Search - Schmidt :: Rare Unpublished Live Recordings

Poor Sound Quality, But A Magnificent Recording Nevertheless

Jack Waite | Philadelphia, PA, USA | 02/10/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Joseph Schmidt was known as "The German Caruso." Sadly, Schmidt has been almost forgotten, since his death at the age of 38, while trying to flee from Nazi persecution because he was Jewish. Schmidt is said to have been only 5'1/2" in height, and it is said that when he appeared on stage, along side of an amply built soprano, the audience often laughed. But, what mattered was not the size of his body ... but, rather, the size of his magnificent voice! In this 73-1/2-minute recording, Schmidt's live radio broadcasts are preserved. Since these were not commercial recordings, the sound quality of many of the tracks is very poor. These recorded radio broadcasts begin in Berlin, Germany, in 1930 ... and continue to his 1937 Carnegie Hall broadcasts in New York. Schmidt's United States debut at Carnegie Hall on March 7, 1937 is included on this CD, and the arias from that broadcast are well worth the cost of the CD! Schmidt holds a single note at the end of "Una Furtiva Lagrima" for well over 10 seconds in his initial offering on that memorable occasion. He follows this with "La Donna E Mobile" which is also outstanding, as is another Carnegie Hall performance, Leoncavallo's "Mattinata." These three arias alone justify the purchase of this CD. The CD ends with several selections which were recorded on "Puccini Night" at Carnegie Hall on November 7, 1937, and although the quality of the "Puccini Night" recordings (one aria features a duet with Grace Moore, who was later to die in an airplane accident) is poor, we should be thankful that we have some record of that evening's heavenly Puccini music, even though it is scratchy and poorly recorded. Remember, these were not commercial recordings, made in a studio, but rather, they were recorded during a live performance, almost 65 years ago. I had never heard of Joseph Schmidt until about 25 years ago. But, the moment I heard his voice on an LP (which I discovered at a thrift sale) I was amazed at the magnificent voice of this brilliant tenor. Certainly, he deserved the title given to him as "The German Caruso." I highly recommend this CD (which was made in Austria) despite the fact that many tracks suffer because of the poor sound recording. After all, SOME record of a performance is better than no record at all."