare signatures of his other soundtracks. Instead, Isham has created a lush array of sounds that fits the family film perfectly, in addition to working splendidly as its own entity. ~ Rodney Batdorf, AllMusic.com

Crossley's playing of ''Brouillards'' (the first Prelude of Book 2) successfully evokes the disturbing fog of a winter night in which objects appear suddenly and menacingly. I actually think the marking Modere suggests a quicker tempo—Gieseking takes 2'44'' as against Crossley's 3'33'', but there again, the admirably sensitive Gordon Fergus-Thompson takes a minute longer than Crossley!... This Debussy is beautifully textured, with fine control of fingers and pedals; indeed, it is most sympathetically presented and the recording, made at The Maltings, Snape, is satisfyingly atmospheric, with a glowing sound rather than a brilliant one... This applies equally to the Estampes and Children's Corner. In the former work. ''Pagodes'' is a touch deliberate, but has lovely sounds; indeed, Crossley's tonal beauty is consistent...

-- Christopher Headington, Gramophone [9/1993]

Track Listing
1. Weep You No More Sad Fountains
2. Particular Sum, A
3. My Father's Favorite
4. Preying Penniless Woman
5. Devonshire
6. Not a Beau for Miles
7. All the Better for Her
8. Felicity
9. Patience
10. Grant Me an Interview
11. All the Delights of the Season
12. Steam Engine
13. Willoughby
14. Miss Grey
15. Excellent Notion
16. Leaving London
17. Combe Magna
18. To Die for Love
19. There Is Nothing Lost
20. Throw the Coins
21. Dreame, The

Personnel includes: Robert Ziegler (conductor); Jane Eaglen (vocals); Peter Manning (concertmaster); Jonathan Snowdon (flute); Richard Morgan (oboe); Robert Hill (clarinet); Tony Hymas (piano).

Recorded at Air Studios - Lyndhurst Hall, Lyndhurst, England. Includes liner notes by Ang Lee.

Personnel: Jonathan Snowden (flute); Robert Hill (clarinet); Richard Morgan (oboe); Tony Hymas (piano).

Liner Note Author: Ang Lee.

Recording information: Air Studios, Lyndhurst Hall, London, England.

Patrick Doyle began his career in film music writing scores for Kenneth Branagh's films -- but he didn't receive his first Oscar nomination until he wrote this one for Branagh's then-wife, Emma Thompson (whose magic touch with the Academy landed her almost annual nominations in the 1990s). Since then, Doyle seems to have joined the small group of score writers who get voted in year after year by the old boys' club that is the Academy's musical wing. However, this is not Doyle's best work -- most of it simply recycles melodic phrases from his previous stuff. Nonetheless, Sense and Sensibility has a pleasant romanticism in its orchestrations, and the vocal solos by renowned soprano Jane Eaglen are quite good. ~ Darryl Cater

This CD contains both DDD and ADD recordings, and also includes both monaural and stereo recordings.

J.S. Bach: Works for Harpsichord & Clavichord

Verdi: Messa da requiem - Rossini: Stabat Mater

RESPIGHI: GLI UCCELLI, ETC T

This set is offered at a special price: two discs for the price of one.