Search - Giuseppe de Luca :: Recital

He Never Made a Bad Record.

John Austin | Kangaroo Ground, Australia | 12/13/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Music lovers will be familiar with the Italian Opera CD label. Their issues are so inexpensive, one or two could be added to the trolley with each major purchase without adding much to the total cost. Their transfer and sound quality, variable at first, has been well up to standard in recent years. Where one artist is featured, a year by year listing of career highlights and milestones is provided. No music lover need hesitate to acquire any CD featuring the great Italian baritone Giuseppe de Luca (1876-1950). He was an accurate, musicianly, intelligent and vastly experienced singer, blessed with a beautiful, sturdy and evenly produced voice. Puccini selected him for creator roles in "Madama Butterfly" and "Gianni Schicchi". He recorded extensively, well into the electric era, often with such colleagues as Caruso, Gigli, Martinelli, Rethberg and Galli-Curci, and he never made a bad record. In this 64 minute CD you may hear him in 16 solo operatic tracks, recorded between 1917 and 1930. Try any of the opening tracks, if you can, and spend lots of time listening to his model "Rigoletto" excerpt."