The most sublime/touching/beautiful piece of singing you have ever heard?

[knight66]

I used to think that Scholl was a 'Bach' singer, cerebal and with a chaste tone. Daniels I thought of as a Handel singer, opulant, luscious tone. But I liked Daniels Bach when he finally issued some and I now wonder whether Scholl is in reality a bit dull and worthy.

For sure the two composers need a different approach and that suits some singers better than it suits others.

Mike

[zamyrabyrd]

Handel: As with rosy steps from Theodora: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQlt1UxjvWU

Mike

With all due respect the sound is lovely, but I can't bear to watch the theatrics. Maria Callas rightly said that gestures do come out of the music even though she used very few in the actual singing. If the two don't mesh perfectly, the result is distracting and even confusing. (I won't go into singing "Ich Habe Genug" in a hospital gown, ugh!)

ZB

[zamyrabyrd]

Claudio Muzio can usually be counted on for touching and beautiful.
"O Del Mio Amato Ben" by Denaudy (1935)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6gr-GVSLOw

I was just thinking that 'simplicity' also factors into the discussion. A simple line done with deep feeling and conviction like "Der Müller und der Bach" played by Sofronitsky reaches into the heavenly places.

ZB

[Verena]

I was just thinking that 'simplicity' also factors into the discussion. A simple line done with deep feeling and conviction like "Der Müller und der Bach" played by Sofronitsky reaches into the heavenly places.

Yes, this is very true. It's kind of a paradox for me that this simplicity is anything but a simple thing to achieve; most artists don't achieve it (at list to this extent). I would be at a loss to figure out conceptually the line between simple and bland (etc.), but Sofronitsky always suceeds in sounding beautifully simple.

[knight66]

With all due respect the sound is lovely, but I can't bear to watch the theatrics. Maria Callas rightly said that gestures do come out of the music even though she used very few in the actual singing. If the two don't mesh perfectly, the result is distracting and even confusing. (I won't go into singing "Ich Habe Genug" in a hospital gown, ugh!)

ZB

Both of the productions that you mention are by the same director. In Theodora he used semi hieratic gestures for soloists and chorus. It worked for me once I sank into it within the context of a full performance, I can imagine that in isolation one aria would look very odd.

I also agree about the subsequent point on simplicity and that hardly any singers have the artistry to show it yo us. The art that covers art is a difficult one to crack.

Mike

[Elgarian]

if I have a touchstone for Handel, it is Lorraine Hunt Lieberson.

I doubt many folk would quarrel with that. Listening to the Ariodante she did with McGegan et al, it's hard to imagine it better done - even though, if I were going to take them in isolation, I'd prefer Kozena singing the two big numbers.

[Xenophanes]

There are so many choices.  Among tenors, Bjoerling and Gigli have already been mentioned. I also like Richard Crooks.  Those two have done nice recordings of "The Dream" from Massenet's Manon, but I think Crooks tops any I've heard.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KX1a6s3UVE

Crooks also did a marvelous recording of Dvorak's Songs My Mother Taught me.  In the link, we hear first Itzhak Perlman's sublime rendition on his fiddle, and then Crooks' classic recording:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDGYNFXbKV0

I am told I sing that pretty well, but I despair of doing what Crooks did interpretively--of course, I am an old (I do mean old) baritone, not a lyric tenor.

For sheer excitement, it's hard to beat Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's recording of the first aria from Bach Cantata No. 51.  The pressing seems rather noisy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP909hFOPAk

Licia Albanese's Butterfly is heart rending, and this is from a 1953 Met Broadcast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZINNVrgXec

I don't know much about soprano Frida Leider, but in this 1927 recording, she manages the Hojotoho from Wagner's Die Walkuere like no one else I have heard. I love the look of the wings on the tonearm, but would think they increase the mass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oFgW9n8toU

A comment on youtube led me to the same aria sung by a soprano I had never heard of, Gertrude Grob-Prandl.  And was she ever good:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ck0J1vkoJ4

As a baritone, I can only admire Leonard Warren's singing, though my voice is somewhat lower than his.  Here is Il balen from Trovatore:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr07NZjNwqE

Now, as a low baritone, I really wished I could sing like George London! One of the great Wagner bass baritones, he could be just awe-inspiring. The recording is cut in the middle to include both Wotan's Abschied and the finale of Walkuere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMienvG908Q&feature=related

For popular singers, the one for me is Angèle Arsenault, whom most of you never heard of.  She was a song writer, poet, composer, comedienne, social critic, philosopher, quite unique. I can't find the song I most want on youtube, but these two will do.  The first is quite early, and I think expresses her overall philosophy of life.  The second is comical and something a vocal tour de force.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0MEn1HrRuY&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JIYxjVKs9U 

[knight66]

Xeno, Thanks for bringing this to the thread. It is years since I heard Richard Crooks. I had entirely forgotten just how good he was. It was like opening a window into a lost world. I don't know of any voice like that today. He had a combination of delicacy and strength and was especially suited to French repertoire.

I am not quite such an admirer of that specific Schwartzkopf track, I assume someone is using a 78 there, though there is an excellent transfer of it onto CD. I think the vocal production is bumpy and, for instance, Barbara Hendricks has a smoother vocal production.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wg__40c34E

Here Schwartzkopf shines in tandem with Ferrier in Bach B Minor Mass. Karajan is the conductor, swift and flowing, which may surprise some who are more used to his later po-faced recordings. What we hear here is a rehearsal, no marking the score and they weave this duet in rare unity.

I really enjoyed Lieder, another voice I have not heard for some time. Gertrude Grob-Prandl is a new name to me and I simply don't understand why. She is an exact contemporary with Birgit Nilsson, yet seems hardly known. That Walkure is scorching, Morolt's conducting and her singing make me want to get hold of the whole performance. There is next to nothing of her on Amazon. Again thanks.

Mike

[mjwal]

Grob-Prandl on Amazon.de:
http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_9_4?__mk_de_DE=%C5M%C5Z%D5%D1&url=search-alias%3Dclassical&field-keywords=grob-prandl&sprefix=grob
She is almost an exact contemporary of Nilsson, it's true, but I think her major career was more contemporary with Mödl and Varnay. A reviewer of the Cluytens Tristan (56) says she is the greatest Isolde he has ever heard, surpassing those mentioned above. Pity the Tristan is (apparently) so bad! I must confess I have never heard her before and intend to investigate.

[knight66]

There is some material here:

http://www.prestoclassical.co.uk/search.php?searchString=Gertrude+Grob-Prandl+

Under the future releases, the complete Walkure with her is due out in Sept. Very tempting, especially if the conductor maintains such fire throughout it. I have ordered the aria disc and the Tristan und Isolde. Quite a discovery, thanks again Xeno.

Mike

[Xenophanes]

Xeno, Thanks for bringing this to the thread. It is years since I heard Richard Crooks. I had entirely forgotten just how good he was. It was like opening a window into a lost world. I don't know of any voice like that today. He had a combination of delicacy and strength and was especially suited to French repertoire.

I am not quite such an admirer of that specific Schwartzkopf track, I assume someone is using a 78 there, though there is an excellent transfer of it onto CD. I think the vocal production is bumpy and, for instance, Barbara Hendricks has a smoother vocal production.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Wg__40c34E

Here Schwartzkopf shines in tandem with Ferrier in Bach B Minor Mass. Karajan is the conductor, swift and flowing, which may surprise some who are more used to his later po-faced recordings. What we hear here is a rehearsal, no marking the score and they weave this duet in rare unity.

I really enjoyed Lieder, another voice I have not heard for some time. Gertrude Grob-Prandl is a new name to me and I simply don't understand why. She is an exact contemporary with Birgit Nilsson, yet seems hardly known. That Walkure is scorching, Morolt's conducting and her singing make me want to get hold of the whole performance. There is next to nothing of her on Amazon. Again thanks.

Mike

I've long thought Crooks was marvelous.

My favorite Gigli track is the big aria from Werther, done in Italian. The pressing used for youtube is very noisy, I have an LP that is less so.  It is simply stunning, going from soft to loud to soft, all with perfect control.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6KYdsFmj36U

We shall have to disagree about the Schwarzkopf track.  She negotiates the Bach at a tempo scarcely anyone else could attempt, still managing to keep her vocal poise. I find it thrilling every time I hear it. Here are a couple of Allelujas.  The first is from Cantata No. 51, the second is from Mozart's Exsultate Jubilate, with the Alleluja at the end.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olk6PR9hYfk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bF4ojj4MspM

I have no idea why I never heard of Gertrude Grob-Prandl before.  Too nice, perhaps.

There is an awe inspiring video of Diana Damrau doing the Queen of the Night's Aria. Scary lady!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvuKxL4LOqc

Another singer I wish I knew more about was the Scarpia in the Gigli/Caniglia recording of Tosca, Armando Borgioli. He managed to sound very evil and lascivious.  Maybe not one of the great voices of the century, but he could characterize Scarpia. nAnother noisy 78 pressing!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDU4vI24KbY

[petrarch]

If I had to choose one and only one piece of singing, it would definitely have to be the anonymous Gloria Tibi Domine that Savall recorded with his vocal ensemble La Capella Reial de Catalunya, a true jewel of the most sublime 1m45s of unaccompanied vocal music I have ever heard, to be found as a sort of introduction to the valencian Song of the Sibyl in his 3rd CD of collected Songs of the Sybil. It also helps that it is exceptionally well-recorded.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEcWniITE7o

The CD is this one:

[Verena]

If I had to choose one and only one piece of singing, it would definitely have to be the anonymous Gloria Tibi Domine  that Savall recorded with his vocal ensemble La Capella Reial de Catalunya, a true jewel of the most sublime 1m45s of unaccompanied vocal music I have ever heard, to be found as a sort of introduction to the valencian Song of the Sibyl in his 3rd CD of collected Songs of the Sybil. It also helps that it is exceptionally well-recorded.

thanks for mentioning this WONDERFUL piece

[knight66]

I did not know this recording. Interesting to discover through this thread some unexpected pieces and performances.

Mike

[Sergeant Rock]

Gertrude Grob-Prandl is a new name to me and I simply don't understand why. She is an exact contemporary with Birgit Nilsson, yet seems hardly known. That Walkure is scorching, Morolt's conducting and her singing make me want to get hold of the whole performance. There is next to nothing of her on Amazon. Again thanks.
Mike

Edit: I just listened to the excerpt. That isn't from the Moralt Ring. I don't know who's conducting. The Brünnhilde in Moralt's Walküre is Helena Braun. Grob-Prandl sings the role in Siegfried and Götterdämmerung. This doesn't change what I originally wrote about the excellence of the Moralt's Ring though. I won't delete the following.

I've had, and loved, Moralt's Ring for years. It comes from 1948/49 radio broadcasts.



I've mentioned it often in the forum as being one of my favorite Rings, swiftly paced and blistering but also with a conductor sensitive to his singers. Moralt lets them breath and phrase with admirable plasticity, seemingly following like a great accompanist rather than leading. Superb cast overall, not just Grob-Prandl. Truly "golden age" singing here. I particualry like Günther Treptow's Siegmund and Siegfriend. The sound is actually pretty good (much better than Furtwängler's Rings) except for Act III Walküre where there is a noticeable degradation.

Unfortunately the physical production and presentation of this Centurion Classics/Weton-Wesgram edition is horrid; the worst I've ever seen. There are no pauses--literally no pauses between acts and scenes, no booklet, no notes, no libretto, not even a cast list! I had to research it online and found this.  I'm hoping the MYTO version, due out next month, is better. At least the cast and conductor are actually mentioned on the cover 

Under the future releases, the complete Walkure with her is due out in Sept. Very tempting, especially if the conductor maintains such fire throughout it.

Moralt does (although the bit you heard on youtube was conducted by Robert Denzler, according to a correction made by the original poster--but the interpretation is very similiar to Moralt's). Moralt's really is one of the great Rings.

Sarge

[DavidRoss]

Janet Baker's Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen with Barbirolli (not the one from the complete Ruckert-Lieder with the New Philharmonia, but the one-off with the Halle). One of those performances after which the only thing I can listen to is silence.

Yes.  This is what came to mind immediately for me as well.

[knight66]

Sarge, Thanks for clarifying.

Mike

[Scarpia]

Maria Stader in the Mass in c-minor of Mozart.

[abidoful]

i JUST LOVE ELLA FITGERALD ! ! ! ---also one early Mozart opera has an amazing aria, Bach has quite a few wonderful Arias, Tchaikovsky "Nur wer die sensucht kennt" sung by contralto Eula Beal, Handel Lascia ch'io pianga Philippe Jaroussky---- there's some good stuff

Here's that wonderful Tsaikovski song; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCtW1RucS-w

[Mandryka]

A bottle of vodka to the first person who can post the name of the artists in this extraordinary interpretation








http://www.goear.com/files/external.swf?file=1eaf378