My questions about operas

[wagnernn]

My first Topic in this forum is to ask about the record of Macbeth with Nilsson ,and I didn't register in for long time.When I  returned, I didn't think that you remembered me ,and  contributed to my topic.Thank you very much....I am just a little boy in a country where people don't like classical music.I'm very lonely and don't have any friends.I want you to become my best friends....
I have some questions about opera,please help me...
1. Who is the Callas of 18th century and 19th century?
2.Please show me some great records of Symphony no.3 by Gorecki with legend sopranos.
3.some websites about Renata Tebaldi which include some Mp3 files
4.please tell me why the position of Tebaldi in the list of 20 top sopranos is .....??


(I love our forum)

[uffeviking]

I wish I could answer your questions about operas but sopranos are not my favourite people. To make it even more difficult, I consider Gorecki's No. 3 more hype than substance and listened to it only once. The one about Tebaldi and Mp3 files makes me admit I have no idea about Mp3 or any of the other newfangled downloading media. I buy my CDs and DVDs. Your No. 4 question can not be answered because evaluating any singer, or artist, is simply a matter of personal taste.

I tried, didn't leave your post unanswered. Maybe you can come back with easier ones, or simply your post expressing your opinion of this or that  artist! 

[Drasko]

2.Please show me some great records of Symphony no.3 by Gorecki with legend sopranos.

Gorecki 3rd was written some 10-15 years ago (I think) so none of the sopranos usualy labeled as legendary recorded it (Callas, Tebaldi...)

There is maybe half a dozen recordings of that piece by sopranos as Dawn Upshaw, Zofia Kilanowisz, Stefania Woytowicz and few more. Could any of them be called legend I have no idea (the most famous is probably Upshaw). Which of the recordings is great I don't know.

3.some websites about Renata Tebaldi which include some Mp3 files

Here is one I found googling, there has to be more

http://www.geocities.com/renatatebaldi/clips.htm

For answering No.1 and 4 someone with much more knowledge is needed

[wagnernn]

please give me some informations about the soprano Maria Stader,
I've listened to the Verdi's Requiem and Bach 's Mass in B minor with her strong and elegant voice,so I decided to find some operas,but there are very few (just some Mozart works).Can you tell me why ?

[Anne]

I have only heard her one time.  She was singing a Mozart Mass; it was very beautiful.  Go to amazon.com and search on

music  Maria Stader

[Lady Chatterley]

I am just a little boy in a country where people don't like classical music.

Sorry,I can't believe this.

[pjme]

Stefania Woytowicz was definitely a great singer . Ca 1965 - 1975 (I think) she was something like a muse to contemporary (Polish) composers - esp. Penderecki.
A strong voice with a unique timbre. Not everybody liked it - of course ( a somewhat smokey,husky quality).
She can also be heard in a BBC recording of Britten's War Requiem and a classic performance of Szymanowski's Stabat Mater and Symphony nr 3 "Song of the night".

I have heard her Gorecki 3rd on radio ( very good :idiomatic) - but do not own  the recording.

[wagnernn]

Pjme and Anne:thank you very much!!!
and Muriel,why don't you believe me? ...

[Harry]

Sorry,I can't believe this.

Dear muriel, lets first ask him were he lives, maybe behind the rainbow?

[wagnernn]

OK,I'm ten years old and I live in Vietnam.Do you know how many people in Vietnam listen to classical music?
Under 500 people!!!!!(40% of them just listen to semi-classical).And in my city,a lagre and modern oneof the South Vietnam,I'm sure that there must be under 3 people who listen to this music....

[wagnernn]

Please give me some information about the  soprano Luisa Tetrazzini.Do you think she is the greatest Anna from La Sonnambula?
And who do you think to be the greatest Rusalka (Fleming,Benakova,...)?

[jochanaan]

Please give me some information about the  soprano Luisa Tetrazzini.Do you think she is the greatest Anna from La Sonnambula?

Now you're reaching way back!  As I recall, Tetrazzini was a contemporary of Caruso, and perhaps debuted even earlier than he did.  By reputation, she was matchless in Verdi, but I've never heard any recordings.

Some of my favorite sopranos:
Roberta Peters: coloratura with depth
Kirsten Flagstad: the ultimate Brunnhilde
Birgit Nilsson:      "     "         Isolde
Leontyne Price: dark and smoky and so passionate
Beverly Sills (of course)
Lucia Popp: clear and effortless, almost the opposite of Ms. Price
Galina Vishnevskaya: edgy, "too much" vibrato, but an awesome vocal actress
Emma Kirkby: quicksilver is the only word to describe her HIP voice

[Lady Chatterley]

Now you're reaching way back!  As I recall, Tetrazzini was a contemporary of Caruso, and perhaps debuted even earlier than he did.  By reputation, she was matchless in Verdi, but I've never heard any recordings.

Some of my favorite sopranos:
Roberta Peters: coloratura with depth
Kirsten Flagstad: the ultimate Brunnhilde
Birgit Nilsson:      "     "         Isolde
Leontyne Price: dark and smoky and so passionate
Beverly Sills (of course)
Lucia Popp: clear and effortless, almost the opposite of Ms. Price
Galina Vishnevskaya: edgy, "too much" vibrato, but an awesome vocal actress
Emma Kirkby: quicksilver is the only word to describe her HIP voice

I love all these voices,Vishnevskaya is just as you describe.I had to go and look through my LPs to see if I still had that recording from the 60's was is? Her Song to the Moon gave me shivers up my spine.
If there are Tetrezzini recordings I don't think they would be a good representation of her voice.The Caruso recordings are pretty rough.

[Harry]

Emma Kirkby: quicksilver is the only word to describe her HIP voice

Good choice my friend.

[jochanaan]

...Vishnevskaya is just as you describe.I had to go and look through my LPs to see if I still had that recording from the 60's was is? Her Song to the Moon gave me shivers up my spine.

Be sure to check out her Shostakovich 14th Symphony, with Mark Reshetin, bass, and Mstislav Rostropovich leading members of the Moscow Philharmonic.  Hot, hot, hot!

[wagnernn]

I've just bought 4 Cds of Hallstein
http://www.amazon.com/Hallstein-performs-Chopin-Strauss-Germany/dp/B0009F2FJA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1195823586&sr=1-1
Can you tell me more about this soprano.I really love her voice.However,there is no any video in Youtube

[pjme]

I don't know if you read any German,but  I found some information on Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ingeborg_Hallstein

I remember the name of Ingeborg Hallstein well : a "classic" German (coloratura)soprano with an almost flawless career. She sang under famous conductors, but never made it to stellar status,I'm afraid. 
Her repertoire was typical for her type of voice ( Mozart, some Verdi and Rossini...). However, I remember her mainly as an operetta singer who was quite popular on German TV in the 1960-1970ies....( cfr. Anneliese Rothenberger, Margit Schramm etc)

Peter

[wagnernn]

Did she have any record of  ''Four last songs'' or ''Kindertotenlieder''?

[jochanaan]

Did she have any record of  ''Four last songs'' or ''Kindertotenlieder''?

If Ms. Hallstein was a coloratura, I doubt she ever performed those.  The Four Last Songs are for dramatic soprano, while the Kindertotenlieder are for mezzo.

BTW, if you're looking for a good Kindertotenlieder, you can't go wrong with the Janet Baker/John Barbirolli set.  Dame Baker was matchless in Mahler, and Barbirolli is with her all the way.  She has also done at least a couple of superb recordings of Das Lied von der Erde.

[pjme]

Hi, here you will find more info on Mrs. Hallstein!

http://groups.msn.com/coloraturasopranos/ingeborghallstein.msnw

Hallstein is one of the greatest and most underappreciated of the German coloratura sopranos of the 20th century.  She studied with her mother, Elisabeth Hallstein, and debuted as Musetta at Passau in 1956. From 1958 to 1959, she was a member of the ensemble of the opera in Basel (Switzerland). In 1959, she debuted at the Gärtnerplatztheater Munich as Harriet in Millocker's operetta Der Armer Jonathan and created a sensation.  That year she also debuted at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich, where she became a member of the ensemble in 1961, and a Kammersingerin in 1968. From 1960, she was a regular guest to the Salzburg Festival, where she sang in Mozart operas (Rosina, Konstanze, Zaide), in the world premiere of Henze's Die Bassariden in 1966, and in matinee concerts and lieder recitals. She was also a guest artist at some of the great opera houses of the world including the Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Teatro Colón (Buenos Aires), and the opera houses of Amsterdam, Brussels, Cologne, Copenhague, Dresden, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Karlsruhe, Kassel, Mannheim, Montreal, Ottawa, Paris, Rom, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Venice, and Zurich. She appeared in numerous TV operetta broadcasts which made her very popular in Germany. Since 1981, she has taught at the Würzburg conservatory.

She is a secret treasure among record collectors, especially "high-note lovers."  Hallstein made many records of arias, waltzes, bird songs, lieder, operetta, and musical comedy.  She is primarily remembered as an operetta specialist, but she had the chops--as they say--for important music. Her most famous (and first) recording was Marczelline in Fidelio under Klemperer -- considered to be one of the great opera recordings of all time. Among the dozens of roles in her repertoire, she sailed through Mozart's demanding Die Zauberflote and Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, as well as his most extraordinary concert arias, and presented some difficult modern works by Henze, Egk, Milhaud, Fortner, Bennet, and Bialas (many of these were world premieres). Her vocal range was beyond extensive -- she was an "acuto sfogato" soprano, which is the highest type of coloratura soprano with access to notes in the whistle register above High F.  She sings G's and G-sharps in a few of her records from the studio--but even more amazing is that she included these super high notes in some of her live performaces as well (they can be heard in hard-to-find private recordings or broadcast documents). Her tone was airy, light, and spinning, her technique was nearly flawless and always accurate, and her sense of style was uncommonly charming.  A wonderful, unique, beautiful artist.

Please visit the Hallstein Discography page. I noted which items I have, and I items I don't.  [Always looking for those items I don't have...]

Below are some pictures of Hallstein from my collection or that I've garnered off the web.
There are pictures of many of her great album covers on a separate page.

Enjoy! Peter