Count John McCormack-The Final Recordings
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Composer or Director: Thomas Moore, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Haydn Wood, Irving Berlin, Ralph Vaughan Williams, (Count) John McCormack, Johann Sebastian Bach, Arthur A Penn, (Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Hugh S Roberton, Maude Valerie White, Ellen Wright, Alan Murray, Herbert Hughes, Arthur Somervell, Charles Villiers Stanford, (Henry Louis) Reginald De Koven, Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Carl Götze, Kenneth Leslie-Smith, Gerry Mason, Anton (Grigor'yevich) Rubinstein, James Lynam Molloy, Arthur Goring Thomas, Jacques Wolfe, Anna Case, Lilian Ray, Siegfried Ochs, Montague F(awcett) Phillips, Frederick Keel, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Walter Battison Haynes, Gerald Friedmann Carne, Traditional
Label: Pearl
Magazine Review Date: 2/1996
Media Format: CD or Download
Media Runtime: 139
Mastering:
Mono
ADD
Catalogue Number: GEMMCDS9188
Tracks:
| Composition | Artist Credit |
|---|---|
| God keep you is my prayer |
Lilian Ray, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Lilian Ray, Composer |
| At the mid hour of night |
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer
Charles Villiers Stanford, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| (A) Cycle of Love Songs |
Ellen Wright, Composer
Ellen Wright, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| Down by the Salley Gardens |
Herbert Hughes, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Herbert Hughes, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| She rested by the broken brook |
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Composer |
| Cantata No. 4, 'Christ lag in Todesbanden', Movement: Jesus Christus, Gottes Sohn (T) |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| Cantata No. 147, 'Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben', Movement: Choral: Jesu bleibet meine Freude (Jesu, joy of man's desiring) |
Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Johann Sebastian Bach, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| (The) House of Life, Movement: No. 2, Silent Noon |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| (A) Shropshire Lad, Movement: Loveliest of trees |
Arthur Somervell, Composer
Arthur Somervell, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| (A) Shropshire Lad, Movement: The street sounds to the soldiers' tread |
Arthur Somervell, Composer
Arthur Somervell, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| (A) Shropshire Lad, Movement: White in the moon the long road lies |
Arthur Somervell, Composer
Arthur Somervell, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| (The) Dawn will break |
Haydn Wood, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Haydn Wood, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| (The) Village that nobody knows |
Haydn Wood, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Haydn Wood, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| Dank sei dir, Herr |
Siegfried Ochs, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Siegfried Ochs, Composer |
| Linden Lea |
Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Ralph Vaughan Williams, Composer |
| (The) White peace |
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer
Arnold (Edward Trevor) Bax, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| Little boats |
Herbert Hughes, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Herbert Hughes, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| She moved through the fair |
Herbert Hughes, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Herbert Hughes, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| No, not more welcome |
Herbert Hughes, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Herbert Hughes, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| (The) Green bushes |
Frederick Keel, Composer
Frederick Keel, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| Bantry Bay |
James Lynam Molloy, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano James Lynam Molloy, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| Maureen |
Hugh S Roberton, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Hugh S Roberton, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| Our finest hour |
(Count) John McCormack, Composer
(Count) John McCormack, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| Smilin' through |
Arthur A Penn, Composer
Arthur A Penn, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| (The) Devout Lover |
Maude Valerie White, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Maude Valerie White, Composer |
| Robin Hood, Movement: O Promise Me |
(Henry Louis) Reginald De Koven, Composer
(Henry Louis) Reginald De Koven, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| (A) Rose still blooms in Picardy |
Haydn Wood, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Haydn Wood, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| Jerusalem |
(Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Composer
(Charles) Hubert (Hastings) Parry, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| Will you go with me |
Alan Murray, Composer
Alan Murray, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| Night hymn at sea |
Arthur Goring Thomas, Composer
Arthur Goring Thomas, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Maggie Teyte, Soprano |
| Still wie die Nacht |
Carl Götze, Composer
Carl Götze, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Maggie Teyte, Soprano |
| Off to Philadelphia |
Walter Battison Haynes, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Walter Battison Haynes, Composer |
| (6) Soirées de Saint-Pétersbourg, Movement: No. 1, Romance in E flat |
Anton (Grigor'yevich) Rubinstein, Composer
Anton (Grigor'yevich) Rubinstein, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| Here in the quiet hills |
Gerald Friedmann Carne, Composer
Gerald Friedmann Carne, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| God Bless America |
Irving Berlin, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Irving Berlin, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| Battle Hymn of the Republic |
Traditional, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Traditional, Composer |
| I'll walk beside you |
Alan Murray, Composer
Alan Murray, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| By the lakes of Killarney |
Anna Case, Composer
Anna Case, Composer Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor |
| Irish Melodies, Movement: UNSPECIFIED VOLUMES: |
Thomas Moore, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Thomas Moore, Composer |
| Children's prayer in wartime |
Jacques Wolfe, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Jacques Wolfe, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| One love forever |
Kenneth Leslie-Smith, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Kenneth Leslie-Smith, Composer |
| Say a little prayer |
Gerry Mason, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano Gerry Mason, Composer John McCormack, Tenor |
| Ave verum corpus |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| An Chloe |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Composer |
| Waiting for you |
Montague F(awcett) Phillips, Composer
Gerald Moore, Piano John McCormack, Tenor Montague F(awcett) Phillips, Composer |
Author:
Count John McCormack, who died in September 1945, gave his farewell recital at the Royal Albert Hall, London in 1938, but the war brought him out of retirement to sing to the troops, broadcast to the nation and make records that would help cheer the dark days. The year 1941, when the majority of these songs were recorded, had its full quota. Brian Fawcett-Johnston’s insert-notes recall that November 6th, on which McCormack made his recording of Parry’s Jerusalem, was nominated by A. J. P. Taylor “the worst day of the Second World War”. It is in this context that the records collected here should be judged. They were issued on the celebrity red label, but McCormack’s intention was to reach as wide an audience as he could. If Haydn Wood’s A rose still blooms in Picardy (also recorded on the 6th) and Wolfe’s A Children’s Prayer in Wartime (“though there be death within the sky”) touched the heart of ‘ordinary people’, then they were doing something useful; if Our finest Hour (McCormack) and God bless America (Berlin) caught the spirit of the times then they were right for their time. The great thing was to do them well, to get the words across clearly, to feel what there was for feeling, with the sincerity that would neither exploit simple emotions nor inflate simple music; and for this task McCormack was the man. As Gerald Moore put it: “He gave to those Irish and sentimental ballads the same flawless technique and sincerity that he brought to bear on Mozart’s ‘Il mio tesoro’”; and, as Ernest Newman said, he was “so perfect in small things because he was steeped in greater ones”.
Such ‘great ones’ as are to be found in these late recordings (a couple of Bach arrangements, three minutes of dubious Handel, a version of Mozart’s Ave verum corpus that sounds uncomfortably akin in genre to Mason’s Say a little prayer which has just preceded it) cannot be said to contribute its main attractions. It is a pleasure to find Vaughan Williams’s Silent noon, Bax’s The White Peace and even Somervell’s Housman settings, musically complacent as they are, but the real business is Haynes’s arrangement of Off to Philadelphia and Hughes’s of She moved through the fair: essence of McCormack in these. Among the items unpublished in their time are some claimed as first releases, one of them (No, not more welcome, an Irish air arranged by Herbert Hughes) especially vivid as a recording of the voice. Both duets with Dame Maggie Teyte are there (Goring Thomas’s Night Hymn at Sea and Gotze’s arrangement of Still as the night), the former being badly balanced and the (unique?) copy not in very good condition. Another ‘first’ comes from a broadcast in 1942 at the home of the actress Dame Irene Vanbrugh, whose birthday is decorously celebrated and where McCormack sings Somervell’s arrangement of The gentle maiden and I’ll walk beside you (Murray), Gerald Moore having been conveniently discovered among the guests.
Moore’s part in this whole sequence of recordings is as remarkable as anything: he lends distinction to even the most banal of accompaniments and seems to know exactly what McCormack is going to do, even though (as he says in his memoirs – London: 1962) he rarely did the same thing twice running and rehearsal was considered a waste of time. McCormack had, of course, to ‘manage’ what remained of his voice, as he did with consummate skill. Range and volume were very limited, but what impresses in these late recordings is the mellowness of tone, and the transfers faithfully preserve it. One other remark of Moore’s deserves noting: “his bon-bons always came at the end of the evening”. These are all (or nearly all) ‘bon-bons’, best played no more than three or four at a time and kept till last.'
Such ‘great ones’ as are to be found in these late recordings (a couple of Bach arrangements, three minutes of dubious Handel, a version of Mozart’s Ave verum corpus that sounds uncomfortably akin in genre to Mason’s Say a little prayer which has just preceded it) cannot be said to contribute its main attractions. It is a pleasure to find Vaughan Williams’s Silent noon, Bax’s The White Peace and even Somervell’s Housman settings, musically complacent as they are, but the real business is Haynes’s arrangement of Off to Philadelphia and Hughes’s of She moved through the fair: essence of McCormack in these. Among the items unpublished in their time are some claimed as first releases, one of them (
Moore’s part in this whole sequence of recordings is as remarkable as anything: he lends distinction to even the most banal of accompaniments and seems to know exactly what McCormack is going to do, even though (as he says in his memoirs – London: 1962) he rarely did the same thing twice running and rehearsal was considered a waste of time. McCormack had, of course, to ‘manage’ what remained of his voice, as he did with consummate skill. Range and volume were very limited, but what impresses in these late recordings is the mellowness of tone, and the transfers faithfully preserve it. One other remark of Moore’s deserves noting: “his bon-bons always came at the end of the evening”. These are all (or nearly all) ‘bon-bons’, best played no more than three or four at a time and kept till last.'
Count John McCormack-The Final Recordings
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