MASCAGNI: “Lodoletta.” Maria Spacagna, Peter Kelen, Karoly...

MASCAGNI: “Lodoletta.” Maria Spacagna, Peter Kelen, Karoly Szilagyi, Laszlo Polgar; Hungarian State Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Charles Rosekrans. Hungaroton 313078 (two CDs). This is minor Mascagni, in the gentle vein of “L’Amico Fritz.” The music is generally pallid and limp, a sad commentary on the composer’s deteriorating melodic invention. Only in the soprano’s briefly soaring “Ah! Il suo nome!” in the last act does the score suggest the composer of “Cavalleria.” Rosekrans seems to get all that’s there from his orchestra and chorus. Spacagna has an ample sounding lyric voice that she uses with limpid beauty and sensitive imagination. The rest of the cast is strictly provincial.

“OLD RUSSIAN ROMANCES.” Natalia Gerasimova, mezzo-soprano; Vladimir Skanavi, pianist. MCA Classics AED 68020 (CD). Most of the songs in this recital were composed during the first half of the 19th Century and many have a folk-song origin. Of the composers credited, only Alabiev and Balakirev might be names known to Westerners. There is a sameness, almost a naivete, to most of the songs, which makes for longueurs if one takes them all in one dose. The whole venture might be more welcome if texts and translations were furnished. As it is, it’s hard to warm up to titles such as “And Rock Pigeon Is Moaning,” “And Baby With a Helmet,” and “Really, I’ll Tell My Mummy,” which read for all the world as if they were taken from an Anna Russell recital. Gerasimova sings well enough in this untaxing repertory, while Skanavi performs his simple chores dutifully.