Search - Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, Giuseppe Verdi :: Lebendige Vergangenheit: Olimpia Boronat

A Glimpse A Century Into the Past to Hear One of the Greates

Doug - Haydn Fan | California | 10/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recording is very good for it's vintage - 1904 - 1908, but it's still ancient by most listeners' standards, and should only be purchased by those happily addicted to this most esoteric of pleasures: turn of the century opera singing.



Boronat's name remains unknown to most Western opera lovers. Singing over a century ago in Russia while the Czar still ruled, her name carries almost no clout among all but a few collectors of ancient recordings. For those of us who have been fortunate to hear her recordings Boronat inspires the most profound admiration. I'm fortunate to own several of her original shellacs, mostly on reissues, and when she's at her best there's nobody quite in her league. Adventurous souls not turned off by 100 year sonics have a chance to hear one of the greatest singers on record, rewarding careful listening with a King's - or should I say Czar's - ransom worth of singing. Not everything Boronat ventures touches the highest, but several of the recordings do, and anyone purchasing this CD can thank their lucky stars Preiser keeps these precious momentos around. The other Boronat CD from Ward Marston, for which I wrote a much better review reveals even more of the quality of her voice, but it's only available used.

Be brave - take a chance - expand your operatic horizons back to the days when Caruso sang in Russia, film was barely begun, and great singers were the celebrities of the day."