Description

GASTON MICHELETTI (TAVACO, CORSICA, 5 JANUARY, 1892 – AJACCIO, CORSICA, 21 MAY, 1959)

 

 

 

 

A Corsican tenor, Micheletti spent the major part of his career (from 1925 to 1946) as one of the stalwarts of the Paris Opera-Comique, where he was justly acclaimed in a wide variety of roles, admirably represented by this careful remastering of his Odeon recordings. Since he has until now been best known as the partner of Supervia in her Carmen recordings and as Des Grieux opposite Emma Luart’s Manon (already reissued by Vintage, 4/97), this solo recital is most welcome.

His pleasing, plangent lyric tenor, with the quick vibrato typical of its era and operatic milieu, is used with the utmost artistry in a wide range of French repertoire, most notably perhaps as Faust, Roméo, Wilhelm Meister, and Werther, all four of whose solos are included here. Micheletti’s high notes were not produced effortlessly, so it is not surprising — indeed, rather gratifying — to hear him take the high C in Faust’s cavatina as an exquisitely produced head note.

In an age when Francophone singers, particularly tenors, are at a premium, it is a pleasure to hear these pieces sung with such sensitivity to the shape and timbre of the text, nowhere more so perhaps than in the duet from Hoffmann, where he is partnered by Luart — a gently romantic rendering, both artists singing lightly and naturally from the text in a manner rarely encountered in modern recordings of the work.

The same may be said of the “Chanson du Magali” from Mireille, where he sings with another of his Opera-Comique partners, Marie-Thérèse Gauley (who created the role of the Child in the premiere of L’enfant et les sortilèges). The recital concludes with four songs: two Italian pieces and, most hauntingly, two Corsican folk songs with guitar accompaniment — true collectors’ items, as the original recordings are exceedingly rare.

 

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

Romeo et Juliette (Massenet) O nuit divine… Ah ne fuis pas (w. Norena) 123605 xxP6785, 123606 xxP6786 Odéon, Paris, 28 December 1928

Sérénade nocturne (Barbirolli) 166.945 Ki7328 Odéon, Paris, 26 June 1935

Sigurd (Reyer) Esprits gardiens 171023 xxP6472 Odéon, Paris, spring 1927

Sigurd (Reyer) Le bruit des chants 171.023 xxP6472 Odéon, Paris, spring 1927

Tarantella sincera (De Crescenzo) 188880 Ki5637-1 Odéon, Paris, 27 October 1932

Tosca (Puccini) Lamento 188.657 Ki2393 Odéon, Paris, 17 May 1929

Tosca (Puccini) O de beautes egales! 188.657 Ki2391 Odéon, Paris, 17 May 1929

Un Autre Baiser (Rinaldi) 166.658 Ki6007-1 Odéon, Paris, 17 May 1933

Vado ben spesso (Bononcini) 64 AS132 L’Anthologie Sonore

Vocero (Tessarech) 188.712 KI 3206 Odéon, Paris, 28 March 1930

Werther (Massenet) Invocation a la Nature 188.510  KI 11352 Odéon, Paris, 9 March 1927

Werther (Massenet) J’aurais sur ma poitrine 188.655 Odéon, Paris, 19 April 1929

Werther (Massenet) Lorsque l’enfant revient 188.654 KI 2376 Odéon, Paris, 19 April 1929

Werther (Massenet) Pourquoi me reveiller 188.582 Odéon, Paris, 19 April 1929