This landmark recording from 1907 has been cleaned and restored to near its noise floor for the first time in 110 years. Ruggero Leoncavallo has the distinction of being among the great composers of Italian Opera in spite of having only one work that is still performed today. But that one work is "I Pagliacci", one of the most popular operas of them all. His score is truly inspired, and his libretto was based on a case his father, a criminal judge, had tried during his youth. The magic stirred audiences from the outset, and it has continued to this day. The historic nature of this first complete opera recording would be enough to justify preservation. It is so much more than that. The performance is brilliant. Here is La Scala at the beginning of the 20th Century with great performers who helped define these roles; Paoli, Cigada, Badini, and Huguet, with her vampy, sometimes vapory Nedda. The composer himself was present for these sessions, his role in them is unclear, but the results are wonderful. Filled with wit and dark passion, this a recording that is more than a historic document. It deserves to be heard and treasured. The present issue is sourced from the only known complete copy in existence. Considering a source with an original life expectancy of 5 - 10 years, it sounds fabulous for 110 years old. The recording itself is an extraordinary undertaking. Instead of sounding like a scaled-down version for acoustic disk, the present performance is at full musical scale and dramatic intensity. Possibly one big advantage of working with the composer. Who better to supervise the arrangement of the parts for the recording while preserving the full score? Just as remarkable is the recording engineering itself. Although the sound is limited to the telephonic range, the actual instrument waveshapes are excellent, the resulting product with the required acoustic artifacts of the recording system removed is within a whisker of acoustic flat. That is certainly no accident. The Gramophone Co. engineers designed an extremely precise acoustic system for this session. Although the bandwidth is telephonic, the fidelity within that range is excellent, the rolloff is linear, and there is the distinct suggestion of a sonic image, the prelude to later reverb chambers, etc. There is a great deal more to this recording technology than the simple use of a bullhorn to collect audio. The physics behind such acoustic designs are impressive even by modern engineering standards. The sonic evidence suggests an elaborate network of high precision tubes and horns which used mechanical valves to control inputs like a modern mixer does. This why the recording is so richly detailed; the engineer could focus, reshape and select groupings before the signal reached the resonator. This is high fidelity: circa. 1907. Reverb has been added at some point in earlier mastering efforts. The decision here was to leave it alone. There is some pitch change at some side changes. Although the recording was acoustic, the transport mechanics almost certainly used AC current. As a rule these motors were reliably pitch-accurate by that time. (Tesla's contribution to the technology.) The issue is probably tuning. It is certainly understandable. This was before the age of sine wave tuning methods and even the sharpest ears could suffer acoustic fatigue in long, crowded sessions. So here is the first complete opera recording, with an all-star cast and composer involvement. It set the bar very high for the great opera recordings that would follow it, and for the ones yet to come. In an acoustic recording the surface is part of the sound and complete noise reduction is impossible. The aim here is to reproduce, as closely as possible, the actual acoustic performance characteristics of that early recording system.
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