Search - Jussi Bjorling :: Jussi Bjoerling In Concert in Atlanta, 1959

Fabulous live recital plus bonus

Rosomax | Boulder, CO United States | 04/01/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The critics of Jussi Björling had a way of making everyone believe that the Swedish tenor's temper resembled the cool nature of his homeland's climate. This recital is a perfect testimony of them being mostly wrong. While in person he might have not displayed the jovial likeability of Caruso or Pavarotti, his inspired, rich-voiced singing (with slightly covered vowels) was gorgeous in all aspects.
The main body of this CD consists of never before released live recital, recorded 4/13/59 in Atlanta. This was Björling's last song recital in the United States. For the most part, it followed the programme, but the tenor also obliged to some requests from the audience, such as "Amor ti vieta" from Giordano's "Fedora" and "Che gelida manina" from Puccini's "La Boheme". My personal favorites of this recital are the songs but lesser-known Swedish composers. These songs have a great deal of dreamy beauty in them, and no one could do them a better justice than Jussi Björling. Sjöberg's "Tonerna" is a very interesting modern/romantic (for the lack of better term) art song, it's a great loss that we don't have complete recitals dedicated to this composer.
For die-hard fans, there is some bonus material recorded in 1939 (Ingemisco with orchestra from Verdi's Requiem) and 1949 (arias & duets with orchestra). I was surprised by a very pleasant lyric soprano sound of Mrs. Björling. What is striking about this inclusion is that we can observe how little has the voice changed over these 20 years. While it did become slightly more "grainy", it did not loose any of its velvety bloom. He did not have to resort to scooping and his atacca was always muscular and almost always right in the center of pitch (something for vocal students to watch for and admire). By the way, a couple of soft falsetto notes help to dispel the myth that a tenor is "cheating" when he uses this technique.
The recording quality is not all that great (the piano is booming, a few coughs, earlier recordings have plenty of hiss), but the material of this 78-min disc does justify its relatively high price. Perhaps Myto could pour some money into re-engineering some of the wonderful live recordings it has in its possession."