FEODOR CHALIAPIN: “Prima Voce.” Various orchestras, conductors...

FEODOR CHALIAPIN: “Prima Voce.” Various orchestras, conductors and pianists. Nimbus NI 7823/4 (two CDs). The legend lives on, although this fascinating, massively motley collection of arias and songs seldom justifies Chaliapin’s historic reputation. The earliest selections, made in 1911 when the Russian basso was 38, reveal a rough and reedy voice used with much imagination and dubious artistry. The latest, from 1936, when he was 63, document a once-noble instrument defiled by decades of abuse. One cannot deny the effect of Chaliapin’s fierce theatricality, but it is hard to condone the musical, verbal and stylistic liberties--call them distortions--he so blithely imposes on Verdi, Rimsky-Korsakov, Mussorgsky, Borodin, Mozart (!), Glinka, Puccini, Massenet, et al. No doubt, one had to see him.