Nellie Melba The Complete Victor Recordings 1907-16

[Romophone 81011-2; 3 CDs]

Arias from La Boheme*, Don Cesar de Bazan, Faust, Hamlet, Louise, Lucia di Lammermoor, Le Nozze di Figaro, Otello, Il Re Pastore, Rigoletto, Le Roi d'Ys, Tosca, La Traviata; songs by Arditi, Bemberg**, Blangini**, Bishop, Debussy, Dvorak, Foster, Gounod, Hahn, Handel, Lehmann, Ronald, Tosti, Wetzger and White.

* "O soave fanciulla" with Enrico Caruso, tenor
** with Charles Gilbert, baritone

Nellie Melba had an incomparable voice, an indomitable spirit, and an unwavering belief in herself. Inspired by a sense of destiny, Melba knew she would become the prima donna assoluta of the Edwardian era. After leaving her native Australia, Melba studied with the famous Blanche Marchesi, who molded many an operatic star of that time. In 1887, Melba made a successful debut in Brussels as Juliette in Gounod's "Romeo et Juliette." Two years later, she debuted at Covent Garden and the "Reign of Melba" began.

By most accounts Melba wasn't a great actress, but her audiences didn't care. They came to hear the voice. And what a voice! It was like a diamond, clear, glittering and iridescent. Melba's vocal prowess was happily wedded to an instinctive musicality that enabled her to successfully interpret a glittering array of heroines from the French and Italian lyric-coloratura operatic literature.

Unfortunately, the acoustic recording process couldn't do complete justice to Melba's remarkable voice. However, one is enthralled by what has been captured: the true bel canto legato of the musical line, the pure emission and steadiness of tone, and the ability to make the musical point without distorting the voice.

In Ophelia's Mad Scene, for example, Melba, with her nigh perfect bel canto technique, works within Thomas' superb vocal writing to suggest a mind gone to pieces without resorting to vulgarisms. In "Depuis le jour" from Charpentier's "Louise," Melba uses the cresting vocal line to swell the voice at the climaxes, magnificently suggesting a young girl swept away by illicit love.

Melba's "Ah fors'e lui" from Verdi's "La Traviata" features what I believe to be the most beautiful trill I've ever heard. The coloratura passages in "Sempre libera" from the same opera are remarkable in that each note is linked seamlessly to the next and yet each one has a glittering "life" of its own.

In "Addio senza rancor" from Puccini's "La Boheme" Melba is genuinely moving. She executes a touching "diminuendo" on the word "addio" as if the very word itself were dying, chilling one with a premonition of Mimi's death. This example alone belies any criticism that Melba was a cold, unfeeling artist.

The excerpts from Il Re Pastore, "L'amero saro constante" and "Voi che sapete" from "Le Nozze di Figaro" demonstrate that Melba had the ideal Mozart voice. " L'amero" is engaging in its pure opalescence. "Voi che sapete" is bewitchingly sung with an airy, almost "dreamy" tone.

Melba was taken to task by the critics of her day for her choice of art song repertoire. But here Melba lets her musical hair down, has great fun with the music, and infuses it with great emotion. Songs such as Tosti's "Goodbye" and Ronald's "Oh Lovely Night" show her crystal-like voice to great advantage; Arditi's " Se saran rose" is vivaciously sung. Hahn's "L'Heure exquise" is sung ethereally, with due attention to the text, demonstrating that Melba was no empty-headed canary, but an artist who understood her contemporary musical idiom.

The splendid transfers and audio restoration are by Ward Marston who has painstakingly obtained pristine copies of the Victor originals so that the clear, crystal beauty of Melba's voice has been preserved without undue filtering. The illustrated booklet includes Mr. Marston's detailed notes on the recordings and William Ashbrook's sympathetic review of Melba's career.

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