Siepi and London on Broadway

This recording will make you smile. Two of the most accomplished opera singers of the twentieth century turn their attention to some of the best known songs from Broadway musicals, and the effect is Wunderbar!

Cesare Siepi was a prolific recording artist on 78rpm records before making a number of outstanding LP sets for Decca. His voice was a classic basso cantante - a singing or lyric bass with good upper reach. Being more than six feet tall and with handsome physique, he cut an impressive figure on stage. He brought a dignity to everything he performed. He was a lover of Cole Porter songs and, as can be heard on this recording, enunciated them without a trace of an Italian accent. The lines are delivered with directness and warmth, and with a welcome absence of sentimentality. His tone is dark, smooth and rich, and his style is subtle and elegant.

George London began his singing studies in Los Angeles and, by the 1940s was touring with a trio that included Frances Yeend and Mario Lanza. The Bel Canto Trio performed 86 concerts of operatic arias and ensembles throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico between July 1947 and May 1948. The Broadway songs recorded by London in 1957 reveal a singer willing to explore unusual (for an operatic bass-baritone) material, and to invest in it a rich, powerful voice, a subtle array of vocal colours and sensitivity to the character of each piece.

Both LPs were recorded with the Roland Shaw Orchestra, a light music orchestra active in the 1950s. Shaw became an arranger and record producer for Decca Records with his orchestra recording for Decca and its Phase 4 series.