Enrico Caruso at his very best : Agnus Dei (Bizet) : (new 2021 restoration)
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ม.ค. 2021
- Enrico Caruso made this recording in New York on 24th February 1913.
Agnus Dei is the Latin name under which the "Lamb of God" is honoured within the Roman Catholic Mass and, by extension, other Christian liturgies descending from the Latin tradition. It is the name given to a specific prayer that occurs in these liturgies, and is the name given to the music pieces that accompany the text of this prayer (from Wikipedia)
The basic translation is as follows
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem
Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, grant us peace.
I have tried to improve the original sound but this is a very old recording made 12 years before microphones and other electrical equipment were used in recording studios and, consequently, it is a very long way from today's recording standards.However we are very lucky that any form of sound recording existed in those far off days to at least give us an impression of the wonderful singers and musicians of that time.
Just to give a live effect with more presence I have added applause. I apologize to those who watch my videos but are not happy with the added applause. - เพลง
![มองหน้ากันไม่ติด (Awkward) - โอ๊ต ปราโมทย์ FEAT. MAIYARAP [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/4b02SY_r6Gw/mqdefault.jpg)
Enrico Caruso ist auch in dieser Interpretation unvergleichlich. Es wird seinesgleichen nie mehr geben. Seine Stimme und Ausdruckskraft, sein einmaliges Timbre und seine Emotionalität sind einmalig. Ausserdem besitzt er die seltene Gabe der Träne in der Stimme, die in seinem Fall absolut authentisch ist. Er singt mit seinem ganzen Herzen und mit seiner ganzen Persönlichkeit und berührt mit seinem Gesang die tiefsten Gefühle der Menschlichkeit. Vielen herzlichen Dank für die grossartige Restaurierung dieser Aufnahme in der man in etwa spüren kann, wie einzigartig dieser Künstler live geklungen hat. 😢♥️
It's my pleasure Michael, thank you for listening, I'm really pleased that you enjoyed the video and your description of Caruso's wonderful qualities is perfect.
When I was young, a long time ago, I used to think the old 78's of Caruso and others were unlistenable really, so much background noise, clicks, and pops, etc. But now thanks to people like yourself we are able to get an idea of how great Caruso was. I note the improvement in audio quality on some of his later recordings which indicates to me that the recording engineers were always trying to improve the end result. What a pity he didn't quite live long enough to record on the electric process which came into being in about 1925. Congratulations and thanks, Steve.
It's my pleasure Steve, thank you for listening, I'm really pleased that you enjoyed the video.
I do agree with what you say about noise on the old acoustic recordings but I think that the CD companies seem to think that if they can get rid of the noise they have restored the sound. Unfortunately most of the noise is mixed in with the music like the yeast and flour in bread and if you cut one you cut the other as well. I approach it the other way round and firstly try to get the voice/music to sound as true to life as possible and only then reduce the noise if it really overshadows the music.I'm constantly trying to find new ways to reduce the low frequency noise without effecting the music but as I'm 79 now I don't expect I've too much time left to succeed!!!
As I said before, I know that you yourself do some wonderful restorations of the old electric recordings by Lanza etc so keep up the good work. I've also noticed that you do a great job on colourizing the old black and white photos/films. I've only just got into colourizing as I only recently discovered that software was available to allow you to do it yourself but, unfortunately, the time I'm spending on it has diverted me a bit too much from the audio side of things.
All the best from Yorkshire, England.
My Great Grandfather came from the same village as Enrico Caruso's family did. Enrico born in Naples but had family near Caserta. My Greatgrandfather was childhood friends with Enrico and stayed friends with him all his life.
Thanks for listening and for your comment. That's an interesting story, it must be nice to have such a connection to the great singer.
My family came from Naples, too. It's a big city so I really don't know what area they were from. Carbone was the family name on my mother's side.
Complete control over his notes, volume, vibrato & feel.
Thanks for listening and for your comment.
For me there is no one who can SING like this - his voice is full of majesty - it's incredible - miraculous . Thankyou Mike for this masterful restoration of this truly greatest singer of all time .
The pleasure's all mine Lawrence I'm glad that you like this one. I've loved Caruso since I first heard him sing nearly 60 years ago.
@@michaelmcgrailengland Me too .
Beautifully done. Caruso sounds great but the orchestra, which typically sounds archaic in his recordings, sounds great! Awesome job.
Thanks for listening Javier, I'm really pleased that you enjoyed the video.
Most listeners don't seem to notice the improvement in audio quality made by my restorations so I can't tell you how satisfying and encouraging it is to receive a message like yours. Thank you.
Timeless.. Cauruso is my hero.. Great job.
I've just found your comment Glen, for some reason my TH-cam comment notifications are hit and miss at the moment.
Thanks for listening I'm glad that you enjoyed the video.
You may have already seen it but, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Caruso's death in August, I uploaded a video with one song/aria from each year, 1902 to 1920 and about 300 coloured photos. It's a bit lengthy but you could always watch it in parts. The link is th-cam.com/video/SYglMiD13D4/w-d-xo.html
This song is 신의 어린양 in Korean. I have heard this song by Pavarotti. Caruso is first time to me. Thank you for letting me listen to powerful Caruso.
It's my pleasure, thanks for listening.
To be honest, although I know he is very popular, I've never really taken to Pavarotti. Caruso sang with great power but also sincerity whereas, to my ears, Pavarotti seems to sound as though he is shouting to impress his audience.But, rightly or wrongly, for one reason or another, we all have our own favourites.
@@michaelmcgrailengland You are right. I love Caruso and Pavarotti. They are different color. When I was student I have heard Stefano, Monaco, Colleri, Gigli, Gedda, Schipa, Tagliavini, Caruso, Pavarotti, Bjoring, Wunderlich, .... I love them. And I wanted be like them. I think that the best singer is Enrico Caruso. Caruso is different and unique.
Thanks telling me your opinion.
Best regards. Have a wonderful day.
Wonderful restoration on a beautiful recording. I've read the comments and many of the technical aspects of why Caruso was such a great singer. I must say that I do not know much about those things, but for me it all comes down to the enjoyment of the voice and Caruso's was spectacular. The photos are great, but I love the one from the Cow Palace. Imagine singing there
with no amplification from a microphone!! What a voice!! I will have to find out if John McCormack ever sang there.
Thanks for for listening Mike, I'm glad that you like this. Yes, I wonder if McCormack did sing at The Cow Palace.
There's another picture from 1919 that I haven't put on yet of when he did a set of concerts in Mexico. The largest theatre was too small for the demand for tickets so the impresario moved the concerts to the bull ring with an improvised stage. The place held 22,000 people and, somehow, on the last night they squeezed in 25,000.
Like McCormack he did a lot of benefit concerts for good causes but they still pestered him for more. He once said to someone "I am not a Rockefeller but yesterday I paid $4,000 for a box of oranges for a patriotic purpose. I am worked to death."
Like you Mike, I'm not into the technical aspects of singing, if it pleases my ears my brain likes it but, even so it's interesting to read what others say on the technical side.
The best recordings of Caruso are made by Ward Marston for Naxos. They are available on about 8-10 CDs and they are incredible. Even better are the original 78's reproduced on large horn gramophones. You hear the overtones and they are totally miraculous. What we hear now is a very baritonal sound, but the original records give you the overtones with incredible sweetness and velvety sounds.
@@georginankansah5091 Ward Marston also restored and remastered all of John McCormack's existing recordings. The are 11 CDs on the Naxos label and he has two box sets on his own label, Marston Records. The grand total is 31 CDs.
Every piece of music has its own atmosphere; capturing it, intensifying it, bringing it to life using your own imagination, feelings, instinct, vocal colours - and fine set of vocal chords as shown here! - demonstrates who is a mere singer and who is a real singer-artist! ⭐️
Thank you very much for a fabulous recording! 🙏🍀
The pleasure's all mine Harriet, I'm glad that you enjoyed this one. I'm not a religious person at all but I love religious music, it always seems to bring the best out of composers and singers, beautiful melodies, deeply felt emotions. Perhaps one day I'll become a believer.
@@michaelmcgrailengland
Since music can be so heavenly - even divine - and you believe in music, you are a believer already... you believe in truth, and beauty, and kindness, and sincerity - there‘s no estimable religion without these qualities...
@@hrbooksmusic7878 That's it, you've convinced me that I'm worth saving and I've booked a place up there, but hopefully some time from now!! I'll have to watch my steps from now on and I suppose I need to stop following the principle of "God is good (and the devil's not bad either)"!!!
@@michaelmcgrailengland
Well, if you follow the thesis that the devil is only punishing the bad guys, he shouldn‘t be too bad... if he were he would party with them (the bad guys) instead of thrashing them with burning bundles of brushwood (or something like that...) You surely belong in a more heavenly place... After all, they need you up there - you‘re the expert for enhancing old recordings, which the heavenly hosts are very fond of - so I heard...
Thank you for sharing this You've done an amazing job at restoring it
It's my pleasure Ena, thank you for listening, I'm really pleased that you enjoyed it.
What a great history we have and all the world thank you Jesus
Thank you 🤗🇬🇧
Tolle Restauration. Great job!
Thanks for listening and for mentioning the restoration.
Lovely end to the day-TY
My pleasure Marian, glad you enjoyed it.
If he was a gangsta even a thug in the hood would you mess with Enrique Caruso look at his face? He's a man that always do the right thing he's not going to let nobody do harmful things to his family, he will get to before you can do it
Thank you for listening and for your comment, I hope that you enjoyed the music.
The intensity from 2:39 forward - what a singer. This is marvellous to hear, thank you so much.
The pleasure's all mine Michael, thanks for listening, I'm so glad that you like it, Caruso had a unique quality in his voice that, in my opinion, has never been matched.
@@michaelmcgrailengland I agree. Very few notes are sung straight - he does something uniquely expressive with almost every one (pitch-bending etc). But also taking care of the overall arches of line and great emotional intensity. He's an inspiration. Quite unique!
@@michaelarnold417 Michael, if it's not too complicated for my old brain could you tell me how you put the highlighted 2.39 in your first message that went to that time in the video when I clicked on it.
@@michaelmcgrailengland Micheal! Can I answer here? You can just type it ( computer keyboard - number
: number) here. just like 2:39 you want time number example 1:50 3:05
@@MountainwalkwithMusic That's brilliant, thank you I'll test it out. When you get time please let me know if it works. 0.50.
Angelic!
Thanks for listening and for your comment Emily.
Wow this restoration is amazing, it captures the lower partials of the man much better than most YT recordings. Interested to know how this restoration was done.
Thanks for listening, I'm really pleased that you like my restorations, most listeners don't seem to notice any difference.
I hope that you won't be offended when I say that I don't really want to reveal exactly how I do my restorations. I'm 79 now and I had an idea more than 50 years ago that I knew could improve the audio quality of these very old recordings but at that time the technology wasn't available to put my theory into practice. I spent many hours cutting cassette tapes into 1/4 inch segments, removing every other segment and then sticking them together again on sellotape. Then digital technology came along which allowed me to put my idea into practice.
I still have to spend a long time on each recording but at least, from my own point of view, it's time well spent.
The basic principal of the system is that it tries to replace the missing lower frequencies that give the music it's realistic quality. It does increase the low frequency noise and I reduce this only to a point where it doesn't overshadow the music.
Thanks again for listening and for your interest.
Sublime.
Thanks for listening, I'm glad that you enjoyed it.
chills
Thanks for listening, and so quickly, Arline, I'm really pleased that you like it.
This is the clearest seeming recording or Caruso I've heard, I think.
A bit of high pass to remove low frequency rumble noise would be nice, though ;-) I was wondering what the heck was going on, whether tanks were closing in, but no, it came from the recording.
Thanks for listening and for your comment and I agree that the low frequency noise is a problem that I have yet to solve.
It's easy enough to remove most of the noise, as the CD companies do, but you are left with a thin sound that, to me, is a poor representation of what the music sounded like when it was recorded. I try to give the music a more realistic, up-to-date sound and only then reduce noise to a level where I consider that it doesn't actually overshadow the music. The problem is that on the old acoustic recordings the music and noise are mixed together like the flour, yeast and water in a loaf of bread and if you slice part of the noise off you do the same to the music.
Thanks again for listening and I hope that the noise didn't spoil your enjoyment of the music.
GIGANTISCH
Thanks for listening and for your comment Alfred.
Insane
Thanks for listening Luca, I'm glad that you like it.
Look at Enrique Caruso's face if I was a gangster wouldn't bother him, I would give him versus respect
I guess this is like comparing Premier League (England) football from recently to Top-Flight football from years ago? Forgive me if I'm wrong....
Thanks for listening and for your comment Ron. I'm no expert in the technical aspects of singing (or football for that matter) but in spite of the very poor audio quality of this recording, to my ears, Caruso's voice and interpretation out shines any modern day tenor.
Caruso fué un tenor de gran técnica, pero tenia un canto muy afectado y abusaba del portamento. Para mi han existido tenores de su misma época que me gustaban mas. Bajo mi punto de vista, demasiado mitificado por las peliculas que hirieron en su dia.
Thank you for listening, I'm sorry that you didn't enjoy the video.
@@michaelmcgrailenglandPor supuesto que lo he disfrutado. Muchas gracias por mejorar el sonido. Además esta pieza me encanta y Caruso tenía una voz excepcional, pero hay otros tenores que me gustan más. Un abrazo
@@Mariano-ge6de I misunderstood Mariano, I'm very pleased that you did enjoy the video , we all have our favourites of course.
Thanks again for listening, best wishes for the new year from Yorkshire, England
@@michaelmcgrailenglandLe deseo también mis mejores deseos. Un abrazo desde Sevilla.
I won’t give up trying to like him, but I can’t seem to appreciate Caruso like the cognoscenti say I should. I’m sure this has a lot to do with the quality of the recordings from that time (even though this is the best I’ve heard), but his vibrato seems uncontrolled and inconsistent, his tone isn’t that remarkable and his voice just isn’t all that beautiful. To me, his voice isn’t half as enjoyable to listen to as a Franco Corelli, Bjorling, or a young Pavarotti.
Thanks for listening and for your comment Mike.
I certainly agree with you about the quality of the recordings from those far away days and unfortunately, without adding new orchestras and so on, which to my mind completely ruins them, there is only so much that can be done to give them a more modern sound. They do sound old fashioned but they were recorded completely mechanically without microphones and other electrical equipment and of course the accompaniment was by a very small group of musicians.
As to Caruso's voice, I love it, but we all see and hear beauty differently and appreciate different things. It would be a boring world if we all liked the same things.
However, please don't give up trying to like Caruso and I won't give up trying to get the best out of the old recordings, but I'm 78 now so I I had better not waste too much time!!!
@@michaelmcgrailengland You should try attending the CARUSO MUSEUM ( in Brooklyn NY ) The founder Aldo Mancuso. who's 90 yrs old has all Carusos collectibles & used to know Michael Sisca ( he died around 30 years ago ) He saw Caruso sing live as a boy. He said that the power & beauty of his voice was totally Unmatched by any singer who preceded him including the 3 Tenors! These people including 90% of the experts including Pavarotti Agree hes the Greatest of all the Greats! Try getting a.copy of A&Es Biography on ENRICO CARUSO or get in touch with me if youd like
@@stevecasucci9679 Thanks for listening and for your message Steve. I'm sure that the Caruso Museum is wonderful but I'm in England (Yorkshire) and although I'm 78 years of age the furthest that I have traveled is to Ireland so, unfortunately Brooklyn is a step too far!!
It's nice to hear of someone who actually heard Enrico sing confirm his greatness. The "three tenors" were very good in their way and helped to popularize operatic style singing but, to my mind are no match for some of the great singers of the past, particularly my three personal favourites ,Caruso, McCormack and Bjorling.
I try not to put one of them at the top because they were each great in their own way, as were others of that period. Caruso and McCormack were good friends and when the impresario Charles Wagner agreed to take on Jussi Bjorling he said that he was doing so because Jussi's voice had the best qualities of Caruso and McCormack, so actually my three favourites all had something in common and, of course, McCormack and Bjorling regarded Caruso as the best.
I have Dorothy Caruso's biography of Enrico and also Frances Robinson's "Caruso his life in pictures" but I haven't heard before of the one that you mentioned. Could you give me some further details?
@@michaelmcgrailengland Yes & thanks for your interest. You can probably Goggle search A & E. Biography on " Enrico Caruso " There's a short clip of Aldo talking.about Caruso in the Caruso Museum You have to understand that he sang before the microphone was invented in 1925. He died in 1921 so we will never truly know what he sounded like Live. However what made him great is the whole new standard he started which ended the old " Bel Conto " style. He also made the recording industry take off as he was the first Blockbuster! ( Elvis was second as the king of Rock & The Beatles third with the British Invasion ) It's also a fact that Caruso was the most powerful as Pavarotti stated & the truest of the true. He made grown men cry as his acting ability was the best! The best way to hear his actual acoustic voice is on the Gramophone which was only about 40% of what he sounded live! He could sing Baritone to a Tenor high C. Without strain. Bjorn had a similar style but not as powerful. Gilgi had a higher sweet sound but he was no Caruso. Mario Lanza could have been great but died young as a Hollywood actor who inspired Pavarotti & Domingo & Other greats when he made the 1951 movie " The great Caruso "
@@stevecasucci9679 Thanks for your message Steve but I think things may have got confused. Your original message was addressed to me but I wonder if it was meant for Mike De Leso who said that he didn't like Caruso.
I'm Michael McGrail who restored this recording and uploaded the video to TH-cam. I've loved Caruso since I first heard him about 60 years ago and have all his recordings.