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Volume 55, number 1

March 2010

In this, the first issue of 2010, we celebrate our 64th anniversary of publication. We are particularly proud to present a major new article on the lovely Icelandic tenor Stefan Islandi. He has always been a special favourite among collectors because of the beautiful, Gigli-like quality of his voice. However, little has been written about his career. We are proud to present a biography which has been written by his daughter Guðrun Islandi Bramsen. This is a loving description of his early activities in his native country, the story of how his talent was spotted at an early age and his good fortune in finding sponsorship to go to Italy to study. It details his debut and his activities during a glorious career of more than a quarter-century. Like the best articles written by a member of a singer's family it gives us much about the character of the man, which is information that is very difficult to obtain from other sources. Yet, Islandi's daughter has also been objective and has detailed his failures as well as his successes. It is as near as an article can get to that elusive term "definitive".

 The article is further enhanced by information from the archives of the Danish Royal Opera. These detail Stefan Islandi's especially illustrious career in Denmark. There is a full discography, compiled by our editor, and an appreciation of the voice and his recordings by that great authority on historical tenors, Alan Bilgora.

The second article is devoted to the amazing French baritone Lucien Fugère. January 2010 marked the 75th anniversary of his death, so it seems appropriate to commemorate the career of this fine singer. His was one of the longest careers on recordings. He was born in 1848 and he made his famous Columbia recordings in 1928 and 1930, when he was nearly 80, and 82, years old. Yet, the voice is in amazing condition. His was one of the most celebrated careers at the Opéra-Comique and he participated in nearly 50 creations. This important article, written by that expert on the opera scene in France and Belgium in the 19th and 20th centuries, Alfred de Cock, lists these important creations and discusses Fugère's famous recording of the aria from Le Maître de Chapelle.

One of the key functions of The Record Collector is to produce discographies. In this March 2010 issue we present an updated discography of the great tenor Bernardo De Muro. The original work, produced 42 years ago in this journal, was exceptional for its time, but it is a tribute to our present-day knowledge that this new discography is much finer and more complete. Paul Steinson, a well-known collector and musician, has produced this new, comprehensive discography and has also given suggested speeds at which the records should be played.

This issue also contains a delightful article on the famous contralto Margaret Matzenauer written by an early opera lover who saw her frequently in performance. He has painted a fascinating picture of the artist and the woman.

There is another in the popular series "Desert Island Discs" (in which readers are invited to describe their eight favourite recordings), letters of interest and the regularly-featured book and CD reviews.

This promises to be one of our most interesting and important issues and an exciting start to our 64th year of publication.

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