Licia Albanese song album

[Tony Partington]

Hello Folks!

One of my favorite haunts is the unlocked recording section of archive.org. I was poking around there this morning and found this little gem. It may not be everyone's taste, but it's interesting to hear how Albanese's voice sounded at a later stage in here career. These recordings were done in 1963 (1964 release) and as I listened to her I thought, of course, of Mario. She was born in 1909 (July 22, 1909^[1] – August 15, 2014) and was eleven years Mario's senior. How truly sad he was so undisciplined and self destructive. Not a winning combination to be sure. But I was thinking, as Licia was singing the folk songs, how marvelous a duet album of Italian songs would have been. Imagine their voices blending on "La Maravegia" or the passionate Neapolitan "L'urdemo Sole."

I might be all wrong, but I hear Mario in these songs. And the thought of what a duet album would have been like is beautifully and magnificently sad.

https://archive.org/details/lp_songs-of-verdi-and-italian-folk-songs_licia-albanese-rca-italiana-symphony-orche/disc1/02.03.+Domenico+Pirozzi+-+L'urdemo+Sole+(Neapolitan).mp3

https://archive.org/details/unlockedrecordings?query=opera&sort=&page=31

Ciao!

Tony