Rare Opera RED G&T ANTONIO SCOTTI Messaline (de Lara) O nuit d amour 2-2706 1902
£
34
$
45
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Description
Buy this 1902 operatic rarity,
and help rescue BADGERS, and other wildlife!
We'll be selling LOTS MORE lovely 78 rpm RARE operatic
and classical-vocal items soon, so keep an eye on our listings.
Don't forget!
If you buy MORE THAN ONE ITEM we will offer you
a HUGE POSTAGE DISCOUNT!
Here we have Antonio Scotti, the mighty Naples-born baritone on his very first record made for The Gramophone And Typewriter Company G&T in London in 1902. (He had made Bettini cylinders in New York three years previously, but this was his first ever recording made at his first proper session).
Naturally, as you'd expect, there is the usual wobbly PIANO ACCOMPANIMENT, and Scotti gives a fine assured performance of an unusual item.
It's on Mx 2019b (although it looks like 2019 nB on this copy). The song is from Messaline by de Lara* and it's O nuit d'amour on a lovely Red G&T 2-2706. (*We thought de Lara was a Trinidadian cricketing God. Well, you live and learn.) It's a lovely clean copy of a startlingly rare and often expensive item. The surface has the "dimpled" effect and "satin sheen" seen on many discs of this immense age. It plays well OK, and the surface is remarkably quiet. The label, sadly, has lost some of its gold lettering, and somehow the recording angel has been lost, too. We always think that he looks a bit like a young Boris Johnson, so maybe a militant leftie has lightly scraped him off at some time in the last 122 years. So far so good... The bad news is that there's a tiny pinprick on the playing surface about halfway through. We think this may be a burst blister on the original pressing. We've just carefully played the record for you, and on our top-of-the-range acoustic HMV wind-up (a mahogany 163, since you asked) it sailed through beautifully with one or two very insignificant light clicks. On our ludicrously expensive transcription turntable it played through OK as well. The "dimples" which can sometimes trouble hifi pickup arms presented no problems and it sounded excellent, with no sign of the expected noisy start etc. The "pinprick" made a couple of light audible clicks, then a biggish clonk, and then another light click or two. Really, it isn't a problem, especially if you plan to play the record on an acoustic instrument.And of course, it's usually a frighteningly expensive rare record.
We rate it (using the VJM how-long-is-a-piece-of-string system) as a very nice V++ or better, but remember that pinprick! It has, at some time in the last 122 years been played with a light wax treatment (good news, because that means fibre needles!). We haven't de-waxed it. It's very light and you can give it a quick wipe with Cillit Bang if you really want to. Buy now, before the balloon goes up.
NO OVERSEAS bidders please.
And NO OVERSEAS bidders using UK addresses please.
SORRY, NO BUYER COLLECT...but.. if you buy MORE THAN ONE RECORD we will give you a HUGE discount on POSTAGE!
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