Enchantment
A BOHEME has been in the operatic repertory for so long, it seems, that it was with a shock one heard a few weeks ago, when Toscanini died, that he conducted its first performance. I listened to the new recording last week, with Sir Thomas Beecham conducting the RCA Victor Orchestra, and Victoria de los Angeles and Jussi Bjorling as the star-crossed ones, and I hope there will never be a time when this enchanting masterpiece fails to hold a large public. Sir Thomas omits no detail of the lovely, sensuous score, and moves it along throughout with that subtle eloquence, crackle and brio for which he is so ‘justly famous. And to Mimi, Victoria de los Angeles brings all that dark, melting lyricism of which, last year, some of us were such fervent admirers. She shows an exquisite tenderness and fragility in the celebrated "Mi chiamano Mimi," and her consumptive coughs into the score from time to time were both elegant and touching. Jussi Biorling has lost none of that high tenor shimmer which is the mark of great operatic singing, and the famous duet, "€) soave fanciulla" had that glittering, piercing beauty which reminds one that glory can still walk abroad. Whether this recording will extinguish earlier ones, I do not know, but sure, it is a monstrous fine one.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZLIST19570329.2.34.3
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 920, 29 March 1957, Page 20
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222Enchantment New Zealand Listener, Volume 36, Issue 920, 29 March 1957, Page 20
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Copyright in the work University Entrance by Janet Frame (credited as J.F., 22 March 1946, page 18), is owned by the Janet Frame Literary Trust. The National Library has been granted permission to digitise this article and make it available online as part of this digitised version of the New Zealand Listener. You can search, browse, and print this article for research and personal study only. Permission must be obtained from the Janet Frame Literary Trust for any other use.
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