Disc One - Verdi Arias
1 UN BALLO IN MASCHERA, Verdi, Alzati! là tuo figlio ... Eri tu 6.29
Metropolitan Orchestra, Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor
Rec: 9 January 1955 Victor LP LM 1911
2 IL TROVATORE, Verdi, Il balen ... Qual suono!...Per me ora fatale 7.26
RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Nicolai Moscona and The Robert Shaw Chorale
Rec: 11 March 1952 Victor LP LM 6008
3 SIMON BOCCANEGRA, Verdi, Dinne, perche in ques’eremo ... Figlia! a tal nome palpito 9.39
RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Astrid Varnay
Rec: 4 February 1950 Victor LP WDM 1426
4 RIGOLETTO, Verdi, Pari siamo 3.34
RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor
Rec: 25 May 1950 Victor LP LM 6101
5 RIGOLETTO, Verdi, Povero Rigoletto ... Cortigiani, vil razza dannata 7.41
RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with The Robert Shaw Chorale
Rec: 25 May/6 April 1950 Victor LP LM 6101
6 LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Verdi, Solenne in quest’ora 3.56
RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Jan Peerce
Rec: 7 April 1955 Victor LP LM 1916
7 LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Verdi, Morir! tremenda cosa ... urna fatale 7.31
RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Raymond Keast
Rec: 16 February 1950 Victor LP LM 1916
8 LA FORZA DEL DESTINO, Verdi, Invano, Alvaro ... Ah! una suora mi lasciasti 8.53
RCA Victor Orchestra, Renato Cellini, conductor, with Jan Peerce
Rec: 7 April 1955 Victor LP LM 1916
9 AIDA, Verdi, Ciel! mio padre ... Rivedrai le forester imbalsamate 8.24
with Zinka Milanov. Rome Opera House Orchestra, Jonel Perlea, conductor
Rec: 4 July 1955 Victor LP LM 6122
10 OTELLO, Verdi, Credo in un Dio crudel 4.45
Rome Opera House Orchestra, Vincenzo Bellezza, conductor
Rec: 4 July 1955 Victor LP LM 1932
1 OTELLO, Verdi, Era la notte 3.36
RCA Victor Orchestra, Jonel Perlea, conductor
Rec: 3 March 1955 Victor LP LM 1932
2 FALSTAFF, Verdi, È sogno? O realtà? 4.22
Rome Opera House Orchestra, Vincenzo Bellezza, conductor
Rec: 4 July 1955 Victor LP LM 1932
Disc Two
Sea Shanties
1 Blow the Man Down 2.18
2 The Drummer and the Cook 2.17
3 Haul-A-Way, Joe 2.55
4 The Drunken Sailor 2.38
5 A-Rovin’ 2.54
6 Low Lands 3.25
7 Shenandoah 3.43
8 Rio Grande 2.42
The Robert Shaw Chorale & Orchestra, Robert Shaw, conductor
Rec: 8 & 9 July 1947 Victor LP Catalogue Number: LM 1168
Rolling Down to Rio - songs of Kipling, arrangements by Frank Black
9 On the Road to Mandalay, Speaks 3.38
10 Rolling Down to Rio, German 2.16
11 Gunga Din, Spross 5.26
12 Recessional, DeKoven 4.39
13 Danny Deever, Damrosch 5.09
14 Boots, McCall 3.05
15 Mother O’Mine, Tours 2.39
16 Smuggler’s Song, Kernochan 3.03
RCA Victor Orchestra, Frank Black, conductor
Rec: 2 & 5 October 1951 Victor LP Catalogue Number LM 147
Songs for Everyone
10 America the Beautiful, Ward 3.14
11 Love’s Old Sweet Song, Molloy 3.29
12 Mother Machree, Olcott 2.23
13 A Little Bit of Heaven, Ball 3.27
14 Home on the Range, Guion 3.48
15 Ol’ Man River (from Show Boat), Kern 3.30
16 Battle Hymn of the Republic, Steffe 3.39
RCA Victor Orchestra, Frank Black, conductor
Rec: 26 & 28 September 1950 Original Victor LP Catalogue Number LM 94
"Leonard Warren was the great Verdi baritone of our times ... Lord Byron said of the fabled Shakespearean actor Edmund Kean that seeing him was one of the great consolations, and that was Leonard Warren’ Tony Randall, from the foreword to the biography by Mary Jane Phillips-Matz.
What ever subjective effect the voice of Leonard Warren had or has on the listener, whether live or on record, there can be no doubt that in his era, like Lawrence Tibbett his immediate predecessor, Warren occupied a special place in the pantheon of American opera singers. In spite of serious competition from other great baritone voices active then, such as Francesco Valentino, Richard Bonelli, Robert Weede, Igor Gorin, Robert Merrill and Donald Dixon, Warren was to the opera going public at the Metropolitan Opera, New York ‘the King’.
