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

 

 

Lamento (Tessarech) 188.789 KI 3869 Odéon, Paris, 21 November 1930

Lamento di u castagnu a un corsu (Lambroschini) 188.872, 188.872, KI 5536, KI 5537 Odéon, Paris, 27 September 1932

Le Chant du Soleil (Bizion) 166.945 Odéon, Paris, 5 June 1935

Le Pays du Sourire (Lehar) Je t’ai donné mon coeur 166.646 KI 5960 Odéon, Paris, 13 April 1933

Le Pays du Sourire (Lehar) Toujours sourire 166.646 KI 5959 Odéon, Paris, 13 April 1933

Le Roi d’Ys (Lalo) Aubade 188.654 KI 2375 Odéon, Paris, 19 April 1929

Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach) C’est une chanson (w. Luart) 188.574, 188.574, KI 1610, KI 1611 Odéon, Paris, 30 March 1928

Les Contes d’Hoffmann (Offenbach) Légende de Kleinzach 188.533 KI 1231 Odéon, Paris, spring 1927

Les Pêcheurs de perles (Bizet) Parjure à mon serment 188.898 Odéon, Paris, 26 November 1934

Madama Butterfly (Puccini) Adieu séjour fleuri 188.898 Odéon, Paris, 26 November 1934

Maitre Pathelin (Bazin) Je pense a vous 188.813 Odéon, Paris, 9 May 1931

Majorquina (Brinville) 166.658 Odéon, Paris, 17 May 1933

Manon (Massenet) Duo de la lettre Pt 1, Pt 2 (w. Luart) 123.529, 123.529, xxP6617, xxP6618 Odéon, Paris, 26 March 1928