I've had the pleasure of playing and coaching "In questa reggia" from Puccini's Turandot many times in the last few years. Among the recordings I've heard and seen, this one stands out - the legendary Eva Turner, not just for her vocal power and beauty of tone, but for the surprisingly high quality of audio for the time:
Click here for another remastering of the same recording, with a slightly different sound.
More videos:
James Brown and Luciano Pavarotti
Two Videos of Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma
Keith Klassen Sings Di miei bollenti spiriti
Turner's London recordings - everything from 1928 and 1933 - are well engineered. I think the 1933 recordings were made at Abbey Road Studios, but the 1928s were made at Methodist Central Hall, a concert-hall-sized space, so that huge voice was not constrained by being in a recording-studio box.
ReplyDeleteHere are some photos of the Great Hall. It makes an appearance in that Helen Mirren movie Calendar Girls, too.
Thanks for the info, Lisa!
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