The McCormack Edition vol.7 (Naxos Historical Audio CD)
The McCormack Edition vol.7 (Naxos Historical Audio CD)
* Estimated price converted from UK retail price
Acoustic Recordings (1916-18)
This seventh volume in the Naxos McCormack edition includes the great tenor’s only published recording of the Preislied from Wagner’s Die Meistersinger, sung here in English translation as Morning Was Gleaming; music by Irish and Irish-American composers; patriotic war-related songs that evoke the pain of separation and the hope of return, including Ivor Novello’s hugely popular Keep the Home Fires Burning; and ‘Champs paternels’ from Méhul’s opera Joseph, recorded as a supportive gesture for the French forces that were suffering greatly at the time.
All these works are delivered with an intimacy of feeling, masterful phrasing and a compelling sense of engagement with the listener that were the hallmark of McCormack’s approach to everything that he sang.
“McCormack was a strong lyrical tenor with a clean edge to the voice…. A particular quality is the way he can hold on to a final note and let it gently die without any touch of aural instability. Such quality of breath control is amazing.” MusicWeb International on Vol. 5
