Eloquence Classics

Unlikely in theory, fruitful in practice: for the first time on CD, Eloquence presents a duet recording of the Greek-born, French mezzo-soprano, Irma Kolassi and French-Canadian tenor, Raoul Jobin. Kolassi was no creature of the stage: her brief recording career centres around Decca recital albums which have also been newly remastered and reissued by Eloquence (482 4637). Meanwhile, Jobin was a well-loved fixture both at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and in front of the notoriously picky opera-going audience in Paris.

Together, they recorded the prime set-piece arias and duets from ‘La damnation de Faust’ and ‘Werther’ in London: a classic ‘Decca sound’ record from October 1954, supervised by Peter Andry and engineered by Kenneth Wilkinson. The previous year, John Culshaw had recorded Gounod’s ‘Roméo et Juliette’ in Paris and the first two numbers from Act II are presented here. Jobin can now be appreciated as among the last of a great procession of Francophone tenors.

The Berlioz and Massenet extracts were enjoyed for making unusual and welcome selections from works not much blessed at the time of their release with complete recordings. Even more though, did critical attention focus on Kolassi whose intelligent and captivating mezzo could not otherwise be savoured in operatic music: ‘just right for the Romance,’ thought an early Gramophone reviewer (April 1958)Choeur du Théatre National de l’Opéra de Paris ‘and the playing by the London Symphony under Fistoulari is admirable.’