The Art of Lucrezia Bori (195? RCA Victor LP)

As I mentioned in my last post about my trip to Italy to attend the International Music Festival of the Adriatic, while I was there, I bought two LPs at a bookstore in Trieste - this album being one of them. It's a compilation of recordings made by the incredibly skilled lyric soprano Lucrezia Bori (1887-1960) from around 1930 through 1950, featuring the arias of some of her most renowned roles during her long career.

Although not mentioned much nowadays, Bori was the leading Spanish lyric soprano of her time. She was named after her ancestor Lucrezia Borgia (1480-1519), and possessed a fine voice befit for someone of royal heritage! Her career began in 1910 at the Met, and she stayed there for a successful 22-year run before changing direction of her career towards that of fundraising for the Met. Thanks to her talent in soliciting donors, she saved the Met from declaring bankruptcy during the worst years of the Great Depression. In 1935, she was the first performer to be elected to the Met's Board of Directors. In 1936, she retired from the Met and an enormous farewell gala was put on in her honor. She continued to record and give radio performances occasionally throughout the remainder of her life before dying of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 73.

The recordings on this LP, while perhaps not featuring Bori in her prime, are nonetheless worth a listen by anyone who likes opera or wants to become more familiar with it. I particularly like her renditions of Massenet's "Obéissons, quand leur voix appelle", and her performance of Mozart's "Vedrai, carino" is enough to make me wish I could turn back time and see her in the role of Zerlina!

Unfortunately, the recording quality of this LP is not the greatest. It was pressed on relatively cheap vinyl  - surprising for a classical album - and the recordings themselves sound rather "muddy". I have cleaned up the recordings and boosted the highs as much as I am able to, but I do wish RCA Victor recording techs had chosen to better record such a legendary performer as Bori in the first place, rather than thinking "good enough" will do. (If Bori had been simply "good enough", then would she have lasted for two decades at the most prestigious opera house in North America?)

Check out a few clips from YouTube to hear it for yourself!

 The arias on this album are as follows:

1. "Adieu notre petite table" (Manon)
2. "Ah, fors' é lui sempre libera" (Verdi)
3. "Batti, batti, o bel masetto" (Mozart)
4. "Connais tu le pays?" (Thomas)
5. "Giunse al fin il momento"/"Deh vieni non tardar" (Mozart)
6. "Me voici dans son boudoir" (Thomas)
7. "Obéissons, quand leur voix appelle" (Massenet)
8. "Tales From The Vienna Woods" (Strauss, Jr.)
9. "Un bel di" (Puccini)
10. "Valse di Musette" (Puccini)
11. "Vedrai, carino" (Mozart)
12. "Malagueña" (Nin)
13. "Séguidilla" (De Falla)

Download (42.7 MB, 128 kbps)