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. the man the others learned from 5 loveoldaudio 2006-04-28 01:49:57 2006-04-28 01:49:57 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. John McCormack 5 Hibernia 2006-10-28 21:21:54 2006-10-28 21:21:54 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. John McCormack 5 Hibernia 2006-10-28 21:23:44 2006-10-28 21:23:44 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. Perfection 5 Hibernia 2006-10-28 21:31:45 2006-10-28 21:31:45 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. Perfection 5 Hibernia 2006-10-28 21:33:37 2006-10-28 21:33:37 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) Macushla 5 Hay Machine (e) 2006-11-07 12:05:30 2006-11-07 12:05:30 John McCormack was one of the greatest tenors. His voice,technique,sensitivity,and interpretation are brilliant.His recordings are a testament to his greatness. John McCormack stands the test of time ERD. 2007-03-17 18:12:08 2007-03-17 18:12:08 5 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. One Of The Best Hibernia 2007-06-12 23:03:16 2007-06-12 23:03:16 5 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! The Classic Irish Tenor surfvh 2007-10-15 06:48:33 2007-10-15 06:48:33 5 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) Audio Track 17 uttini1813 2008-08-24 21:23:26 2008-08-24 21:23:26 5 It seems to be HAENDEL-O sleep, why do'st thou leave me? AudioTrack20 Didier75 2009-01-26 22:29:52 2009-01-26 22:29:52 3 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. Improved track list? O'DBOL 2009-11-13 03:31:36 2009-11-13 03:31:36 5 12 4.83