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April 16, 1918 was the day that Caruso recorded the wonderful "Sei Morta Nella Vita Mia". This record was not released at the time which is a shame as it is, to me, the best Caruso recording ever made. So much of what he could do as a singer shows up in this recording. The first time it was released was on the 1947 RCA Victor Christmas Record for dealers. What a treat that must have been. Here is a quote about the record I found while researching it.

"According to the Victor files, Calvin Child, the head of Victor's artist department, thought this recording "sounds too life-like and too good", so he demanded to cancel the issue of this record. Like he said, this recording is really well-recorded, and maybe Calvin Child feared that the public would demand more much higher quality recordings which was hardly achieved in those days."

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6266QFYXw[/youtubehd]
https://youtu.be/6a6266QFYXw

Too bad they couldn't have pressed that from the original metal part.

I like the record too, which I was first introduced to by the Soundstream transfer on RCA.

That's quite a sound, with voice and piano both front-and-center, probably easier to do than with a small backup ensemble crowded around a horn. Caruso's voice was perfect for the recording horn, and his operatic status remains unsurpassed.
Wonderful accompanying photos too! Thanks for posting this.
Bob

It's been suggested that the single best Caruso recording from a SQ perspective is O Souverain from Massenet's Le Cid, from 1916 or so. Maybe so.

Another nice (low key) piano accompanied song (like this one) with Caruso is Tchaikovsky's Pimpinella.

Beautiful recording, thanks for transcribing and posting it!

This really is a great representation of what the greatest voice EVER could do.

I'm sure you are aware of this release, but have you ever heard the RCA Victor release of "Caruso 2000"? I'm no techie but as I understand it, they took original Caruso recordings, isolated his voice, cleaned it up, then put a modern orchestra behind him. It is amazing. The power and beauty of his voice and the force of the personality come through like never before.

I can remember my grandmother -- who was born in Italy (I'm first generation) -- telling me about hearing Caruso in concert!

I had the opportunity of hearing/watching Pavarotti rehearse, then hearing him in concert and meeting him after. Probably the closest thing to hearing Caruso.

Marty Bufalini wrote: I'm sure you are aware of this release, but have you ever heard the RCA Victor release of "Caruso 2000"? I'm no techie but as I understand it, they took original Caruso recordings, isolated his voice, cleaned it up, then put a modern orchestra behind him. It is amazing. The power and beauty of his voice and the force of the personality come through like never before.

I have the Caruso 2000 CD and it is kind of "fun" to listen to, but I have always had issues with the modern Digital orchestra sound mixed with the "tin canny" sound of the separated voice. It is true that the energy of the recordings with such a present orchestra is great and adds much to the listening experience. I am glad to have these CDs but I must say I really prefer the original recordings much more.

I also have two other CDs done in the same manner. "Caruso Amor ti vieta: Great Opera Arias" from 2004 and "Caruso 2001 Canzioni Italiane" from 2001. I think the orthophonic recordings done in a similar way in the early 1930s sound a bit more realistic. The difference between the acoustic voice and the early electrical orchestra recordings blend together better. If you have any of the later 78 or 45 albums put out after these 1930s recordings were made are nearly always those 1930s dubbed versions. The 1930s records have the Victor Curtain label and are pretty fun to listen to.

I have a couple of Caruso 78 albums from the late 40's that revert back to the original recordings, but I guess they are also dubs from the original 78 pressings, to make records with grooves suitable for changers. I dunno, it's been years since I've played or looked at them. But they are defintely not the re-dubbed orchestra versions.

There's an early 1950's RCA Victor LP album set called Best of Caruso that has both. Terrible sound throughout. Some weird filtering process that they were using.

Thanks Dan for the post!

This has always been on my top ten list of favorite Caruso recordings. Make that my top 5

And I do believe the 1947 Christmas issue to dealers, which is the first form of issue, is indeed pressed from original parts (POM) and not a dub.

Wolfe, that "Best of Caruso" 1958 Lp double-album set certainly sounds dreadful. It's the first Lp Caruso issue I ever owned, given to me as a gift when I was 13--and being barely knowledgeable then about historical recordings, I was nonetheless amazed and disappointed by the inferior sound quality on that Lp compared to my first original Caruso pressings on 78's I received at the same time. It was like night and day. From that moment on, I became a stickler for original pressings only, and a few years later, learned about and acquired all that is necessary for proper playback on modern equipment. I threw away all my historical Lp and CD reissues (except for the ones by Ward Marston!) and have never looked back lol.

Steven

melvind wrote:April 16, 1918 was the day that Caruso recorded the wonderful "Sei Morta Nella Vita Mia". This record was not released at the time which is a shame as it is, to me, the best Caruso recording ever made. So much of what he could do as a singer shows up in this recording. The first time it was released was on the 1947 RCA Victor Christmas Record for dealers. What a treat that must have been. Here is a quote about the record I found while researching it.

"According to the Victor files, Calvin Child, the head of Victor's artist department, thought this recording "sounds too life-like and too good", so he demanded to cancel the issue of this record. Like he said, this recording is really well-recorded, and maybe Calvin Child feared that the public would demand more much higher quality recordings which was hardly achieved in those days."

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

[youtubehd]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a6266QFYXw[/youtubehd]
https://youtu.be/6a6266QFYXw

Years ago I read somewhere that Dorothy Caruso considered this to be the most realistic recording of her late husband's voice.