AMERICAN TENOR

Waikato Times, Volume 107, Issue 17964, 8 March 1930, Page 5 (Supplement)

AMERICAN TENOR

FORMERLY A BARITONE. TO TOUR NEW ZEALAND. In view of .the announcement that Louis Graveure, an American tenor, will come to Australia and Nesv Zealand this year under the direction of J. and N. Tait, the following from the New York Times will be of interest: — Louis Graveure, who has joined the ranks of tenors after achieving success as a baritone, gave a recital in Carnegie Hall, assisted by Lewis Richards, harpsichordist, and Sanford Schlussel, piano accompanist. The singer’s programme, which contained more operatic music than is customary on the recital platform, was obviously designed to give ample scope for the display of the recently developed upper register of a voice notable for its range and flexibility. Mr Graveure has succeeded in gaining a marked degree of freedom, power a.-d resonance in the production of these upper tones. In doing so, however, he has sacrificed an appreciable degree of the native richness-and individual timbre* of the voice,, which if it seldom sounds driven or shrill, has a “white” quality that after a time verges on the monotonous. The opera airs, which were sung with the impeccable taste of a finished musician, included the “0 Paradis,” from “L’Africaine”; “Lohengrin’s Narrative and the Prize Song, from “Die Meistersinger"; “Non .piangere Liu” and “Nessun donna,” from "Turandot”; the "Questa o’ Quella," from “Rigolctto,” and an excerpt, sung in German, from “The .Magic Flute.” Songs in French by Chausson,* Bember and Bachelet, the Old English “Pretty Creature" and “Three Fishers," and Purcell’s "When I am Laid in Earth” completed the list, to which were added Lhe Vermont folk song, “The Birds’ Courting” and other encores.