I have long admired and been fascinated by the great Italian Tenor, Enrico Caruso and had always been disappointed by the fact that he didn't leave a legacy of electric recordings behind that better represented his voice than the old acoustic records. I guess I was thankful that at least we had those, and a good deal of them were sort of cleaned up and remastered and in the final analysis, we at least had some idea of what he sounded like, and got a feel for his artistry, and some measure of his prodigious talent. However, they never measured up to the hi-fi aspect of electric recordings by other artists of his era who recorded through the period of transition to electric recordings around 1927. Listening to these artists, such as the like of Tito Schipa, Beniamino Gigli, and others gives us some idea of the vast gulf in acoustic representation of the voice between acoustic and electric (microphone) recording. It's really an example of chalk and cheese comparison. So I had long wondered what Caruso would have sounded like had he made recordings in the modern era. Well, recently I got reasonable answer to that. I discovered, on youtube.com, quite by accident, Caruso recordings posted by a user who goes by the handle "lincolncar1", so I played one, and I was simply overwhelmed. For those who might be interested in this, the procedure is simply this: go to youtube.com, then in the search box type in "enrico caruso live" press enter, and you will see a number of these videos posted by lincolncar1. There are about 5 of them. They are all worth listening to. If you are a devotee of Caruso,( as I am), you will experience joy. One of the recordings has some supplementary explanatory text explaining the method used behind the reconstruction of these works. In my view, they sound almost as though they were recorded yesterday in a modern studio. I am grateful that someone has gone to the trouble to do this, and to lincolncar1, thank you Sir ! Apparently the process is very expensive, and I certainly don't doubt that. To those who read this, and are interested, go to youtube.com, listen to the recordings (there are only 5 or 6 of them), and let me know what you think. Remember, though, Caruso was an extraordinary tenor, who whilst having baritonal timbre, comfortably sang the tenor repertoire. He had the capacity to sing as a lyric tenor as you will hear in "la donna e immobile" as well as the spinto and dramatic style . If you do go and listen, let me know what you think about the whole deal, here on this thread.

Being new to all this, and having screwed up my previous post, just testing to see if this post will accept replies.

merrijig, thank you for this information. I've been and I've listened and I'm blown away with the quality. I have old aucoustic recordings and, like you, have longed for something with the clarity of modern recordings.

Could I ask, are you familiar with a German tenor, Frotz Wunderlich. Died tragically young in his 30s from head injuries sustained falling downstairs. His voice had not fully matured, but he would undoutedly have been one of the very great tenors had he lived. He was preparing for his first Wagnerian role when he died.

Christineap, Sorry had not checked this thread recently, hence the delay in getting back to you. Well Fritz Wunderlich was a rare talent. He was about 36 when he died, and there was a bit of conjecture at the time of his death as to whether it was really an accident or was the result of his philandering ways. (A jealous husband etc, and Willi Brandt was mentioned at one stage, but it was all probably just grist for the mill coming out of some rumour mongering newspaper establishment. There was no evidence of foul play, and I did see an interview with the person who had discovered him at the foot of the stairs who was very clearly of the opinion that he had tripped on an untied bootlace.) Regarding Wunderlich's voice, it was in my view, an exceptional instrument. It was extraordinary. It was a lyrico-spinto voice, much like Pavarotti's but with a little Bjorling thrown in as well. Next to Caruso, he is the tenor that grabs me the most, along with a handful of others. The only problem I have with German tenors, is that they tend to sing everything in German, which in my view detracts from the performance of the non German arias. But that's a minor drawback. If you want an experience, go back to youtube, and search Wunderlich Granada, and when it comes up, play it. Even though he sings it in German, it is still an exciting, thrilling performance.

I actually have that. He didn't make many records, but I have three LP's (vinyl for the younger generation). Two are "popular" songs of various types, range from Granada through to a couple of the lighter arias, and the third is a Schubert Song Cycle "The Trout", which really demands great control.

I know what you mean about singing in German, somehow the Italian and French arias don't sound right. German is such a "heavy" language in comparison.

You mentioned in your earlier thread that Wunderlich was preparing for Wagner, just before he died. I have no doubt that he he could have delivered in bucketloads, but i fear it would have been the death knell for his voice eventually. Take as an example, Siegfried Jerusalem, a tenor with just a little steel in the voice but lots of beauty and lyricism. I believe that his commitment to Wagnerian roles, really destroyed the beauty in his voice and it was too great a price for anyone to pay. Especially, someone with the vocal beauty of Siegfried Jerusalem. I think Wunderlich would have gone the same way too. Wagner really wrote his tenor roles, for what he called heroic tenors, such as the likes Of Lauritz Melchior, whom I am sure could have sung through a hurricane without any effort. These types of voices are heavy and robust, and are great for dramatic roles. They are typically not well suited for for the lyric roles (bel canto) and Wunderlich, whilst he could certainly deliver on the dramatic repertoire, it really wasn't his best thing. Wunderlich, and Mozart, are a natural fit, and really, I would not even propose Verdi Or Puccini for him, probably giving Donizetti and Bellini the green light for Wunderlich in the romantic repertoire. But, in reality, he was capable of singing anything, and brilliantly at that, although he did struggle with Lieder by his own admission. I quite like Wagner, but I am not a fanatic as some people are. It's my view, that if you sing Mozart well, then you should steer clear of Wagner. What a lot of people are not aware of in respect of Tenors and Wagner, is that he composed most of the tessatura or line of the tenor music in what is called the passagio of the male voice, that is in the range of say d to f# or g. The passagio of the male voice is the transition from the chest register to the head register, and at best it is an awkward area to control, and retain colour and line. To place the bulk of the music to be sung in this region is, borderline sadistic in my view. Most of the composers avoid dwelling in this region, they choose to compose below, and above the passagio, with just the occasional entry to that uncomfortable region. Wagner, was not one of these. As a result, Wagnerian tenors seemed to need vocal chords made of steel (Lauritz Melchior), and I fear The likes of Wunderlich would have ruined their voices in the long term. I guess we will never know regarding Wunderlich. What a talent he was !

Trouble is German tenors, and sopranos come to that, seem to feel that they have to take on Wagner to be taken seriously in their own country.

Thanks for this merrijig. And thanks christinap for mentioning Wunderlich. I'm listening to Das Lied von der Erde for the first time in ages.

Newbie1M; another great Wunderlich performance is "Dies Bildnis" from Mozart's "Magic Flute" which, unlike a good deal of Mozart's other operas, the Libretto was in German, and not Italian, and so it relly works well with the music. It's an extraordinary demonstration of bel canto singing by by a tenor whom I think has had no equal in his voice type (Pavarotti and Bjorling included). It's available in youtube, and its quite a treat to watch and listen. Heck, this thread was meant to be about Caruso, and his recordings restored to hi fi, but I am just as happy to talk about Wunderlich, and others from the era before his, There was an enormouus array of talent through the early 1900's thru to the 1960's and beyond. Fortunately, most of them can be referenced on youtube.com

Thanks merrijig. I hadn't heard that before. Divine. I hate making comparisons between artists, but surely that can't be bettered.

I agree, that is heart stoppingly beautiful. I think it such a shame that so many people close their minds to what they perceive as "highbrow" music. They don't know what they're missing

Thanks, Merrijig, I enjoyed that! Most of the songs are familiar from my childhood - my parents had a huge collection of 78s, with everyone from Caruso to Jelly Roll Morton to Tito Gobbi and back again.

I listened to this too. It's not one of the re-mastered ones, but you can still get lost in it.
Che gelida manina from La Bohème - Enrico Caruso (1906)

lesley153, I meant to reply to your post earlier, but I was unwell. Thank you for the link you provided. I know the aria well, and like you, I grew up with a household full of old 78 bakelite records of Caruso and others so I understand your childhood a little. There was something about Caruso's voice which captured me at a very young age, and I think it was his recording of "E Lucevan le Stelle" from Tosca which touched a chord with me, though I had no idea what it was about. Since then, just about anything he recorded hits the spot with me. One that comes to mind is "Si vous l'aviez compris", its a haunting lament, and here is the link in case you are interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUv3tW3bMKw. It's interesting that Joan Baez wrote a song "Caruso" back in the 70's as well. It's also available on you tube and here is the link in case you are interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkRCfG3V5NA .

Thanks, Merrijig. I'm glad you're well enough to post now.

The French song was a delight, arguably better if you ignore the silly words, and just enjoy the sounds. What a nice surprise the Joan Baez song was!

My mother gave all the 78s (and EPs and 45s) to my brother, because he was having singing lessons, and she thought he might appreciate being able to listen to the likes of Paul Robeson. Several house moves and many children later, not a single record remains intact. Waste.

Here's another digitally remastered one. Hope you like it.

Enrico Caruso - E lucevan le stelle

Thanks for that lesley153, that really brought back some memories tho I must have heard it many times since I it made that impression on me as a child. This may be of interest to you. It's a song by the American composer Bartlett, "A Dream". It's sung by Caruso, and if you can deal with the strong accent it's a wonderful piece of singing. Interestingly. a friend of mine, an Australian tenor, who sang for many years at Covent Garden, Sadler's Wells, Glyndbourne, Scottish Opera as a principal tenor, through the 50's 60's and 70's brought this to my attention and said it was a demonstration of what Caruso could do by way of song interpretation, in this case a small demonstration. Needless to say , Greg, my friend, was like myself a devotee of Caruso. Here is the link if you are interested.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5qNgosWBt4

One of PBS' most popular "Stay Curious' TV spots is that of this guy taking a lot of pics of himself in a photo booth miming singing and then making a "flipbook" of himself "performing" to a recording of Caruso's performance of "Di Quella Pira" from Verdi's "Il Trovatore".

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