Voices of Firestone: Jussi Bjorling

Description

For more than thirty years, The Voice of Firestone brought the world's greatest artists into the homes of music lovers. Now, through a special arrangement with New England Conservatory in Boston, Kultur is proud to make these rare telecasts available to today's audience. Jussi Bjoerling (1911-1960) continues to be one of the most beloved singers that the 20th century ever produced. His appearances on the Voice of Firestone provide an exciting supplement to his well-known commercial recordings. The telecast of March 6, 1950 features the tenor's wife Anna-Lisa in arias and duets with her renowned husband. Telecast of March 6, 1950: Herbert: Neapolitan Love Song from Princess Pat. Puccini: O mio babbino caro from Gianni Schicchi. Gounod: Salut, demure chaste et pure from Faust. Puccini: O soave fanciulla from La Boheme with Anna-Lisa Bjoerling, Soprano. Telecast of November 19, 1951: Beach: Ah Love, But a Day. Strauss: Standchen. Leoncavallo: Vesti la giubba from Pagliacci. Brahms: Hungarian Dance #1 (Orchestra only).Krenzer: prayer of Thanksgiving. Telecast of November 20, 1950: Firestone: Introduction and If I Could Tell You. Krenzer: Prayer of Thanksgiving (Chorus and Orchestra only). Schubert: Was ist Sylvia? Glazunov: Autumn and Winter from The Seasons. (Orchestra only). Bizet: Flower Song from Carmen. Leoncavallo: Mattinata. Tschaikovsky: The Story of a Starry Night (Orchestra only). Herbert: Neapolitan Love Song from Princess Pat. Firestone: Closing and In My Garden.

Customer Reviews:

Seeing one of the best (if not the Best) do it effortlessly .......2004-12-29

My voice teacher is a big fan of Jussi Bjoerling (sorry-don't know how to put an umlaut) and he can't stop talking about Jussi's (and Caruso's) vocal technique. I am a tenor in training at Cal State Fullerton and my teacher is teaching me the vocal techniques of Jussi Bjoerling and Enrico Caruso. When I got this DVD, I didn't know what Jussi looked like singing, which is a good indicator to see how easy the sound production of a singer can make by looking at his/her face for signs of effort. I WAS BLOWN AWAY!!! Jussi definitely (of all the tenors I've seen [pretty much all the greats from Caruso on]) has the least amount of effort of them all and, though debatable, the most beautiful voice of them all as well. Struggle is pretty much non-existent in his face and the sound that comes out is rich and carries easy. His high notes, as compared to his lower notes, look almost the same facially. If you want a tool to see how efficient the human voice can be, and sing, Jussi Bjoerling's voice is probably the best you can get (watch the track "Salut, demeure chaste pure" and you will get the idea).
Though his acting is not up to par with today's opera singers (which is a big emphasis in opera these days) his voice almost makes up for it in the musicality. This is NO reference DVD, as the video and audio show it's age from the source it was recorded. This is more for reference for singers and not DVD buffs. Jussi's voice (and Technique) were unique and there aren't voices like his anymore. I recommend the RCA Red Seal "Jussi Bjorling: The Ultimate Collection," the best remastering and faithful to Jussi's voice(1999) and "Jussi Bjorling reDiscovered" (2003) to hear Jussi in a live setting at Carnegie Hall back in 1955.

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