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

 

 

Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Commère Lola, vous vous en allez… Vive le vin qui pétille (w. Héna & Chorus) 123821 xxP7348 Odéon, Paris, 13 March 1933

Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Le bonjour, camarades (w. Endrèze) 123822, 123822, xxP7341, xxP7342 Odéon, Paris, 13 March 1933

Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) Mère, ce vin est généreux (w. Arty) 123822 xxP7342 Odéon, Paris, 13 March 1933

Cavalleria Rusticana (Mascagni) O Lola, blanche fleur à peine éclose 123817 xxP7345 Odéon, Paris, 13 March 1933

Comm’ ‘o zuccaro (Fonzo) 188880 Ki5636-1 Odéon, Paris, 27 October 1932

Faust (Gounod) Cavatine 123650 Odéon, Paris, 24 May 1929

Frasquita (Lehar) Ne taurai-je qu’une fois 166.659 KI 6000 Odéon, Paris, 17 May 1933

Herodiade (Massenet) Ne pouvant réprimer 171.023 xxp6471 Odéon, Paris, spring 1927

Hymne corse (Cottoni) 188.789 KI 3870 Odéon, Paris, 21 November 1930

La Vendetta (Casadesus) Odéon, Paris, 27 November 1933

L’Ajaccienne Traditional 188.712 Odéon, Paris, 28 March 1930

Lakmé (Delibes) Ah, viens dans la foret profonde 188819 Ki4428 Odéon, Paris, 13 May 1931

Lakmé (Delibes) C’est l’amour endormi (w. Gauley) 188515 Odéon, Paris, 18 February 1927

Lakmé (Delibes) C’est Le dieu de La Jeunesse (w. Gauley) 188.507 Ki1100 Odéon, Paris, 18 February 1927

Lakmé (Delibes) Fantaisies aux devins mensonges 123528 xxP7278 Odéon, Paris, 13 May 1931