If and when anyone tries to tell you that the 1940s was one of the Golden Eras of the Met, play them these CDs–a broadcast from March 1, 1941–and all discussion will end. We all know that what Callas may have begun–a renewed look at the bel canto repertoire–others have continued, and works by Rossini are now treated with a great deal more respect than they had been for more than 100 years. But this Met performance was typical of its era: a “comic” free-for-all in which everything except musical values counted. And apparently it pleased the Met audiences, who laugh uproariously and often. True, with the advent of Wagner and verismo, the niceties of bel canto–save in the soprano range (and even there, style was more showy than musical)–faded into unimportance. But this “Barbiere” might make it into a museum of bad taste.
Not to put too fine a point on it, conductor Gennaro Papi leads the approximately-right orchestra at a break-neck pace that almost precludes “niceties”–but still, the singers might have tried harder. John Charles Thomas, a somewhat bullying baritone on the best days, is a noisy Figaro with a frayed top and no interest in the small notes; he simply omits any hint of coloratura and yells his way through the role. Tenor Bruno Landi is a bit better. He has charm and a sweet voice, but he’s not proficient in anything like Rossinian style. Josephine Tuminia was a high coloratura à la Lily Pons. She re-writes the music incessantly and sprinkles it with wild staccatos and high notes at which she is proficient, caring little, however, for either Rossini or the other singers. She interpolates Proch’s Variations into the Lesson Scene. Even basses Salvatore Baccaloni and Ezio Pinza are un-musical here, blustering through and overstating their roles. This is a mess, and the sound is pretty bad too, the whole thing an object lesson in poor musicianship.
