JOHN McCORMACK Edition 9 1920-1923 Victor Talking Machine Company Recordings

1920-1923 Recordings

Ward Marston, producer and audio restoration engineer

WIGGERS The Barefoot Trail • HANDEL Semele: O Sleep! Why Dost Thou Leave Me? • SCHUMANN The Singer’s Consolation • TRAD arr HUGHES The Next Market Day and A Ballynure Ballad • RACHMANINOV When Night Descends and O Cease Thy Singing, Maiden Fair • KRAMER The Last Hour • JOHNSON Since You Went Away • MARSHALL I Hear You Calling Me • HIRSCH The O’Brien Girl: Learn to Smile • SANDERS Little Town in the Ould County Down • ROBLEDO Three O’Clock in the Morning • KAHN & LYMAN Mother in Ireland • SIMONS Her Family Tree: Remember the Rose • SULLIVAN The Lost Chord • BARNBY Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All • NICHOLLS The Kingdom Within Your Eyes • MERIKANTO A Fairy Story By The Fire • RACHMANINOV To the Children • WHITEMAN & GROFÉ Wonderful One • OPENSHAW Love Sends a Little Gift of Roses • AYER Where the Rainbow Ends and Somewhere in the World • LOOKWOOD Take a Look at Molly • SQUIRE Dream Once Again • DICKSON Thanks be to God

This volume of the Naxos McCormack edition charts a chronological survey of recordings made in Camden, New Jersey, between April 1920 and September 1923. Two outstanding examples of the great tenor’s art are here; the famous recording of Handel’s O Sleep! Why Dost Thou Leave Me? – a miracle of breath control and tonal beauty – and Schumann’s The Singer’s Consolation, an outstanding contribution to Lieder on record. There are four collaborations with Fritz Kreisler, some superb examples of popular songs, inimitably sung, and the bonus of three recordings that were never published n the singer’s lifetime, two of which, Rachmaninov’s To the Children and Merikanto’s A Fairy Story By The Fire are now made available commercially for the first time.

This is the only chronological survey of John McCormack’s recordings on the market. He was one of the great tenors of the twentieth century, and is still hugely popular, as the single recital discs on the market show – Pearl has a series devoted to ‘American Song’, EMI included him in their Great Recordings of the Century series, Symposium has a series of single discs, and so does Nimbus (Opera, Song, With Kreisler). But with state-of-the-art transfers and a systematic approach this Naxos series is the place to go for McCormack on disc.

Naxos Historical 8111385