Plançon was a popular and polished singer. His beautiful basse chantante had been admirably schooled, and his style was extremely elegant. His flawless trills and rapid scales as well as his cantabile and pure legato are exemplary.
Pol Plançon studied with Duprez, the greatest living teacher of diction at the time, and Sbriglia. He made his debut at Lyons in 1877 and first sang at the Paris Opéra in 1883 as Gounod’s Mephistofélès. In his ten seasons at Paris, he took part in the premieres of Massenet’s Le Cid and Saint-Saëns’ Ascanio. He appeared at Covent Garden for 14 consecutive seasons (1891-1904). His Met debut was in 1893, and he returned as leading bass for the 12 following seasons, bidding the house farewell in 1908.
Plançon was a popular and polished singer. His beautiful basse chantante had been admirably schooled, and his style was extremely elegant. His flawless trills and rapid scales as well as his cantabile and pure legato are exemplary.
This recording is a bit worn, and when Plançon sings forte, the sound is quite distorted. This is a digital recording of the Victor record playing on a Victor XI (acoustic), which I find produces less distortion on the old records than does a modern turntable.
