This volume of the Naxos McCormack edition charts a chronological survey of
recordings made in Camden, New Jersey, between April 1920 and September 1923.
Two outstanding examples of the great tenor’s art are here; the famous recording of
Handel’s O Sleep! Why Dost Thou Leave Me? – a miracle of breath control and tonal
beauty – and Schumann’s The Singer’s Consolation, an outstanding contribution
to Lieder on record. There are four collaborations with Fritz Kreisler, some superb
examples of popular songs, inimitably sung, and the bonus of three recordings
that were never published n the singer’s lifetime, two of which, Rachmaninov’s To
the Children and Merikanto’s A Fairy Story By The Fire are now made available
commercially for the first time.

This is the only chronological survey of John McCormack’s recordings on the market.
He was one of the great tenors of the twentieth century, and is still hugely popular, as
the single recital discs on the market show – Pearl has a series devoted to ‘American
Song’, EMI included him in their Great Recordings of the Century series, Symposium
has a series of single discs, and so does Nimbus (Opera, Song, With Kreisler). But
with state-of-the-art transfers and a