Composer: Alexander Borodin, Jacques Offenbach, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky, Giuseppe Verdi, Richard Wagner
Performer: George London, Teresa Stich-Randall, Maria von Ilosvay, Valérie Bak, Astrid Varnay
Orchestra: Symphonie-Orchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks
Conductor: Richard Kraus, Rudolf Moralt, Hermann Weigert
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Orfeo
Catalogue: C220051
Release: 2022
Size: 188 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: yes
Offenbach: Les Contes d’Hoffmann
01. Scintille diamant
02. Antonia – Leise tönt meiner Stimme Klang [Sung in German]
Tchaikovsky: Eugene Onegin [Sung in German]
03. Sie schrieben mir
04. Onegin, bitte stehen Sie auf
Borodin: Prince Igor
05. Ni sna ni otdchyda
Verdi: Aida
06. Ciel, mio padre! A te grave cagion m’adduce, Aïda
Wagner: Die Walküre: Act 1
07. War es so schmählich, was ich verbrach
08. Leb wohl, du kühnes, herrliches Kind
Among those singers who, in the mid-20th century, stepped onto the opera stages of the world and into the shoes of the legendary generation of singers of the 30s and 40s, bass-baritone George London was an exception. His voice, with its inimitable and balanced timbre in all registers, was virtually peerless. London was a true bass-baritone whose voice, even in the extreme reaches, could maintain its dark tone thanks to a sensitive style and articulation and a wide-ranging expressive ability. His international career was brought to an abrupt and premature end in the 1960s. During an operation, one of his vocal cords was damaged and his voice never regained its force and beauty. While in Munich during a tour of Europe, London suffered a stroke from which he never fully recovered. He died in New York in 1985. This album of recordings from the Bavarian broadcast archive features the legendary bass-baritone at the height of his career in the 1950s.