John McCormack tenor
Further Scottish dates to be confirmed.
John McCormack only sang opera up to 1913, thereafter concentrating on concerts and recitals. This may well be why his voice retained its freshness and sweetness of tone throughout his career. He was always hugely popular, selling a large number of records. As is the case with the Dundee critic below, he was frequently criticised on grounds of taste - everything he sang was delivered with great sincerity, but some reviewers wanted him to include a more serious level of repertoire.
John McCormack tenor
Lauri Kennedy cello
Edwin Schneider accompanist
The Preview
Dundee Courier & Advertiser: Monday, 21 February 1927
John McCormack's Dundee Visit
'There have been few more romantic careers in the history of music than that of Mr John McCormack, world-famous tenor, who is due to appear at the Caird Hall, Du to-night.
'Still on the right side of forty, McCormack is now at the zenith of his powers, and he has achieved for himself a name second only to Caruso.
'Numerous stories are told of his early struggles in London - how he sang for fees ranging from one guinea in cafés and elsewhere; how he was rejected for the leading tenor role in The Merry Widow, and how, subsequently, he drew all musical London to his feet with Madame Tetrazzini in Covent Garden.
'McCormack has just returned from a tour in the Orient, where his success was as great as he has yet achieved. In Japan and elsewhere he was accorded unprecedented honours, and scenes of extraordinary enthusiasm marked his concert appearances.'
The Dundee Performance
Dundee Courier & Advertiser: Tuesday, 22 February 1927
John McCormack's Singing - A Dundee Musical Treat
'The bright particular star of last night's Celebrity Concert in Dundee was Mr John McCormack, and the largest audience of the season turned out to hear him.
'It was evident also from the tremendous enthusiasm at the close of the recital that they were by no means disappointed in their singer, who regaled them with a programme ranging from the old Italian works of Peri and Vinci to Quilter and Herbert Hughes, and which rapidly descended by way of many encores to the ''Last Rose of Summer'' and ''Just a Song at Twilight.''
'Mr McCormack is a born singer. The trouble is that he doesn't seem to mind what he sings. His versatility would be very disconcerting were it not redeemed by the obvious sincerity of all his work and its consummate artistry.
'The voice is one of singular charm and sweetness, a precious and delicate instrument that is played upon by its owner with an infinite subtlety and masterly skill.
'His tone was a little veiled in his first two songs, formal arias in the true Italian style. Peri's ''Gioite al Canto Mio,'' and Vinci's ''Sentirsi il petto accendere,'' but he gave us some lovely legato singing in the former, and exquisite phrasing and fluency in the more sprightly Vinci air.
'These two songs also served to introduce us to one of Mr McCormack's most striking qualities, his marvellous diction. No other singer can approach him in this respect, though he has to a marked degree the very prevalent mannerism (or trick of the trade, whatever it might be) of splitting up a single vowel by means of a aitch for each note to which it is sung.
'In the second group we had a dignified rendering of Franck's ''La Procession''; a vividly intense piece of singing in Bantock's essay in exotic atmosphere, ''Desolation''; a beautiful example of rhythm, inflection, and tonal light and shade in the charming curves of Donaudy's ''Luoghi Sereni e Cari''; and all the quick ecstasy of Elgar's ''Is she not passing fair?''
'A slight little encore to this group gave the singer an opportunity for a display of perfect messa di voce which still lingers in the memory.
'By the time he reached his Irish folk-songs, however, Mr McCormack was giving us of his best. The gentle pathos of ''She moved through the Fair,'' the delightful humour and delicacy of tone in ''The Next Market Day,'' and the beautiful phrasing in a setting of the ''Londonderry Air'' were only excelled by the lyrical fervour of his encore, Mendelssohn's ''On Wings of Song.''
'''Turn Ye to Me'' was treated in a vehemently operatic, and therefore inappropriate, fashion, but Quilter's ''Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal'' was as near perfection as makes no matter. It was sung with a sensuously beautiful half-voice, and was probably the best song of the evening,
'An essay in good old ballad style by the accompanist, Mr Edwin Schneider, was followed by a selection of encores, sung with the utmost feeling by Mr McCormack, who departed from the platform to the accompaniment of cheers and great applause.
'Mr Lauri Kennedy, a 'cellist who has played here more than once before, acquitted himself extremely well in his various solos. He has a pleasing warm tone, an unaffected style, and a very adequate technique.
'The first movement of Haydn's Concerto No2 was played with a nice sense of phrasing and crisp execution, and Granville Bantock's ''Jewish Melody'' had the right dignity and breadth. The muted tone in Brahms' ''Cradle Song'' was not any too good, but that old war-horse of Popper's, the ''Vito'' was extremely well played.
'There was some smooth legato playing and easy phrasing in Van Goens' ''Prelude,'' and Boccherini's ''Rondo'' was brilliantly played, though musically it is wretched stuff.
'Mr Edwin Schneider accompanied exceptionally well, his work throughout the evening being of a high artistic order.'
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