GLUCK - ORFEO ED EURIDICE

Met 1940
Thorborg, Novotna / Leinsdorf

The role of Orfeo was Thorborg’s favorite role, one which greatly suited this celebrated contralto’s voice and temperament. She is heard in a vividly recorded, full-sounding transfer of the original transcriptions, with commentary by Milton Cross and all the curtain calls soj ustly earned by these singers. The album also offers an extensive interview with Madame Thorborg about her Met career and a bonus of certain rare discs that first introduced her remarkable voice to music lovers.GHCD 2317/18

OFFENBACH - TALES OF HOFFMANN

Tibbett, Bovy, others
Met Opera / 1937
re-mastered from new source
Re-mastered from superior sonic sources, this memorable broadcast in good sound offers Lawrence Tibbett in the role of the four villains and Vina Bovy as the three women in his life. This tour-de-force startled and delighted audiences of its day and this Guild release recreates the occasion with striking immediacy. The booklet offers articles on the performances, the vocal artists, the composer and the work as well as broadcast commentary and curtain calls. As such, this is the ultimate edition for connoisseurs of this important era. GHCD 2315/16

PORGY & BESS [COMPLETE] Music – George Gershwin (1898-1937) – Words Ira Gershwin (1896-1993) & Dubose Hayward –
Live recording  Sunday 21^st September 1952,  Titiania Palast Berlin

William Warfield (Porgy) / Leontyne Price (Bess) / Cab Calloway (Sporting Life) / John McCurry (Crown) / Joseph James (Jake) / Helen Colbert (Clara) / Howard Roberts (Robbins) / Helen Thigpen (Serena) / Leslie Scott (Jim) / Moses Lamar (Frazier) / William Weasey (Undertaker) / Walter Riemann (Detective) / Helen Dowdy (Strawberry woman) / Ray Yates (Crab man) / Eva Jessye Choir / RIAS-Unterhaltungsorchester / Alexander Smallens, CD1 62’:08 – CD2 77’:09 – Total 2:19:17

This is one of the most important issues of historic opera recordings ever released. In 1952, the US State Department sub vented a world tour of George Gershwin’s opera Porgy & Bess which was seen in many countries in Europe and in South America. It was the tour which made an international star of the great black soprano Leontyne Price, who thereafter never recorded the opera complete. We are pleased to present a broadcast recording from September 1952 in Berlin, sung in English, of a live performance of the complete opera from the Titiania Palast Berlin. The sound has been completely updated with modern technology, and the ‘feel’ of a live performance (which this is) adds a dimension to the experience which is utterly authentic and most exciting. 

premiere release
wAGNER - gÖTTERDÄMMERUNG

Act : Hier sitz to the end of the act
Act II complete; Act III Immolation
Frida Leider, Lauritz Melchior, Herbert Janssen, Kerstin Thorborg,
Ludwig Weber, Eduard Habich, Maria Nazedal
The Royal Philharmonic Chorus of Covent Garden
Conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham (14^th, 29^th May 1936)

 John Steane, the famed music critic, termed Leider’s Brünnhilde one of the truly great ones: “it has the perfect character, existing at that rarely achieved point where the heroic has not become inhuman and where the human does not undermine tragic dignity.” Leider sings Brünnhilde with a stellar cast — perhaps one of the most glorious ever recorded. In addition, this is the first time Act II has been heard with Habich, the famed Alberich who sang the role through the entire Beecham-led cycle. In addition, all previously released editions of Act I have never offered Weber’s Hier sitz and the musical continuity to Scene 3 as well as the conclusion to the act, all of which can now be heard in this Guild edition. The Immolation stems from the 78s Leider recorded in 1928. Guild’s album contains articles about the singers and performance, a track-related synopsis, notes on the recording as well as pictorials. In all, the music, singers, conducting and sound come together to yield an unforgettable experience. Here is a grand memento of the fabled Wagnerian nights at Covent Garden in the 1930s GHCD 2311/12

VERDI - falstaff
Warren, Resnik, Elmo, Valdengo, Albanese, Di Stefano, Others
Reiner / Met 1949

 At last! An acceptable full-sounding recording of a remarkable revival at the Met: the 1949 Falstaff directed with great brilliance by Fritz Reiner. This album offers the only preservation of these singers in Verdi’s rollicking, effervescent comedy, with the exception of Cloe Elmo’s famed Dame Quickly who was also heard in Toscanini’s performance of this opera the following year. This broadcast, together with the same conductor’s direction of Salome with Wellitsch, were the sensation of the season and now you can hear why. The booklet provides notes on the singers and performance together with rare photos of these vocal artists in their roles and on stage. This, together with the broadcast commentary and curtain calls, achieves another triumph Guild’s many releases of important Met broadcasts.GHCD 2309/10

MOZART - COSÌ FAN TUTTE

Jurinac, Lewis, Bruscantini, Howell, Quesnel, Rothmüller
Glyndebourne Festival
Chorus and Orchestra conducted by
Fritz Busch
5 July 1951
Fritz Busch, surpassed his renowned 1935 Glyndebourne recording of Così fan Tutte with his performance of this opera at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1951. There to the delight of all, he triumphed with a revelatory recreation of Mozart’s charming opera, inspiring his cast into giving a performance that long lingers in the memory. Those who were there raved about the singing of Sena Jurinac as Fioradaligi, about the dazzling ensembles, its Italiante characteristics, the smiling, quietly humorous tone and overall vivacity with which Busch suffused the performance. Taken from a recently discovered private recording, you can now hear for yourself why this Così was so renowned. The Guild release includes all the production values associated with its Historic Series and should not be missed on any account. GHCD 2303/04

GREAT CONDUCTORS AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA

Fritz Busch
Wagner: Lohengrin, Act I - Ralf (debut), Traubel, Janssen - 1945
Sir Thomas Beecham
Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, Act II - Melchior, Traubel, Thorborg - 1943
George Szell
Wagner: Die Meistersinger, Act II Janssen, Steber, Kullman, Thorborg
with others, Chorus and Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera1945 alsoBeecham Rare Broadcasts Wesendonck Lieder with Kirsten Flagstad.
Premiere performances on disc of the work of three celebrated conductors whose art glorified Metropolitan Opera productions during the 1940s. The album opens with the debut of Fritz Busch conducting Act I of Lohengrin. This also offers the met debut of Torsten Ralf who sings with Traubel and Janssen. Act III excerpts are included. The second CD offers Beecham’s way with Tristan, an Act II with Melchior, Traubel and Thorborg, rich with poetry and the clarity for which Beecham was noted. The Beecham-led broadcast of the Wesendonch Lieder sung by Flagstad. The final CD offers Act II of Meistersinger conducted by George Szell. There is Herbert Janssen’s honored Hans Sachs, the lovely Eva of the young Eleanor Steber and the stalwart Walther of Charles Kullman. The CD is filled out with the Footstool Scene through to the end of the quintet from Act III. As usual, there are notes on the performances and pictorials. A world premiere album to cherish.  GHCD 2300/01/02

IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA

(The Barber of Seville)
Saturday March 01 1941One of the pleasures of the 1945 season at the met was this rollicking performance of Rossini’s comic masterpiece. The famed John Charles Thomas sings Figaro, the delightful tenore di grazie Bruno Landi sings Almaviva, Josephine Tuminia is a pert coloratura Rosina, while Salvatore Baccaloni creates much hilarity as the fat and pompous Don Bartolo. Add to this Ezio Pinza’s lanky, marvellously sung Don Basilio, which completes the cast. This Guild release, in good sound with broadcast commentary and curtain calls, recreates the occasion with photos of the principals on stage during performance, an article about the singes and the performance and a track-related synopsis, all the features well associated with the Guild Historical series.         GHCD 2296/97

DER ROSENKAVALIER
 

This famed Salzburg production preserves the prized conducting of this admired score by Clemens Krauss heard in modern sonics and which also offers the finest performance by Marie Reining of the title role. The cast could hardly be better with Lisa della Casa sings Octavian and Hilde Gueden sings Sophie and Kurt Bohme as Ochs. This release includes the opening broadcast commentary from Salzburg (in German), the ovations as well as a booklet offering articles about the performance, the work, biographies of the singers and rare pictorials of the stage production. As a bonus, a rare recording from Rosenkavalier is included; the trio to the end of the opera, complete, with Uiorica Ursuleac. Tiana Lemnitz, Erna Berger, George Hann and conducted by Clemens Krauss. In all, a triumphant edition of two much acclaimed performances.  GHCD 2293/94/95

I PAGLIACCI Metropolitan Opera Saturday February 28 1948

This two-disc Guild premiere release offers the gripping Canio of Ramon Vinay who brings alive the clown’s anguished jealousy together with the vibrant Nedda of Florence Quartararo, a soprano protégé of Bruno Walter, who made a great impact at the Met in the late 1940s and then vanished. Many music critics have asked, when listening to the few memorable RCA Victor 78 rpm discs she recorded, what ever happened to this remarkable soprano? The second disc of this set and the extensive booklet notes included answers this question, presenting many choice broadcast arias and songs from the soprano’s own collection together with vivid photos of Madame Quartararo’s life and art. If only for her singing of Care Selve from Handel’s Atlanta, she should be considered one of the great sopranos of this era. Madame Quartararo was the subject of a CBC Radio documentary in 2000, which program won the World Gold Medal at the International Festival of Television and Radio held in New York. In all, this is one of Guild Historical’s most unusual and important albums. GHCD 2291/92

San Francisco Opera Gems – Vol. 2, Martinelli, Rethberg, Flagstad, Schorr, Gigli, Jobin, Albanese, Valentino, Harrell, Kullman ect.

More vocal wealth derived from San Francisco Opera broadcasts that took place in the 1930s and 1940s. These offer great singers in roles much associated with their fame. These include Martinelli and Rethberg in La Juive; Flagstad and Schorr in Act III Scene 3 of Walküre; Gigli in Andrea Chénier; Jobin and Albanese in Pagliacci; Stevens, Steber and Kullman in Carmen; Lehmann and Stevens in Act III of Rosenkavalier. A feast of great singing recreating a bygone era. Fascinating notes by London Green and rare pictorials combine to make this album an opera lover’s feast! GHCD 2287/88/89

Elektra, 23 February 1952 – Metropolitan Opera conducted by Fritz Reiner with Varnay, Höngen, Schöffler, Wegner, Svanholm

Opera lovers have long hoped to hear a complete performance of Elektra conducted by Fritz Reiner after hearing the RCA release of excerpts with Inge Borkh. Now, at last, the Met broadcast with Astrid Varnay's memorable singing of the title role, electrifyingly conducted by Reiner, can be heard in this good-sounding release. All the expected Guild production values are included: extensive booklet notes on the work and the performance, biographies of the singers and an extensive track-related synopsis. Varnay and Reiner join to deliver a stunning experience. The album also includes Varnay and Reiner in scenes from Der Rosenkavalier, 1953.GHCD 2285/86

LOHENGRIN BY WAGNER
Chorus & Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera conducted by Erich Leinsdorf
Melchior, Rethberg, Thorborg, Huehn, List, Warren - 27 January 1940

Among the most thrilling broadcasts of this opera, Melchior is the Lohengrin of one’s dreams; Rethberg’s singing creates an ecstatic, visionary Elsa giving, perhaps, the most electrifying performance in the Bridal Chamber Scene ever heard; Thorborg’s richly voiced Ortrud, all darkness and malevolence is intensely memorable. With its good sound and a booklet offering articles about the work and the singers, a track-related synopsis, biographies and rare pictorials, this Guild release offers yet another important performance from the latter days of the Golden Age of Wagner at the Met, which will be a treasure to those who esteem this era.GHCD 2278/79/80

SAMSON ET DELILA BY SAINT SAENS -PEMIERE RELEASE
Chorus U Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera conducted by Maurice Abravanel
Maison, Wettergren, Pinza, List - 26 December 1936

This good-sounding recording of the Met revival on December 29, 1936 preserves some remarkably vital singing: Wettergren’s attractive Dalila, Maison’s fiery Samson and Ezio Pinza’s imposing High Priest, the latter role sung with a splendour of voice never equaled since. With broadcast commentary and curtain calls, the occasion is brought to vivid life for those who cherish this era. As a bonus, Guild adds the first release of the complete Act II, Scene 3 of Samson et Dalila with Marie Duchene and Cesare Vezzani, a 78 rpm recording reported incomplete in record encyclopedias, and the Act III Mill Scene, complete, with Vezzani, one of the great heroic tenors of the 1925-1935 period. This release offers an article on the performance and singers. In all, another remarkable production from Guild. GHCD 2273/74.

FIDELIO BY BEETHOVEN
Chorus & Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera - Conducted by Bruno Walter
Flagstad, Maison, Kipnis, Huehn, Laufkoeter, Farell, Janssen

This 2003 restoration stems from a newly discovered source that offers clear, vibrant sound of considerable impact. Guild’s release includes the broadcast commentary and a booklet offering articles on the opera and the performances, pictorials, track-related synopsis, biographies and an interview with Bruno Walter. This broadcast is truly legendary and with these sonics becomes the edition for which music lovers have long hoped. Met.ghcd 2269/70

TRISTAN UND ISOLDE BY RICHARD WAGNER
Melchior, Flagstad, Thorborg, Huehn, Kipnis Met Opera / Leinsdorf 1940

This memorable performance, a benefit for the Metropolitan Opera Fund, offers the greatest box office sensation of the era — Melchior and Flagstad in their world-famed portrayals of the lovers that an ill-starred fate could not keep apart. With the equally renowned Kerstin Thorborg as Brangaene, the tender Kurvenal of Julius Huehn and the immense stature and vocal beauty of Alexander Kipnis as King Marke (replacing Emanuel List), this is an unforgettable performance. Some noisy sides do not deduct from the recording’s good sound. Also included is the broadcast commentary and pandemonious ovations for each of the singers, as well as a touching intermission program about Act II of Tristan. Guild’s lavish booklet offers extensive articles about the singers, the performance, the composer and the work as well as a detailed and illustrated synopsis plus biographies of the artists. Taken together, the whole of it recreates this historic occasion with enthralling vividity. Another shining ray from the Golden Age of Wagner at the Met.GHCD 2266/67/68

Gounod - Faust Jobin, Pinza, Albanese, Singher - Beecham – Met 1944

Premiere release

A little known broadcast of the 1944 Met performance conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham with a stellar cast headed by Raoul Jobin, Ezio Pinza and Licia Albanese, never previously available to the public and released through the generous cooperation of The National Library of Canada. Good sound, together with the broadcast commentary and curtain calls, recreate the occasion. The attractive booklet contains a detailed article about the singers and the performance and includes rare pictorials, track-related synopsis and biographies.GMCD 2258/59

DIE MEISTERSINGER Schorr, Rethberg, Maison, Branzell, Habich, ListMetropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra / Bodanzky (1936)
Friedrich Schorr was the most renowned Hans Sachs in the first half of the past century. His few commercial recordings from this music-drama have long been cherished. Guild now offers his complete performance in which Elisabeth Rethberg’s radiant portrayal of Eva is also heard. Rene Maison, the much extolled tenor from Belgium made his Met debut in the role of Walther a few weeks earlier and makes his radio debut in this broadcast. Eduard Habich, famed for his Alberich in Wagner’s Ring dramas is heard in a striking characterization as Bechmesser. The recording, in better sound than characterized a previous limited CD edition, restores the truncated Euch macht ihr’s leicht, Sach’s famed reprise to the people of Nuremberg (in Act III), heard here in its complete form, making the Guild album a premiere release in this connection. It also includes the broadcast commentary and curtain calls, recreating an historic occasion in Metropolitan opera history. This, joined to a booklet offering extensive articles on the singers, the work and the composer, together with biographies and rare photographs, makes this another one of Guild’s triumphant releases.GHCD 2244/45/46/47

Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni 1938 conducted by the Composer - Dutch Royal Theatre Hague Holland
This is the performance through which one can hear why Lina Bruna Rasa was the composer’s favorite Santuzza — fiery, overwhelmingly dramatic, her singing won’t soon be forgotten. Equally impressive is the conducting of the composer — vital, propulsive, rich with atmosphere — so different than his leadership in the disappointing HMV commercial recording, so well known to opera lovers. The tenor gives a memorable rendition of Turridu’s farewell — one of the most effective on record — all heard in sonics immensely rich for the source and year. Although the recording is afflicted with certain defects, the excitement, the élan of this performance will grip you from start to finish. Don’t miss it! GHCD 2241

San Francisco Opera Gems
This set offers little known operatic broadcasts with an assemblage of great voices in the finest sonic reproduction yet, delivering a succession of thrills. This galaxy of great singers are heard in souvenir performances, some richly associated with their vocal art, some heard in roles in which they have never been otherwise recorded on the stage. Includes articles on the performances and rare pictorials. Fascinating, memorable — an album which deserves a special place in the collection of opera lovers who cherish this era. GHCD 2238/39/40

Don Giovanni
Pinza as Don Giovanni provides the voice and personality seasoned opera lovers associate with the title role. And for those who recall this opera in the performances of the 1940s, Baccaloni, buoyant with his chubby grace and extravagant complaints, completes the memory. But the surprise of this broadcast is Zinka Milanov’s intensely dramatic Donna Anna; she alone makes the performance worth hearing, yet the cast also boasts Sayão and Novotna. The broadcast recording, practically unknown, is in good sound overall but suffers from particular defects which have long prevented its release. With much work Guild has achieved a solution to these problems which allows music lovers to enjoy this rare and savourable operatic treat. Includes articles on the singers and performances, biographies and rare pictorials.GHCD 2236/37

L'Amore dei tre Re by Italo Montemezzi (1875-1952
Conducted by the Composer

A long-neglected 20^th century masterpiece which deserves a place in the repertoire; a marvelously evocative, shatteringly dramatic score of great lyricism, suffused with the poetry of a remarkable libretto. This broadcast, conducted by the composer, offers Ezio Pinza in the leading role, giving a performance that is unforgettable in its power and anguished eloquence. The cast includes Grace Moore, Richard Bonelli and Charles Kullman. This release offers a booklet containing articles on the performance and the opera’s history, with rare photographs of the production. It also includes the broadcast commentary that preserves the ovations this production so richly deserved. Taken altogether, the music, the voices, the story, will haunt your memory for a long time to come. GHCD 2234/35

Metropolitan Opera
Double Bill 1949
Gianni Schicchi and Salome
These two one-act operas make for an extraordinary contrast: Puccini’s rollicking comedy Gianni Schicchi with Tajo, Di Stefano, Albanese and Elmo — charming, delightful, melodic; and Strauss’ shocking tragedy, Salome, which brought Ljuba Wellitch to world-wide notice. The Strauss opera, conducted with electrifying élan by Fritz Reiner, offers Herbert Janssen, Frederick Jagel and Kerstin Thorborg in an unforgettable performance, one that truly deserves the term “historic.” The booklet includes articles about both performances, biographies of the singers as well as rare photos — all presented with the production elegance associated with Guild’s Historic Broadcast Series. GHCD 2230/31

THE DREAM RING CYCLE

DAS RHEINGOLD
Complete Opera 1937

Friedrich Schorr - Wotan, Karin Branzell - Fricka, Rene Maison - Loge, Eduard Habich - Alberich, Karl Laukoetter - Mime,
Kerstin Thorborg - Erda
Orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera, Arthur Bodanzky - Conductor

This famed broadcast of Das Rheingold, newly mastered from an alternate source, offers the most famous Wotan of the century, Friederich Schorr and two celebrated interpreters of the roles of Alberich and Mime, Eduard Habich and Karl Laufkoetter. In addition, Karin Branzell is heard as Fricka, Rene Maison as Loge and the great Kerstin Thorborg as Erda. This release includes a booklet that offers articles about Der Ring des Nibelugen, about Das Rheingold as an opera and its interpretation by these singers, about Wagner and the writing of the Ring, as well as containing a detailed synopsis, biographies and photos of the singers in their roles. There’s never been a Rheingold like this! GHCD 2221/22

Elektra - The Legendary 1949 Broadcast Recording

Considered by many music critics to be the greatest performance of Elektra in its era, the broadcast is an electrifying experience of Astrid Varnay at her best. She is supported by a fine cast and superlative orchestra galvanized by the conducting of Mitropoulos to incendiary effect. The performance stunned all who heard it and it has been extolled ever since. Now hear it yourself. Includes a booklet offering notes on the performance and singers. Unforgettable! GHCD 2213/14