Lawrence Tibbett - Pari siamo (Allegro-Royale, 1955)

Legendary American baritone and actor Lawrence Tibbett (1896-1960) sings "Pari siamo" from Verdi's Rigoletto. The story behind these late recordings is quite interesting. Tibbett was recorded in a New York studio, singing to piano accompaniment heard only through headphones. The vocal tracks were then sent to Germany, where the cost of hiring an orchestra was not so prohibitive. There, conductor Hans Jergens-Walther listened to the Tibbett tracks (again, through headphones) while conducting the Hamburg Philharmonia Orchestra. The orchestral tracks were then dubbed over the vocal tracks and, voilà, a somewhat cohesive recording was born. It has been suggested that one should avoid these studio performances of Tibbett's at all costs, but I disagree. Although the voice is in decline, Tibbett manages to turn in some pretty decent performances. These recordings DEFINITELY do not represent the artist in his prime, but I decided to share a few of them since these rarely heard late recordings might be of interest to collectors. The 58 year old Tibbett made these recordings in New York for Allegro-Royale during the summer of 1955.