Sir, - I refer to John Kearns's recent letter regarding his company's album of "Duets" featuring John McCormack, in which he stated that the recordings and legacy of McCormack were treated with the utmost respect and admiration. To take the recordings of an internationally renowned tenor and add on another singer is not treating that tenor with either respect or admiration; it is simply an act of sacrilege to the tenor's memory.
Anyone who had a true respect for McCormack would be aware of the number of duets and other ensembles which McCormack made with eminent singers of his day such as Lucrezia Bori, Emmy Destinn, Nellie Melba, Mario Sammarco and Reinald Werrenrath. McCormack also made a series of duets with Fritz Kreisler, the eminent violinist and personal friend of the singer.
McCormack's recorded legacy is of a man who put heart and soul into every recording, who was respected by the greatest singers of his day, and admired by both critics and public throughout the world for his artistic interpretations of opera, lieder and song. To add on a singer of a different generation who cannot, no matter how hard he may try, interpret music in the manner which was uniquely McCormack's is surely an act of gilding the lily that is entirely inappropriate to the great tenor's memory.
As a long-time admirer of the art of John McCormack who has spent over 40 years collecting and promoting his recordings, I can tell you that McCormack's recorded art is more readily available now than at any time since his death. Over 40 CDs can be purchased today and most of those are of consistently high quality, particularly those issued by Nimbus Records which, through the system used in rerecording, show McCormack at his superb best. Anyone of the present generation who wishes to hear McCormack without extraneous additions can readily do so. - Yours, etc.,
Theo Mortimer, Strand Road, Portmarnock, Co Dublin.