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John McCormackCollected Works of John McCormack

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Reviewer: O'DBOL - - November 13, 2009
Subject: Improved track list?
Ooooh. Music to die for.

As far as I checked, the items with same or similar titles are in fact from the same original recording.

Someone could do a great service by entering a proper track list, and comparing the different renderings.

"Audio Track 17" is "Il mio tesoro." "Audio Track 20" is Handel's "Oh sleep, why dost thou leave me?" I didn't recognize "Audio Track 16." All the rest seemed to have essentially correct titles, but I would still treasure an authoritative list of sources.

Back to the music: the beautiful ease across the whole range is delightful. There seems to be less dynamic range than he probably put into a live performance. Does anyone know enough about the technical details of the recordings to illuminate? I suspect that he deliberately flattened the dynamics in the performance to match the limits of the equipment. Even if it were done out of technical necessity, there's a special beauty to hearing such an even dynamic across the whole range, while all the feeling that we need is carried by timbre and phrasing.

Reviewer: Didier75 - - January 26, 2009
Subject: AudioTrack20
It seems to be
HAENDEL-O sleep, why do'st thou leave me?

Reviewer: uttini1813 - - August 24, 2008
Subject: Audio Track 17
This track is the aria "Il Mio Tesoro" from Mozart's opera Don Giovanni. For grace, flexibility, clarity of text, and musical exactness it may be the greatest performance of the aria ever captured. It certainly is the peak of McCormack's art.
What a fortunate era: the dawn of recording and the coexistance of Enrico Caruso and John McCormack and their decision to base their performing careers in the US and be a source of pride to the Itlain and Irish immigrants who were building this country. (And McCormack outlived Caruso so was able to add much to his recorded legacy)

Reviewer: surfvh - - October 15, 2007
Subject: The Classic Irish Tenor
His rendition of 'Down By The Sally Garden' is a rare treat. You might remember this song from the movie 'Babe' as the song the farmer danced to to revive his pet. No wonder Babe cheered up. I never knew John McCormack existed until I happened to find his collection on archives.org. Thank you archive.org staff for yet another great job in bringing another talent of the past to light to be enjoyed by all of the generations to come. Keep up the good work and don't the nay-sayers of the world stop your important task!

Reviewer: Hibernia - - June 12, 2007
Subject: One Of The Best
McCormack had no peer as an allround singer. Unlike the vast majority of classically trained artists he was the complete master of "crossover".Whether singing opera,lieder,art song or popular songs his technique shone through.His superb breath control,immaculate phrasing and faultless diction made him unique.

Reviewer: ERD. - - March 17, 2007
Subject: John McCormack stands the test of time
John McCormack was one of the greatest tenors.
His voice,technique,sensitivity,and interpretation are brilliant.His recordings are a testament to his greatness.

Reviewer: Hay Machine (e) - - November 7, 2006
Subject: Macushla
Macushla

___________________________

He came as soon as he could
His uneasy manner in the hall gestured
That it might be best to make haste for the patient


The air in the front room was cold and filled with piano gases
The polish of half a century
Its musty unvarnished innards leaking their smells out into the house


He sat himself onto the stool
His ear listening politely to the story so far
His eye sweeping the patient for vital signs


A bag of tools rattled when he reached to let them down
The polished veneer panel creaked and squeaked
As he prised it from its dowelled clamps


Allison London and Nordell Crane Dublin
He scanned the ornamental gold and silver font
He played a ten finger cord and listened
The Air vibrating to the short tin-can overture


He faded into a more intimate laying-on of hands
His bedside manner had filled the cold room with purpose
The warming radiator clicking and ticking like a broken metronome


A sudden deep horn blew five times and twice again then once
The right pedal creaking downwards to sustain the jagged note
Throwing uneven pyramids of sound up into the mid-morning air


The repeating Morse was beginning to sound like a proper staircase
A fitted carpet of melody was hammered softly into all the corners
Followed not long after by a sweet rhyme of running footsteps slowly up and then down


He put back the breastplate
Turning the dark hidden hooks around and down and into their patient clamps


He dipped into the replenished well of the old upright
And pulled on its heartstrings
The finest love song softly first and then
Macushla Macushla your sweet voice is calling
Calling me softly again and again


Hay Machine (e)

Reviewer: Hibernia - - October 28, 2006
Subject: Perfection
What a glorious voice. What a selection of material,from opera to art song,Irish ditties and popular song.It is easy to see why he was the most popular artist of the first three decades of the 20th century,selling more records than the great Caruso.

Reviewer: Hibernia - - October 28, 2006
Subject: Perfection
What a glorious voice. What a selection of material,from opera to art song,Irish ditties and popular song.It is easy to see why he was the most popular artist of the first three decades of the 20th century,selling more records than the great Caruso.

Reviewer: Hibernia - - October 28, 2006
Subject: John McCormack
What a glorious voice. what a wide selection of material,from opera to art song to popular melodies.It is easy to see why he was the most popular artist of the first three decades of the 20th century,selling more records than Caruso.

Reviewer: Hibernia - - October 28, 2006
Subject: John McCormack
What a glorious voice. what a wide selection of material,from opera to art song to popular melodies.It is easy to see why he was the most popular artist of the first three decades of the 20th century,selling more records than Caruso.

Reviewer: loveoldaudio - - April 28, 2006
Subject: the man the others learned from
I'm only discovering the greatness that was John McCormack's voice. The great tenors since--Secombe, Tynan, etc., well, this was their professor at long range. Hearing him do "Because," and "I'm Falling in love with Some One," is particularly striking to me. both of those were done in the '40s by Nelson Eddy, the great baritone, and I was raised on his records--those and countless others. but McCormack's renderings of those great songs take them to new heights for me. i've missed the boat where this man is concerned, until now.