BJÖRLING, SAYÃO Gounod: Roméo et Juliette (Met, 1947) - PACO222

During the first ten years of his career as a member of the ensemble at the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, the young Jussi Björling learnt fifty roles, most of them major. When he embarked on an international career, focused mainly on the Metropolitan Opera in New York, he retained only nine and for the remaining twenty years of his life he added only another two. Among them, were his only two French roles: Gounod’s Faust and Roméo et Juliette . The latter was one of his earliest, premiered only a good year after his debut – but then he didn’t sing the title role, he was Tybaltin three performances. Two years later, in 1933, he was promoted to Roméo, and it became one of his most popular roles during the Stockholm years. 34 times the audiences could enjoy Höj dig, du klara sol! ( Ah! Léve toi, Soleil! ). Practically everything was sung in the vernacular in those days. This aria was also the very first opera aria he ever recorded, as early as 29 September 1930, when he still was only 19 years old. It is included here as a bonus track. His Faust followed in 1934 and was an even bigger hit. Unfortunately, he never recorded either of them under studio conditions, but both were broadcast at Saturday matinée performances from the Met, and later transferred to gramophone records, Faust even twice, and these are utterly valuable documents of two of his finest roles.

The earliest of them is this Roméo from 1947. It has been issued on various labels since 1959, often in execrable sound, but in 2009, Richard Caniell managed to locate a better source and after laborious restoration work has come up with a version that is far superior to what has been heard before. Issued on his label Immortal Performances IPCD 1003-2 with copious documentation to match, this has become one of the jewels in my Björling collection, and I have regularly returned to it. Now that Andrew Rose has operated his XR process on the old material it is worth evaluating the possible gains of the Ambient Stereo. If I understand Andrew’s notes correctly, he has not used Caniell’s restoration, but the LP pressings from for members of the Metropolitan Opera Guild from 1984. Since the performances are identical I have chosen to reprint parts of my review of Caniell’s issue from December 2009:

“Richard Caniell has … managed to open up what was, on previous issues of the Gounod, boxy and compressed, making this restoration fully digestible for any opera-lover bar those who at all costs must have hi-fi, stereo, state-of-the-art technology. It is still a primitive sound but once one has adjusted to the limited dynamic range it is almost comparable to what one can hear on 78 rpm records from the period. The bass is distinct, the high frequencies naturally lack the lustre of a decade later but the sound is still good enough to allow the listener to enjoy the music. The voices are well defined and there is bloom around them. Björling in particular has rarely if ever sounded so free and inspired. He glows from beginning to end.

The orchestral playing is a bit uneven but in many places there is a shine around the strings and the cello department is very good in the introduction to Act IV. The chorus during this period seems to have been the weakest link at the Met. At least that’s the impression I’ve got from several broadcasts of the late forties. But I have to admit that there is a good servants’ chorus in Act II.

Roméo et Juliette is a rather long opera but fifty-sixty years ago it was quite common to cut extensively at performances – at least at the Met. As there is no libretto enclosed with this set I had to make do with the one to Pappano’s EMI recording, which left me with the feeling that I was listening to a highlights disc. There are long stretches of music that is gone: several ensembles and several solos, including Juliette’s long act IV aria – and also the whole second scene of that act.

What is left is however wonderfully executed, at least what the eponymous couple sing. Bidú Sayão during these years was so lovely and human with her somewhat fragile vibrato. Her waltz aria in act I, Je veux vivre , has fine lilt and glittering tones. Björling’s opening to the duet Ange adorable is touchingly sung with that very special tear in the voice that more than one listener has commented on, most recently Joan Baez who visited the Jussi Björling Museum the day before I wrote this review. ‘I have never been so moved by any other voice than Jussi’s’, she said. ‘There is so much soul in it.’

The whole garden scene is exquisite, and the cavatina has possibly never been sung with such beauty, feeling and brilliance – not even by Jussi Björling himself. O nuit divine as sung here is as close to Heaven as it is possible to come on an operatic stage.

Impassioned singing of a quite different kind occurs in act III, after the slaughter of Mercutio and Tybalt, where Ah! jour de deuil is magnificently heroic. In act V luckily Björling’s O ma femme is retained since this is again singing of the highest possible order. When Juliet wakes up from her sleep she exclaims Dieu! Quelle est cette voix, dont la douceur m’enchante? (God! What voice is that whose sweetness enchants me?’). I believe every listener will make the same exclamation when they hear Jussi Björling.

The rest of the cast is more run-of-the-mill but generally do a good job. Mimi Benzell’s youthful (she was not yet 23 when the recording was made) light soprano shines in the role of Stephano, and Thomas Hayward is a good, expressive Tybalt. John Brownlee, who sang for 21 seasons at the Met, was only halfway through his career in 1947 but sounds decidedly on the downgrade, rather dry and rough. Nicola Moscona also had a long tenure in New York and was always reliable. He is at his best in the act III trio.

Having reheard the performance I see no reason to change my verdict concerning the quality of the singing, besides that Nicola Moscona’s Frère Laurence is even more impressive than I remembered him. He was indeed one of the great basses of his generation. The Ambient Stereo adds fullness to the sound, more presence and atmosphere, and it guaranties more comfortable listening. Caniell’s restoration is in no way made obsolete, however, and it has a substantial bonus in the shape of the complete second act in a recording from La Scala 1934 with Beniamino Gigli and Mafalda Favero.

The bonus on the Pristine issue is also substantial. As I mentioned above, we get Jussi aged 19, in other words just about the age the real Roméo was. It is indeed a youthful voice. Remarkably, though, on the other bonus track we hear him and Bidů Sayão in the duet Va! Je t’ai pardonné from act IV recorded 21 years later, and Jussi sounds just as youthful! It’s a recording from the War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco in a live broadcast of the Standard Hour in September 1951. Only a month later Jussi sang his last Roméo in Los Angeles. He was still only 40 and sounded 25, and his partner twittered just as youthfully. An endearing duet.

Göran Forsling