Claudia Muzio 1911-1935

"This is most important recording to anyone interested the history of opertic singing. Musio was a most important link in the performance chain between Salomea Krusceniski and Callas. Her career can be traced on record from a voice akin to Supervia ih 1911 to Ponselle in the `20s and 30s.This same period showed Musio at her prime on stage but there is little on record to support this, insead we have tracks from1934 and 1935when the singer was showing signs of an undefined illness but with a lifetime of experience and study to call on. When compairing the Boheme item rrom1911,when Musio was maybe only 21 years old,and insecure in technique and with no real insight into the role,with the track 'Addio del passo' from Traviata and hear what ammounts to a completely different thing. The weight of voice and the use of words makes the listening exprerience all the more satisfying. The listerner can hear these pleasures in almost every aria and great credit must go to Nimbus for the sentitive way they treat these prescious old 78s Anyone with an interest in opera or its singers should buy this disc witout delay, there is not a singer before the present public who comes near Claudio Musio,and no sign of one on the horizon!"- Anonymous

"I thank Steven A. Peterson for his thoughtful and appreciative review of this Nimbus disc and take issue with him only over the four stars; this is a five star voice no matter what stage of her career you hear it. Muzio's was the voice that Giacomo Lauri Volpi so memorably described as being "made of tears and sighs and restrained interior fire." She has that rarest of qualities: the ability to inhabit the music such that notes are transcended and the emotional heart of the music is laid bare to the listener. I know nothing more beautiful than Muzio's recording of "Ombra di Nube"; it is one of my two or three most precious records of the human voice. I also believe that the slight breathiness, the hint of tremulous frailty which colours her voice in her last Columbia recordings made shortly before her untimely death actually enhance its communicativeness - and it is a very beautiful sound in its own right. Muzio's sincerity and dedication shine through her interpretations; if you already have this Nimbus disc, look out for the currently deleted "Complete Columbia Recordings 1934-35". This 2 disc set also contains the indispensable excerpts from Refice's "Cecilia" and the love duet from "Otello" with Francesco Merli, neither of which, unfortunately, appears on the single Nimbus disc. Meanwhile, this will do; if you don't know Muzio buy it and discover why she is top on the list of great voices amongst the cognoscenti!" - Ralph Moore