Search - Francesca Caccini, Francesco Cilea, Gaetano Donizetti :: Beniamino Gigli, Vol. 2

Possibly the Tenor of the Century!

Jill Bakke | Oak Park, IL USA | 01/14/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"While the recording is as good as can be expected, the voice of Beniamino Gigli must have been delivered to earth by the angels. His ability to take the high notes and deliver them in their purest form is unrivaled by anyone before or after. According to the recording notes, the role of Prince Calaf in Turnadot was written with him in mind. He was a work horse throughout his career, and toward the end his voice showed the signs of the wear and tear inflicted from performance after performance and some of his often critized affectations. But, he was still the best, even at the end.If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing Gigli before, get this CD along with Volume One, and be prepared to be for a treat!"

Beniamino Gigli--As He Ought to Be Treated!

James Yelvington | USA | 08/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

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I won't try to make the case for Gigli's operatic singing. He's far too well known and debated amongst opera-lovers for me to add anything. I do want to offer a comment or two on this recording, however.



I was very pleasantly surprised at the quality of the transfer which Nimbus Records manages. As is well known, they built a special apparatus for playing such old 78 rpm records as the ones this CD used as source material. Perhaps their pains have never been so well rewarded as in this case. The transfers strike me as being among the best I've heard from 20's & 30's era recordings. (They were electrical, at least, and not the older acoustic types.)



Three cheers to Nimbus for these excellent transfers!



The selection this CD offers, is also, I think, outstanding. Most of these arias are among the very most popular tenor highlights, so it is easy to compare Gigli's performances with those of others. (I believe all the pieces are operatic arias except for the last one, which seems to be an art-song.)



The liner notes are informative and well-written, focussing on Gigli's very distinguished and pretty long career. They also discuss briefly the individual arias and how they fit into their operas. (We don't get the texts, but these are all pretty familiar, so that shouldn't be a problem.)



Gigli sings these arias in Italian, by the way, even the ones from French operas, like Bizet's "Pearl-Fishers" ("Les Pecheurs de Perles"). That isn't unusual for an Italian tenor, especially of Gigli's era. (Remember, even Jussi Bjoerling did most of his early recordings in Swedish.)



All in all, I'd give this CD a very strong recommendation for those who already love Gigli and for those who want to know what he sounded like. This is a very fine sample, I think.

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