Björling fans will want to skip the radio-announcer intro (“This hour is yours. . .”) and the pinched-sounding, loose-limbed Semiramide overture by the San Francisco Opera Orchestra and get right to the good stuff, which begins with the great tenor’s “Che gelida manina”, an aria he virtually owned whenever he sang it (didn’t he own them all?). The drawback here is that he performs only two solo arias for this complete October 23, 1949, San Francisco radio broadcast–the other one being “Je suis seul . . . Ah! fuyez douce image” from Manon. The rest of this recital features the tenor with his wife, soprano Anna-Lisa, in duets (from La Bohème and Roméo et Juliette), and Anna-Lisa in three solo numbers (including “O mio babbino caro”). The orchestra gets its own “solo” turns, on the above-mentioned Rossini overture and in Granados’ “Intermezzo” from Goyescas. An announcer’s commentary precedes each selection; audience applause follows. Björling–Jussi, that is–is in excellent voice, and although we’ve heard him perform these arias even more expressively and commandingly (available on several aria compilations, the best being the one on Naxos–see reviews archive), the unrivalled natural beauty of his instrument and his consummate musicianship are satisfyingly displayed in decent sound (the orchestra remains constricted but not distractingly so).
Anna-Lisa is, well, charming, and occasionally quite effective–but she’s not a good vocal partner for her husband. To hear what a good match can and should sound like, just listen to Jussi and Victoria de los Angeles in their classic La Bohème pairing on EMI. Nevertheless, it’s always great to hear Björling, and completists surely will want this for its musical and historic value; radio broadcast aficionados will get what they like too–except for the commercials, which aren’t included.
