PETER DAWSON: THE ESSENTIAL COLLECTION (2 CD)

Peter Dawson was born in Adelaide, Australia in 1882 and had a singing career that lasted almost 60 years, including, incredibly, an entry in the Guinness Book of Records in 1984 as one of the Top Ten singers of all time on disc, alongside such illustrious company as Elvis and Caruso!! He gained worldwide renown through song recitals and his numerous top selling recordings of operatic arias, oratorio solos and rousing manly ballads! Dawson’s instantly recognisable bass-baritone voice with its dark timbre and smooth legato was honed under the tutelage of famed Victorian baritone Sir Charles Santley between 1903-1907. He was given a thorough training in voice production and instilled with a meticulous understanding of the great oratorios, particularly Handel’s Messiah, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Haydn’s The Creation. In the first decade of the new century Dawson regularly attended the Covent Garden theatre where he heard many of the great voices of the era including Titta Ruffo, Pasquale