Most Wanted Recitals!: Operatic Recital By Eugene Conley

This disc is a reminder of the kind of singing that was expected from, mainly American, tenors in the middle of the last century. The American male was not expected or allowed to show much feeling, so as to not be thought "unmanly". This is very clear here. The Puccini areas come off best; Bellini and Donizetti should have been avoided. Mr. Conley sometimes has a hard time showing us that he knows what he is singing about.Recording quality is what you expect from 78s and early tape recording. The only reason this disc was purchased was to support the effort of re-mastering old recitals, and in the hope that other, more worthy recitals will follow. Otherwise, for serious collectors only.

A very fine tenor. He sang in my first opera. Boheme at the Met. I met him him when I was in the Cornell U. orchestra. He was extremely gracious and he sang excerpts of arias for me a capella on request. What a great man and tenor. Famous for operas like Puritani with its very high tessitura.

Eugene Conley had a very recognizable voice as did Jussi Bjoerling and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. He also had a clean sparkling high d flat with accurate pure tones throughout his entire range. Unfortunately he was faced with the prejudices of Rudolf Bing who favored European tenors so his Metropolitan Opera career ceased with 1955 after which he became a college voi ce teacher. He could modulate his voice to sing exquisite fully supported high notes piano with effortless ease and not falsetto. His "I hear you calling me" is every bit as lovely as john McCormick's. Check out some of the tracks on the radio checks CD for some lovely arias and songs (even a "di quella pira!!!!!!) despite the often terrible sound or the "Faust" CDs from the Met. Opera collection for a lesson in bel canto singing. As another reviewer said, he would be a star now. Sadly, he and other singers in the 1950s, Leonard Warren e.g., just missed the voluminous opera record output beginning about 1959. I do not understand one short review lamenting Conely's lacking high notes when his high notes were superb; furthermore a review should focus on the merits of the CD at hand and not wish for some desired attribute the reviewer was incorrectly or illadvisedly expecting.

Good cd by a tenor who never REALY hit the top

Three stars means 'It's ok' according to the code supplied for our assessment. I wonder greatly at anyone giving this 5 stars. I wonder at their standards.Conley had a fine voice without doubt but I'm tempted to stop there for sadly are some problems that spoil things along the way. The main problem is his management of the Italian language. He seems to have learned it phonetically and if he has ever listened to any of the great (or not so great) native Italian tenors it doesn't show.His enunciation is unfortunately too good to hide the fact that he is unable to link the words into comprehensive phrases. As a result 'Questa o quella' could be a Gilbert and Sullivan patter song rather than the revelation of a brutal and cynical lecher. Aria and aria pass with no insight whatsoever. Even the 'big tune' in the Boheme aria doesn't rouse him to do something with it. He simply singing as if sight reading and the secure top C is little consolation.Another problem is that it is a laziness to let a 't' sound as a 'd'. Spirdo gentile' and 'qual piu mal vendo' offend, as does this mistake each time he makes it. Arturo in Puritani is a role he sang with Callas but clearly the experience taught him little about the required style. He ha-has his way around every turn. Sure the top d flat is good, though the two d naturals are not particular pleasant but there are true without doubt. I hoped for better in the songs sung in English but even these seemed to me to be unremarkable. Strangely the song 'Beloved' which we are told in the notes that he wrote himself has a climactic note that he is unable to sustain properly. I listened to it several times and Conley has to push it back in place several times. Why not just record it again? Strange. So a good voice with a powerful top but with no true legato and nothing exceptional in delivery apart from a few high notes. Personally I have no wish to hear it again.