Performer: James McCracken, Sandra Warfield
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Decca
Catalogue: ELQ4820284
Release: 2017
Size: 302 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
01. Act 1: “Recitar!” – “Vesti la giubba”
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana
02. “Mamma, quel vino è generoso”
Giordano: Andrea Chénier
03. Act 1: Colpito qui m’avete … Un dì all’azzurro spazio
Puccini: Tosca
04. Act 1: “Recondita armonia”
Puccini: Tosca
05. Act 3: “E lucevan le stelle”
Puccini: Turandot
06. Act 1: Non piangere Liù
Puccini: Turandot
07. Act 3: Nessun dorma!
Verdi: Aida
08. Act 4: “Guardie! Radames qui venga”
Verdi: Otello
09. Act 1: “Già nella notte densa”
Bizet: Carmen
10. Act 2: “Je vais danser en votre honneur”
Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila
11. Act 2: “Un dieu plus puissant que le tien”
James McCracken (1926–1988) recorded the arias on the first half of this disc in 1969, four years after the duets with his wife, mezzo-soprano Sandra Warfield (1921-2009). Both singers were in their prime during those years and in the decade following. These performances of distinction offer some of the sappiest and most exciting operatic singing on record, taped in the full, glorious, 1960s Decca Sound, with McCracken singled out for the ‘forthright virility’ (Gramophone) of his singing. The seven tenor arias that open this recording were originally coupled with the complete Gardelli recording of Pagliacci, and praised for their ‘thrilling’ sound (Gramophone); some of them are issued on Decca CD for the first time.