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Works in Progress

In an effort to meet the needs of the Marston customer, we have chosen our upcoming releases with you in mind. We press only 1000 copies of most releases and do not repress so “when they’re gone, they’re gone.” To date, more than a 1/3 of our catalogue is out of print!

Don’t be left out in the cold! If you Pre-order any release, you will be guaranteed a copy. If there is a title that is of interest, please order your copy now. Your credit card will be charged shortly before your CDs are shipped.

 

Conchita Supervia vol. 5 Discovered Rarities 51010-2 (1 CD) Release date: December 2015   Over the past several years, we have published four volumes (2 CDs each) containing the complete known recordings of the Catalan mezzo, Conchita Supervia. We delayed issuing volume four because there were four recordings which we were still trying to locate: Ki3512 Canço de traginers (Longás); SO6942 Boires baixes (Granados); SO7901 El milagro de la virgen: Romanza (Chapi); SO7902 La reina mora: Romanza (Serrano). After what we thought was exhaustive searching, we more or less gave up hope and issued the final volume minus these titles. Now that the series has been completed, those four sides have finally surfaced. Thanks to a library in Barcelona and a private collector, this year we will be issuing these very rare sides, together with six alternative takes not included in our previous releases. The accompanying booklet will contain only a list of the contents. The CD will be priced at $9.00.

 

	Germaine Lubin 52070-2 (2 CDs) Release date: December 2015   The French dramatic soprano, Germaine Lubin (1890-1979) will be remembered for her stunning Wagnerian portrayals, her striking beauty, and the accusations of Nazi sympathies that shaped her later life and career. Lubin received her initial training at the Paris Conservatory; debuted at the Opéra-Comique as Antonia in Les contes d’Hoffmann; studied with Felia Litvinne; sang Isolde at Covent Garden under Thomas Beecham, to Lauritz Melchior’s Tristan (1939); appeared in Berlin singing Kundry, Sieglinde and Strauss’s Ariadne with the composer conducting (1939); and depicted Sieglinde to Flagstad’s Brünnhilde under Furtwaengler (1939). This 2 CD set features Lubin's complete recorded output and includes two important essays that provide insight into the woman whose life was inextricably woven with her art: an essay by the French scholar Vincent Giroud on her life and career and a personal memoir by André Tebeuf. To complete this two CD set Marston will include recordings by Marcelle Bunlet and Lucienne de Méo whose first name has sometimes been incorrectly listed as Cléontine.

 

	Early Italian Tenors Fiorello Giraud, Giovanni de Negri, Francesco Signorini, Leopoldo Signoretti, Eduardo Garbin, Alfonso Arulli, and Fernando Valero 53018-2 (3 CDs) Release date: February 2016   Fiorello Giraud (1868 - 1928) had a highly successful career throughout Italy and parts of South America and was well-respected both in Wagnerian and verismo roles. He will be remembered for creating the role of Canio (Pagliacci). His strong, vibrant voice was first captured on eight very rare G&T records. In 1916 and 1917, he recorded an additional 12 sides for Italian HMV, all song titles.  This compilation will include all 20 of his published sides. Giovanni Batista de Negri (1850 - 1923) was particularly associated with the role of Otello, toured throughout Italy, and had a career that was cut short (1896) due to a series of operations for an unmentioned "malady."  In 1902, however, he recorded for the Zonophone company, forever leaving his mark.  Francesco Signorini (1860 - 1927)  achieved success singing Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana) in Florence in 1890; appeared at La Scala in 1897; and appeared in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and South America in 1907.  He gave up singing in 1910 to teach in Rome.  His HMV recordings are very rare, including the scenes from Chatterton, which were issued on an early Marston release. Leopoldo Signoretti's birth date ranges from 1840 to 1850, the former seeming more plausible.  His earliest traced performances were in Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro Solis, Montevideo in May 1875. In 1884 he went to Bologna for Tannhäuser and the world premiere of Isora di Provenza by Luigi Mancinelli. At Madrid, in the 1884-1885 season he sang La Gioconda, Faust, Aida, L’Africana, Lucia di Lammermoor (with Sembrich and Battistini), Il principe di Viana (Manuel Fernandez Grajal), Il trovatore, Ernani, Un ballo in maschera, and Lohengrin.  He recorded only five documented Zonophone sides, and in many ways, these are the most impressive of this quartet of early Italian tenors.
	Partially sponsored by Richard and Mary-Jo Warren

 

	The Complete Josef Hofmann: vol. 9 52058-2 The culmination of over a decade of releases, Marston is issuing the final volume of the complete Josef Hofmann recordings. Hofmann combined unparalleled virtuosity with emotion, understanding, and spontaneity to create some of the finest piano playing ever recorded. This two-CD set contains the earliest extant Hofmann recordings (three wax cylinders from 1896), alternate takes of his Columbia and Brunswick sessions, and a soundtrack from a short Bell Telephone Hour promotional film. Since this is the last volume, we are making ever effort to leave no stone unturned. We are previewing all known sources of Hofmann’s Bell Telephone Hour broadcasts since the Telephone Hour programs were performed twice, once for an east coast audience, the second time for the west. Previously issued Bell Telephone Hour broadcasts were not identified as “east” or “west,” so comparing all available sources is necessary.
	Partially sponsored by Antonio Méndez-Vigatà

 

The Works of Ernest Reyer and Édouard Lalo 53019-2 (3 CDs) At the turn of the 20th century, Ernest Reyer and Édouard Lalo had experienced a certain degree of fame.  Reyer's opera Sigurd was still active in the repertory of many French opera houses including the Paris Opera, and although less popular, Maître Wolfram, La statue, and Salammbô were performed and also occasionally recorded. In the early years of recording, the most popular arias from Sigurd became staples of record company catalogs especially with the tenor arias being recorded by the likes of Scaramberg,  Affre, Lafitte, Franz, and Vezzani. Édouard Lalo, who today is best known for his Symphonie Espagnole for violin and orchestra, composed one opera that was immensely popular during the last decade of the 19th century and the first three decades of the 20th: Le roi d’Ys. The "Aubade" from Act 3, "Vainement, ma bien aimée " was one of the most popular and ubiquitously recorded of all French tenor arias, ranking with the flower song from Carmen and "Plus blanche" from Les Huguenots. This set devoted to Reyer and Lalo will feature at least one recording of each excerpt that was recorded between 1902 and 1930 and will feature approximately 35 singers. The booklet will contain: essays on the life and works of these two composers by Vincent Giroud; plot summaries of their operas; and short biographical sketches of the singers.

 

Faust: The First Complete Recording, 1908 Featuring Emmy Destinn 52074-2 (2 CDs) One of our early releases was the 1908 recording of Bizet's Carmen sung in German by a cast headed by the larger than life Bohemian soprano, Emmy Destinn. During that year she also participated in a similar recording of Gounod's Faust, which in Germany was titled Margarethe to differentiate it from Goethe's revered masterpiece. We have, over the years, received requests from our customers to reissue this earliest recording of Gounod's opera, and we will finally be issuing this recording as a two-CD set. The cast includes tenor Karl Jörn, mezzo Marie Goetze, baritone Desider Zador, and bass Paul Knüpfer. The orchestra and chorus are in the capable hands of Bruno Seidler-Winkler. Michael Aspinall's informative essay includes biographical information on the singers and a thorough critical analysis of the performance. The second CD will conclude with ten of Emmy Destinn's most revered recordings from the period 1906 to 1910.

 

Lotte Lehmann: The Complete Acoustic Recordings 54006-2 (4 CDs) Lötte Lehmann enjoyed a 40-year career spanning 1910 to 1950 on stage in opera and on the concert platform. Remembered now primarily for her portrayals of Wagner and Strauss roles and as a consummate interpreter of German Lieder, her early recordings are all but unknown and give us a broader picture of this great artist. It will, perhaps, not come as a surprise to hear Lehmann in her now familiar roles: Sieglinde, Elsa, Eva, and the Marschallin. What really makes these records outstanding is the ease and beauty of Lehmann's vocal production, and the chance of hearing her in repertoire not usually associated with her. We are treated to a generous sprinkling of Mozart, including two duets with baritone Heinrich Schlusnus, as well as arias by Weber, Lortzing, and Nicolai. Although she sings in German, we hear French opera arias from La Juive, Faust, Mignon, Carmen, Tales of Hoffmann, and Manon. From Italian opera, we hear the Willow Song from Otello, followed by Puccini arias from Manon Lescaut, Bohème, Tosca, Butterfly, and even two excerpts from Soire Angelica. The real surprises are Lehmann's recordings of Tatyana's Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin, an aria from d'Albert's Die toten Augen, and an exquisite aria and duet with Richard Tauber from Korngold's Die tote Stadt, all of which are among the great treasures of the acoustic recording era.

 

	Nineteenth Century French-Baritones Jean Lassalle, Léon Melchissédec, Maurice Renaud, and Jean Baptist Faure 52069-2 (2 CDs) Some CD compilations are known because of the rarity of the recordings, while others are known for the quality of singing; this compilation contains some of the rarest recordings known to collectors, and displays incredible singing as well.  Jean Lassalle was born in 1847 and died in 1909, not long after the dawn of recording.  His career was stellar:  he was one of the greatest luminaries of the Paris Opéra; he was a frequent guest in London; and was an honored member of the Metropolitan Opera.  His expressive voice displayed mastery of technique, and although his recordings were made when he was in his late 50s, there is still much in the way of style and technique that can be heard. His first recordings were Pathé cylinders dating from about 1902, followed by discs for Odeon and Pantophone in 1904 and 1905.   This set will include some 23 of these incredibly rare recordings from the operatic and song repertory. Léon Melchissédec was born in 1843 and died in 1925.  He was successful at the Opéra-Comique, the Théâtre Lyrique, and the Paris Opéra.  His voice was polished and expressive.  His first record was an 1899 seven-inch Berliner of the  drum major’s aria from Thomas’s Le Caid, which although highly abridged, shows his voice and technique in remarkable condition. Besides this extremely rare disc, this CD compilation will contain a group of Pathé cylinders, four Zonophone discs, and six sides recorded for the APGA label when Melchissédec was 65 years old. Jean Baptist Faure was born in 1830 and died in 1914.  In addition to composing a number of classical songs, which gained immense popularity, Faure was a celebrated baritone who created many important roles including Nélusko (Meyerbeer’s L'Africaine), Rodrigue (Verdi’s Don Carlos), and Thomas’s Hamlet. There exist two non-commercial wax cylinders from about 1905, thought possibly to be sung by Faure, though this is only a supposition. On these cylinders, one hears a baritone of advanced years whose voice yet evinces skill and authority. It should be mentioned that this set will also include the seven Pathé recordings by Maurice Renaud which we were unable to fit on to our Renaud compilation released in 1998.
	Partially sponsored by G. Ronald Kastner, Ph. D.

 

Landmarks of Recorded Pianism 52073-2 (2 CDs) This release features a collection of what might be called piano orphans: commercial and non-commercial recordings of great pianists that simply have never found their way onto compact disc. Among these treasures are 15 minutes of Dinu Lipatti playing Scarlatti and Brahms that have only recently surfaced; an unpublished disc of Alfred Cortot playing the “Russian Dance” from Petroushka; an unpublished recording of Emil von Sauer playing “Liebestraum;” and previously unpublished excerpts of the Tchaikovsky first piano concerto played by Vladimir Horowitz with the Philadelphia Orchestra, recorded during a 1932 concert conducted by Fritz Reiner and recorded as an experiment by the Bell Telephone Laboratory.  This is Horowitz's earliest known concert performance, is in amazing sound for that time, and it must be heard to be believed. It is unfortunate that the entire concerto was not recorded, but hearing these excerpts will be a revelation for Horowitz fans. We feel certain that piano enthusiasts worldwide will treasure this 2-CD set as nothing like it has been heard since Gregor Benko produced his acclaimed Landmarks of Recorded Pianism LP almost 40 years ago.