[78-L] Mascagni

[Steve Abrams]

This doesn't make a great deal of sense, Al.  Mascagni may have slowed down 
(on this particular recording).  But you have forgotten that Toscanini 
increased his tempos as he grew old!

Also, there is a well known live recording of Cavalleria also conducted by 
Mascagni in connection with the 50th anniversary. The tempos in this 
performance are faster than those on the complete set.  Also, the tempos in 
the recording of L'Amico Fritz a year later are quite sprightly.

It should be added, however, that Mascagni enjoyed himself hugely in making 
his recording of Cavalleria.

Zucker has recently circulated Gino Bechi's memories of the recording 
sessions:

With his magical baton in his hand, Mascagni let himself fly on the wings of 
music, to a better world, where discs, clocks and commercial necessity 
didn't exist; he laughed at technical needs....He put on a pair of new shoes 
that at his smallest movement went cri-cri, causing the session to come to a 
halt. The producer said to him, "Excuse me, Maestro, but you know that every 
outside noise gets recorded, and your shoes are creaking. So as not to ruin 
the recording, you need to try to stand still."

"What, my shoes," responded Mascagni. "The cri-cri isn't good? That's what 
you think! I'm adding it to the orchestra as a supplementary sound. We're in 
the country, and in the country the sounds of crickets are a good thing."...

When we recorded the duet with Bruna Rasa, we sang the first take really 
well, synchronised--fused with the orchestra--a masterpiece. When the last 
note finished we were waiting for the red light to go off, when Mascagni 
exclaimed, "Bravi, benissimo, I'm really happy"--and he clapped his hands 
like a child. We had to do it over again.
After we had repeated the thing a zillion times for musical reasons or 
because the wax of the matrix broke, we thought we finally had brought it 
into port when, with the red light still lit, Mascagni declared, "Obviously 
we've got it"--and everything was ruined. [Translated from Daniele Rubboli: 
Gino Bechi: il palcoscenico e la vita (Bologna: Bongiovanni Editore, 1988), 
p. 100ff.]

Perhaps I should add that the Naxos transfer of Cavalleria on two CDs is 
filled out with a number of examples of orchestra music conducted by 
Mascagni.

I find Mike Richter's comments to be ignorant and arrogant. Richter says 
that Mascagni's records (from the '30s and '40s are too primitive "to 
indicate much if anything."  This does not stop him from drawing conclusions 
about
Caruso and Leoncavallo (on piano) performing together in 1904.

Richter asserts there is dispute about whether Mascagni actually conducted 
the recording of Cavalleria.   This reminds me of his preposterous claim in 
another place that much of the premiere of Turandot in April, 1926 was 
recorded.  He says "The boxes were mismarked and the matrices were 
destroyed."  He also asserts wrongly that none of the principals ever 
recorded anything from the opera which has survived.

For the record, there were live recordings of excerpts from Turandot at La 
Scala in November 1926 and these were issued.  (Four choruses conducted by 
Panizza.) The soprano Zamboni recorded both of her arias, and two of the 
three creators of "Pang" and "Pong", Nessi and Venturini recorded the long 
trio with Baracchi (who sang the Mandarin at the premiere.

Steve Abrams

___________________________________________________________________
Message: 13
Date: Mon, 8 Dec 2008 10:30:03 -0500
From: "simmonssomer" <simmonssomer at comcast.net>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Mascagni.

The older one gets, the faster things we see and hear around us seem to 
move. This causes us to slow down. It's true of driving a car. I'm not sure 
about leading an orchestra. But it makes an interesting theory.
Oh Mama!

Al S.

Message: 16
Date: Mon, 08 Dec 2008 08:07:53 -0800
From: Mike Richter <mrichter at cpl.net>
Subject: Re: [78-L] Mascagni.

Spats wrote:
> Hi!
>
> If that's the tempo that the composer himself wanted, then that's the 
> correct tempo, it seems to me. Forget the critics!


Bah, humbug!

There is no rule dictating that a composer must be a capable or even a 
competent conductor. Richard Strauss was considered superb though the few 
examples recorded do not show that consistently. But Mascagni was recording 
early enough that one cannot rely on what was captured to indicate much of 
anything. In addition, there is argument over his role in the recording 
which he may have "supervised" for publicity purposes rather than conducted.

It is also a fallacy to assume that the composer knows all that his creation 
offers. In some cases, such as Verdi's Simon Boccanegra and Macbeth, his 
revisions are extensive and produce something close to a new work; freezing 
either in its original form would give us only an interesting but lesser 
work. Why, then, would one assume that a recording by the composer or any 
other indication of the balance, tempo, or style he preferred should rule?

Leoncavallo accompanied Caruso in a recording of one of his songs. It is an 
intriguing document but fortunately we have versions with far better piano 
playing and better agreement between singer and pianist.

Again - in the spirit of the season - Bah, humbug!

Mike
-- 
mrichter at cpl.net
http://www.mrichter.com/