| CARVIEW |
From 1905, a hair-raisingly convincing performance of the Miserere from Verdi’s Trovatore recorded in Milan by the performers at La Scala. The sound is very good for the time; it’s easy to forget after a few seconds that we’re listening to a record and fall into Verdi’s world.
“Wagner,” Rossini supposedly said, “has wonderful moments but dreadful quarter-hours.” We could argue that old-fashioned phonograph records are the ideal medium for Wagner, since they practically restrict us to the wonderful moments. This recording took up both sides of a twelve-inch record released in 1911, and the sound we pulled out of those old grooves is very good.
The stunning voice of Caruso was worth a premium price at Victor Records. Here he sings a piece by the Brazilian composer Carlos Gomes, who is all but forgotten today but was much respected by the Italian opera composers who were his contemporaries. The record is Victrola no. 6034, recorded in 1919.
The Lateral Cut