(*Note : Be sure to hear this with 480P settings and a pair of functioning stereo speakers or ear/headphones!)
The Italian-born Russian mezzo-soprano, Medea Mei-Figner (1859 ~ 1952) sings \"The Cradle Song\" from Napravnik's now-obscure opera, \"Harold\". Recorded in 1901 for Gramophone & Typewriter company. The present copy here is not the original record (that usually sells for thousands of dollars), but a dubbing made from the original disc, issued by the International Collectors Record Club (IRCC) in 1948.
Collectors would know that Post-war IRCCs, usually pressed on \"Vinylite\" materials with plain text label, are not considered as in the same league as to their pre-WW2 counterparts, particularly because all of the materials featured on this label after the war were dubbings and not pressed from the original masters. Some of the dubbings were made quite poorly, even for the day's standards, and this recording was no exception, unfortunately. Still, one can really enjoy a really fabulous, exquisite vocal performance with the amazing 20-second trill at the end - so beautiful and charming.
Played on my Audio-Technica Turntable with Shure M78S cartridge, 3.0mil custom made stylus. The pressing quality is quite bad, typical for most of early vinyl pressing issued by postwar IRCC. The recording itself was quite muffled so I had to gently re-equalize the recording. I removed most of the clicks and surface noises of the disc itself, but the noise from the original recording could not be removed, so there would be occasional pops and clicks throughout the recording.
*Copyright Disclaimer under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for \"fair use\" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
