The first two CDs show tunes (and a few duets) famous Italian and French repertory: Verdi arias (Aida, Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, Un Ballo in Maschera, Messa di Requiem), Puccini (La Bohème, Tosca La Fanciulla del West, Turandot), Giordano (Andrea Chénier, Fedora), Leoncavallo (Pagliacci), Donizetti (L'elisir d'amore), Mascagni (Cavalleria Rusticana), Ponchielli (La Gioconda), Cilea (The Arlesiana) Meyerbeer (The African), Massenet (Manon), Bizet (Carmen, The Pearl Fishers), Gounod (Faust, Romeo and Juliet), Flotow (Martha), Rossini (Stabat Mater), Godard (Jocelyn) and some tunes and songs of Tosti (Ideale, L'alba dalla luce the separa ombra), di Capua (O Sole Mio), Leoncavallo (Mattinata) Friml (The Vagabond King), Geehl (For You Alone), the captured all between 1936 and 1941 (cd1) and between 1941 and 1950 (cd2).
The third CD is a series of recordings made between 1929 and 1938, originally for EMI Sweden, and therefore sung in Swedish. It will include phonebook tunes (some present on the first two CDs) in a version with undeniable artistic value as well sometimes exotic accents (Björling at 18!): Geehl, Leoncavallo, Gounod, Verdi, Puccini , Mascagni, but Rimsky-Korsakov (Sadko), Borodin (Prince Igor), Offenbach, Johann Strauss, and a collection of various origins tunes of Viennese operetta Nordic folklore (which we include Land välsignade an air Björling brought to his country to the status of second national anthem).
The fourth CD offers songs and lieder captured between 1939 and 1959. Nice first curiosities like Adelaide and two of Beethoven lieder by Richard Strauss (Morgen, Cäcilie). Then a rather eclectic collection of various songs, accompanied sometimes by a piano sometimes by an orchestra (sometimes too syrupy, btw), alternating between Swedish and American songs with other directory rather usually associated to Mario Lanza, and some arrangements of a sometimes questionable taste (Rachmaninov in English!). Although some pieces stand out (the unsung Gustaf Nordqvist, or a rare song by Sibelius), we must admit that listening to this disc in one go gives a rather indigestible print, notwithstanding the beauty of the tenor timbre Swedish.
The fifth CD resumes meanwhile as generous selection of extracts from three large catalog of integrals: Leoncavallo's Pagliacci (1953, directed by Renato Cellini), Puccini's La Bohème (1956, another timeless classic, with Sir Thomas Beecham) and Puccini's Madama Butterlfy (1959, directed this time by Gabriele Santini), all such accompanied Victoria de los Angeles.
Warm lyric tenor with a velvety timbre, sunny and bright, with outstanding treble, Jussi Björling has established itself as one of the greatest voices of the twentieth century. Despite some inequalities (CD4) betraying perhaps a bit hasty packaging, this package offers a beautiful range of the art of singing this great voice from the north.
