The Era of Adelina Patti

Victor Maurel, Pol Plançon, Emma Eames, Lucien Fugère, Adelina Patti, Francisco Viñas, Emma Calvé, Maurice Renaud, Fernando De Lucia, Francesco Tamagno, Nellie Melba, Félia Litvinne, Wilhelm Hesch, Lillian Nordica, Mario Ancona, Edouard De Reszke, Marcella Sembrich, Francesco Marconi, Josefina Huguet, Antonio Pini-Corsi, Mattia Battistini, Lilli Lehmann, Sir Charles Santley

"'Join the party', it says. And there in the midst is a piece of history to be sure, Victor Maurel, ye original Falstaff, singing of his slim-lined boyhood to an audience of delirious enthusiasts who call with well-regulated spontaneity for encore after encore. The record is a famous one for the demo, but—and here is the great thing about these two discs—one listens anew. The party atmosphere is more lively than before; the sight as well as the sound seems more vivid. It must (we reflect) have something to do with the Nimbus 'method', for in previous transfers this record has sounded lovable but quaint, and confined rather pitiably to a box. Now we experience it afresh as a performance rather than a relic, taking place in something more natural and suitable for such an event."

John B. Steane, Gramophone