{"product_id":"jarmila-novotna-opera-recital-1","title":"Jarmila Novotná: Opera Recital","description":"\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eJARMILA NOVOTNÁ OPERA RECITAL \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Jarmila Novotná (s); Ezio Pinza (bs);\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e3\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Raoul Jobin (t);\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e5\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Jan Peerce (t);\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e7\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e James Melton (t);\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e9\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Martial Singher (bar);\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e11\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Arturo Toscanini\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Paul Breisach\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e2\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Bruno Walter\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e3\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Frieder Weissmann\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e4\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Thomas Beecham\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e5\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Morton Gould\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e6\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Ettore Panizza\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e7\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Maurice Abravanel\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e8\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Frank Black\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e9\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Alfred Wallenstein\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e10\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Donald Voorhees\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e11\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, Wilfred Pelletier\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e12\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e, cond; Gibner King (pn);\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e13\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Vienna PO;\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Metropolitan Op O;\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e14\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Victor O;\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e4\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e Bell Telephone O\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e11 \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"BULLET12\"\u003e • \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e SUPRAPHON 4158, mono (79:02) Live, film, and studio performances 1930–1956 \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eROSSINI \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eIl barbiere di Siviglia: \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eUna voce poco fà\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e (in Czech). \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eMOZART \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eDie Zauberflöte: \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eAch, ich fühls. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e2,14\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eLe nozze di Figaro: \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eNon so più; Voi che sapete. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e3,14\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eDon Giovanni: \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eAh, che mi dice mai; Fuggi il traditor. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eOFFENBACH \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eLes contes d’Hoffmann:\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003e Les oiseaux dans la charmille \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12\"\u003e(in German); \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e4\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eBelle nuit,ô nuit d’amour; \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e4\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eElle a fui; \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e5,14\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eVoyez l’étrange fantasie … C’est un chanson d’amour. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eVERDI \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eLa traviata: \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e6\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eTra voi; \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e7,14\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eAh, fors’ è lui … Sempre libera; \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e8\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eAddio del passato; \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e9\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eParigi, o cara. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003ePUCCINI \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eLa bohème: \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e10\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eSi mi chiamano Mimi; \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e11\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eMimi! Speravo di trovarvi qui. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e12,14\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eTosca:\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003e Vissi d’arte. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"COMPOSER12\"\u003eSMETANA \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e10\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eThe Bartered Bride:\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003e Ten lásky sen. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e4\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eThe Kiss: \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003eHajej, m?j andílku. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"SUPER12\"\u003e13\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12bi\"\u003eRusalka:\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan class=\"ARIAL12i\"\u003e O lovely moon \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eDespite a long, distinguished career of 30 years, 16 of them at the Metropolitan Opera, Jarmila Novotná is known largely to record collectors and students of archive performances. Her one and only intersection with popular culture was an appearance in the M-G-M film \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Great Caruso \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e(1951), whose big star was tenor Mario Lanza. In Germany, where she appeared for several years and made some fairly popular films (\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eFire in the Opera, The Beggar Student, The Bartered Bride, Song of the Lark\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e), she is perhaps better known, and in her native (now former) Czechoslovakia she is considered to be on a par with Emmy Destinn and Maria Jeritza. In her early years, when she was a high soubrette, the voice was ear-ravishing lovely, even sparkling in sound, but by 1937 her tone was becoming a bit heavier and her upper range less easy; thus, by the time she made her Met debut (January 5, 1940, in \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eLa bohème \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eopposite Jussi Björling), the voice had become darker. But she was an excellent stage actress, an outstanding musician (she had already sung such offbeat works as Ravel’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eL’heure espagnole, \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eat Otto Klemperer’s Kroll Opera, as well as Krenek’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Life of Orestes,\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e and Schoenberg’s \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eDie glückliche Hand\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e) and a fine stage actress. She was a favorite soprano of such conductors as Zemlinsky, Erich Kleiber, Walter, Szell, and Toscanini. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eOne thing you can’t miss from the opening track—Rossini’s “Una voce poco fà” sung in Czech—was that she sang with her high range too “open,” much the same way Bidú Sayão did in her “coloratura” years, and with similar results; both had to come down to the lyric range because they blew it out. You can hear the difference immediately after the Rossini aria, in her the “Ach, ich fühls” from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eDie Zauberflöte \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003ein Toscanini’s ill-fated Salzburg performance (ill-fated due to the overloud singing of his Tamino, Helge Rosawenge, and the botched, out-of-key performance of the Queen of the Night, Julie Osvath). Yet you can also hear her phrasing becoming tighter and more musical, less scatter-gun in her approach to producing notes. To modern ears, more used to mezzo Cherubinos, Novotná sounds rather light and very girlish (even Christine Schäfer, one of our few soprano Cherubinos nowadays, sings the music with a darker tone than this), but once again she is very fine, particularly in “Voi, che sapete.” Despite a slightly slower tempo than we are used to today, this performance could pass muster in our modern opera houses. But one does sense a loss from her earlier voice with its bright, open tone: The sound, now slightly covered, is no longer as distinctive. In Donna Elvira’s “Ah, che mi dice mai,” the voice no longer has any “bite” up top, despite splendid singing (and Bruno Walter’s tempo is much too fast for this music), but both soprano and conductor sound better in “Fuggi il traditor.” \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThe three excerpts from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eLes contes d’Hoffmann \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003epoint out the differences well: the very early (1930) “Doll song” in German sung with light, pointed tone (and good trills), the “Barcarolle” and “Elle a fui” (now in French, from 1945) sounding more covered and bit muddy in tone, as is the 1944 duet with Jobin (a rather plain, ugly-sounding vocalist who was the Met’s preferred French tenor of the 1940s). By this point in her career, Novotná was also breaking her phrases a bit more frequently for breath than she had just a few years earlier. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eThe four \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eTraviata \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eexcerpts, ranging in date from 1940 (“Addio del passato”) to 1950 (“Parigi, o cara”) are interesting in showing how Novotná built a character up throughout an opera. She was not the equal of an Olivero or Mattila, but in some moments she was interesting in a general way. In “Ah, fors’ e lui” she sings the descending opening line with the rests between the notes, the way Verdi wrote them, but after the tenor’s lines in “Sempre libera” she makes a mistake, correcting herself quickly. There is, however, no feeling in her “Addio del passato,” which is also conducted much too quickly by Abravanel. The voice is so dark by the time of her 1950 “Parigi, o cara” that it is almost unrecognizable as the same singer, and there is no feeling of loss or desperation in her voice. She might as well have been singing about her missing dog. (To be fair, however, her partner in this duet, James Melton, sings with no expression whatever.) There is a bit of expression in her “Si, mi chiamano Mimì” from 1943, but again, it’s just a sort of “generic Puccini sound,” nothing particularly personal in her tone or expression. The Mimì-Marcello duet with Singher (a rather gray-sounding and uninteresting baritone who was the Met’s French baritone counterpart to Jobin) shows, once again, Novotná’s generic, all-purpose acting style. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eAlthough Novotná does not give out any more emotionally in the Czech operatic excerpts, the voice does sound more comfortable than in Italian or French. Hers is one of the better performances I’ve heard of the \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eBartered Bride \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003earia, and the best I’ve heard of the aria from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eThe Kiss. \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003eBut I still have to rate Elfride Trötschel, Zinka Milanov, and Renée Fleming better in “O lovely moon” from \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eRusalka.\u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003e (Novotná’s performance is also cut, missing one section.) \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan\u003eAll in all this is an interesting cross-section of performances by a now-neglected soprano, though I’d much rather have had one of her excerpts from the German \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eBartered Bride \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003efilm in place of the \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan style=\"font-style:italic\"\u003eTosca \u003c\/span\u003e \u003cspan\u003earia. \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e  \u003cspan style=\"font-weight:bold\"\u003eFANFARE: Lynn René Bayley \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Supraphon","offers":[{"title":"CD","offer_id":49682322161944,"sku":"099925415822","price":25.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0687\/4346\/3192\/files\/2503284.jpg?v=1777648106","url":"https:\/\/hbdirect.com\/products\/jarmila-novotna-opera-recital-1","provider":"HBDirect","version":"1.0","type":"link"}