COMPOSERS: Cesare Andrea Bixio,Gaetano Donizetti,Pietro Mascagn,Traditional
LABELS: Testament
ALBUM TITLE: Giuseppe Di Stefano
PERFORMER: with various orchestras and accompanists
CATALOGUE NO: SBT 1096 ADD mono
From Testament comes vivid reportage of young Giuseppe di Stefano, a major operatic star of the Fifties and Sixties who had been drafted into the Italian army in 1941, but whose fragile health meant singing for the MO and a relatively early discharge.
The collection includes Italian ‘pop’ songs of the day and operatic arias, with a couple of unpublished items thrown in for good measure. The voice itself was sweet as a nut in the Forties (the period most heavily represented), though a 1955 Puccini sequence represents di Stefano’s early maturity.