Arbiter’s Chaliapin series continues with Volume 2, which includes recordings made by the great Russian basso between 1908 and 1911. There’s an archival aspect to this series–recordings are presented in the order they were made–so Chaliapin’s renditions of several folk songs are interspersed among the excerpts from Boris Godunov that are a prime feature of this release. Chaliapin’s vocal virtues cited in my review of Volume 1 (type Q2827 in Search Reviews) are intact, prime among them being his rich, seamless voice, perfect phrasing, subtle dynamic shadings, and emotional communication. Half of the tracks are of folk songs, which Chaliapin loved and on which he lavished his enormous gifts. Just listen to his head voice in “Nochenka” or the dignity of his unaccompanied “Eh, Vanka” to hear the difference between art invested in popular materials and cynical crossover crap. There also are some obscure Russian arias, an exquisite rendition of King Philip’s “Dormiro sol”, from Verdi’s Don Carlo, and Mephistofeles’ “Il etait temps” from Gounod’s Faust. As before, Arbiter provides original texts and translations, rare enough among historical reissue companies to merit special attention and praise.
Two other aspects of Volume 2 are significant. One is the inclusion of Chaliapin’s first Boris Godunov recordings from 1910 and 1911. They include an excerpt from Pimen’s monologue, Varlaam’s rocking siege of Kazan song, and Boris’ farewell and death–that triple-crown trio beloved of basses from Chaliapin down to Boris Christoff. Small wonder, since it allows them to portray noble dignity, drunken revelry, and tragedy. Boris was, of course, Chaliapin’s signature role and he went on to record various excerpts from it later on, including the famous 1928 Covent Garden performances. These are vocally resplendent, full of emotional power without the histrionics of that overdone 1928 Boris.
A second noteworthy aspect is what Arbiter calls “sonic depth technology”, which joins other jargon-ridden techniques about which we learn little other than that they make old recordings sound fresh. Well, sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. Arbiter’s does. In comparison to Volume 1, Arbiter’s sonics yield more presence, life, and depth in the voice and the accompaniments–once you get past the opening track. Despite the primitive techniques of pre-Great War recordings, this disc is the best-sounding Chaliapin release yet, at least until Volume 3, which is impatiently awaited. [4/27/2001]
