This must be the most ‘transferred’ set in recording history. Now, through the magic of Ward Marston, master of restoration, it appears in its most amenable form ever, far superior to the Pearl version and even an improvement on EMI’s own (at any case unavailable, it seems, at present). Given the asking-price, this is a bargain indeed.
The performance itself wears its 65 years lightly. I am tempted to think that no other conductor, except perhaps Bruno Walter and Mitropoulos (Salzburg, 1956; Sony, 11/94), has better understood this score or conveyed his ideas so successfully to a cast. Every bar here bespeaks the close and detailed preparation given to the performance at Glyndebourne at the time. Everything seems to proceed at an inevitable pace, the playing at once precise and detailed, and – unlike so many other recent accounts on disc – room is made for the giocoso side of the piece.
Most of the cast withstand the attributes of its many successors. That applies to Souez’s grand yet vulnerable, solidly sung Anna (how few future Annas have her technical security?). Helletsgruber, a Viennese favourite of the day, is at once an angry, impassioned, sympathetic Elvira, vocalising the role perfectly. The Hungarian tenor Pataky is the most mellifluous and concerned of Ottavios, his ‘Dalla sua pace’ as soothing as it should be. Above all Baccaloni is a Leporello whose wily personality lifts off the disc in both recitative and aria. Brownlee may sound a shade too upright by today’s idea of what Giovanni should be like (vide Thomas Allen), but his vocal style is impeccable and combines well with Baccaloni’s. There must be some reservations about the English members of the cast, who all sound too respectable for their roles, but Mildmay compensates for sounding too ladylike by the sensitivity of her Zerlina.
Busch uses a piano instead of a fortepiano, which is a slight drawback. There are no texts or translations but informative notes. Altogether this is a purchase nobody will ever regret at the price. To add to the value of the issue, you get some celebrated inter-war artists singing arias and duets from the opera with great individuality