I have had very little time to prepare posts for several weeks, so I am most grateful to my friend Joe Serraglio for this notable contribution. It is the 1952 recording of Arthur Honegger's dramatic oratorio Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher from the Philadelphia Orchestra and Eugene Ormandy with Vera Zorina in the title role.
The oratorio is on texts by Paul Claudel, much of which is declaimed by Zorina and Raymond Gerome. For that reason, Joe's inclusion of the complete libretto is particularly welcome.
The recording of this 1935 work was made by American Columbia in the Academy of Music in November 1952. Joe's transfer is from the 1953 Philips pressing.
Below we have Ormandy during the recording session with Gerome and Zorina, who incidentally was the wife of Columbia president Goddard Lieberson and made occasional appearances in dramatic roles on record. She also can be heard in works by Stravinsky, Debussy, Hindemith, Milhaud and Walton. Zorina started off as a ballerina, but I first remember her emerging from a reflecting pool during the course of the Ritz Brothers movie vehicle, Goldwyn Follies, which also featured Adolf Menjou, Kenny Baker, Edgar Bergen and a score by the Gershwin brothers. (Or did I dream that?)
Thanks to Joe once again for his generosity!
