Enrico Caruso - Italian Songs (2002)

01. Vieni sul mar
02. O sole mio
03. Tu ca nun chiagne
04. Santa Lucia
05. Pecchè
06. L'Alba separa dalla luce l'ombra
07. Fenesta che lucive
08. Mamma mia che von sapé             play
09. Musica proibita
10. Core 'ngrato
11. Luna d'estate
12. Ideale
13. 'A vucchella
14. Vaghissima sembianza
15. Tarantella sicera                  play
16. Senza nisciuno
17. Addio a Napoli

Vienna Radio Orchestra
Rolando Villiaze - conductor

As a follow-up to its Caruso 2000 release, RCA here offers us a remastered, implemented selection of Neapolitan songs recorded by Enrico Caruso between 1906 and 1920. The gimmick is again that the old recordings have been digitally stripped of their oompah, blaring instruments. In their place, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra has provided modern accompaniment. It's still anachronistic--the voice remains in another acoustical era from the orchestra--but this time, the balance is a little better, and conductor Gottfried Rabl is amazingly sensitive to Caruso's style and phrasing. Moreover, of course, the pops and clicks of the old pre-electrical shellacs are gone. The voice retains its timbre and quality, thank goodness, and one can still marvel at the way the sound grew over the 14 years recorded here. It's always magnificent, but it became more baritonal and muscular with age, without losing any of its thrills. The "Ideale" from 1906 remains an exquisitely tender piece of singing; elsewhere, the sheer visceral excitement of the voice dazzles. Purists may not approve. Those unfamiliar with the Caruso phenomenon should hear him under any circumstances, and this is as good a chance as any. --Robert Levine

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