Verdi 's Requiem

[wagnernn]

Please help me complete the list of famous sopranos who made the records of this Requiem.
1.Leontyne Price.
2.Renata Tebaldi.
3.Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
4.Maria Stader
5.Renee Fleming
(and?.....................)
I've just listened to the full records with Stader ,Fleming and some parts with Price ,but I think the best is Tebaldi (I can't find this records in my country)
Who is your favorite soprano in this piece of music?please tell me and let me know why? 

[calbo]

Angéla Gheorghiu
Cheryl Studer
Katia Ricciarelli

But as I have  not listened them in those records of verdi's requiem.

I Have had this record of the requiem with Anna Tomowa Sintow that I found very good but she's not so impresive as Sutherland for example.



Actually I have this record with Martina Arroyo. But she didn't really convinced me

[Renfield]

I will be entirely frank here, and say I generally look for performances of Verdi's Requiem based on conductor, more than on one soloist. Though it is likely my great love for orchestral (and particularly symphonic) music is influencing me, here.

On-topic, though, I'll have a look through my Verdi Requiems and see if any of the sopranos are not listed here (I'm not as much of an opera/vocal music philistine as I sound: I just tend not to remember names I don't make a point of noticing, but rather voices. )

[Holden]

Nelli Herva
Joan Sutherland
Maria Caniglia
Mirella Freni
Zinka Milanov....

[Wendell_E]

Caballé
Scotto
Nilsson

[Tsaraslondon]

I will be entirely frank here, and say I generally look for performances of Verdi's Requiem based on conductor, more than on one soloist. Though it is likely my great love for orchestral (and particularly symphonic) music is influencing me, here.

On-topic, though, I'll have a look through my Verdi Requiems and see if any of the sopranos are not listed here (I'm not as much of an opera/vocal music philistine as I sound: I just tend not to remember names I don't make a point of noticing, but rather voices. )

True, the conductor is important, though he can be let down by less than great soloists (Herva Nelli, in the Toscanini, being an example) . I'd say the soloists in the Verdi Requiem are more intrinsic to the success of a performance than, say in the Mozart Requiem or in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. It is not coincidence that some of the greatest performances also have excellent soloists. Giulini's EMI recording, for instance, enjoys a marvelously homogeneous quartet, if not a particularly idiomatic one (Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Gedda and Ghiaurov). The quartet on Karajan's La Scala DVD are even better (Leontyne Price, Cossotto and Pavarotti at the beginning of their careers and Ghiaurov again).
Back on topic, I find the lack of a studio Tebaldi recording almost as reprehensible as that of a Callas/Gobbi Macbeth.
Caballe recorded it for Barbirolli, with a quartet that looks promising (Vickers, Cossotto again and Raimondi), but this performance has never received a good press. I can't comment as I haven't heard it.
I used to have th Muti with Scotto, Baltsa, Luchetti and Nesterenko, which I rather liked, though I gather I'm in a minority. Scotto makes up for what she lacks in voice, with sheer intelligence and musicianship.

[Anne]

True, the conductor is important, though he can be let down by less than great soloists (Herva Nelli, in the Toscanini, being an example) . I'd say the soloists in the Verdi Requiem are more intrinsic to the success of a performance than, say in the Mozart Requiem or in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis. It is not coincidence that some of the greatest performances also have excellent soloists. Giulini's EMI recording, for instance, enjoys a marvelously homogeneous quartet, if not a particularly idiomatic one (Schwarzkopf, Ludwig, Gedda and Ghiaurov). The quartet on Karajan's La Scala DVD are even better (Leontyne Price, Cossotto and Pavarotti at the beginning of their careers and Ghiaurov again).
Back on topic, I find the lack of a studio Tebaldi recording almost as reprehensible as that of a Callas/Gobbi Macbeth.
Caballe recorded it for Barbirolli, with a quartet that looks promising (Vickers, Cossotto again and Raimondi), but this performance has never received a good press. I can't comment as I haven't heard it.
I used to have th Muti with Scotto, Baltsa, Luchetti and Nesterenko, which I rather liked, though I gather I'm in a minority. Scotto makes up for what she lacks in voice, with sheer intelligence and musicianship.

A friend recommended this to me and I am forever grateful.

http://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Requiem-Giorgio-Tozzi/dp/B00000427K/ref=sr_1_1/104-6944379-3143911?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1192386100&sr=1-1

[knight66]

Margaret Price makes a superb soloist on the DVD Abbado, Jessye Norman is the 'mezzo' for the occasion.

There is a version out there with Heather Harper doing a fine job and I like the Barbirolli version once we get past a pious opening movement, muttered to the point of inaudibility.

Julia Varady is also floating around and I have a Karajan live version with Janowitz and in it Christoff decides what pace he will set for his every entry, slower in most cases that Karajan prepares for. A battle of wills with Verdi being the loser.

[Tsaraslondon]

A quick glance at Amazon's lists brought up some unexpected names, some I'd never even heard of.

Many of the key conductors recorded or performed the work many times, and of course many live performances are now available.

I came across two Serafin recordings, his earlier one with Maria Caniglia and a later one with Shakeh Vartenissian (who she?)
A couple of live Giulini on the BBC label (one with Amy Shuard and one with Ilva Ligabue, the Alice Ford of Solti's Falstaff)
Others not mentioned so far

Michelle Crider (for Hickox)
Ljuba Organasova (for Gardiner)
Susan Dunn (for Robert Shaw)
Maria Stader (for Fricsay)
Lucine Amara (for Ormandy)
Elizabeth Connell (for Owain Arwel Hughes)
Sharon Sweet (for Hans Martin Schneidt)
Eva Mei (for Harnoncourt)
Alessandra Marc (for Barenboim)
Hilde Zadek (on yet another Karajan recording)
Maud Cunitz (Jochum)
Gwyneth Jones (Mehta)

[knight66]

Quite a trawel, none that I feel I need to add to my collection of roughly 10 versions. Do avoid Arwel-Hughes, he is not really a conductor. He is however known to stand in front of an orchestra on occasion.

Mike

[Iago]

Georg Soltis first Verdi Requiem recording was with the Vienna Philharmonic and had Joan Sutherland, Marilyn Horne, Luciano Pavarotti and Martti Talvela as soloists.
The last three named soloists are in great voice and deliver emotion packed performances. As does Solti and the orchestra.

But Sutherland is woefully miscast. Plagued by her usual scooping, poor diction and mispronounciation of words. She makes some beautiful sounds, but I have no idea what she is singing. If ever a recording called for Renata Tebaldi or Leontyne Price, it was that one.
But of course Leontyne Price DID make three great Verdi Requiem recordings, the second Solti (with CSO), with Reiner and the VPO and with Karajan (La Scala).
This recording is available as part of the Archiv Sale of DG, Decca and Phillips recordings as reported by Bogey.

[George]

My two Verdi Requiems:

[wagnernn]

I know that this Requiem is the wonderful vocal work which draws lots of legendary singer,but your lists make me very surprised and excited because I can't imagine my other favorite sopranos (as Sutherland ,Freni,Gheorghiu ...) made some records of this works.Can you name some famous singers who sang this special "opera" in the begin of 20th century?
I want to make a poll but I don't know hot to do this.So, Let's discuss who is the greatest singer(soprano,tenor...), the greatest conductor and the greatest record.

[Wendell_E]

Can you name some famous singers who sang this special "opera" in the begin of 20th century?

I checked the Met Opera's online data base.  I don't know the tenor or conductor, but the rest of the "cast" for its first Met performance looks pretty impressive:

February 17, 1901
Metropolitan Opera Premiere
Verdi: REQUIEM MASS {1}
Soloist.................Lillian Nordica
Soloist.................Ernestine Schumann-Heink
Soloist.................Thomas Salignac
Soloist.................Pol Plançon
Conductor...............Luigi Mancinelli

next season:

January 26, 1902
Soloist.................Johanna Gadski
Soloist.................Louise Homer
Soloist.................Thomas Salignac
Soloist.................Edouard de Reszke
Conductor...............Walter Damrosch

Other famous names who did the Requiem at the Met through the 1920s:  Marcel Journet, Emmy Destinn, Arturo Toscanini, José Mardones, Rosa Ponselle, Margarete Matzenauer, Florence Easton, Léon Rothier, Beniamino Gigli, Tullio Serafin, Elisabeth Rethberg.

I was suprised Caruso never sang it at the Met, but parts of it were done at a memorial concert for him.

[wagnernn]

I'm very surprised that Ponselle sang this requiem,so is there any records with her?

[Renfield]

I was suprised Caruso never sang it at the Met, but parts of it were done at a memorial concert for him.

The next best thing?

[Tsaraslondon]

I'm very surprised that Ponselle sang this requiem,so is there any records with her?

Why does it surprise you that Ponselle sang it? It would have suited her well. Like Tebaldi and Leontyne Price, two of her most successful roles were Aida and the Forza Leonora, and the writing in the Requiem suggests that sort of soprano voice.

[Wendell_E]

Why does it surprise you that Ponselle sang it? It would have suited her well. Like Tebaldi and Leontyne Price, two of her most successful roles were Aida and the Forza Leonora, and the writing in the Requiem suggests that sort of soprano voice.

Yep.  Verdi wrote both Aida and the Requiem with the same soprano, Teresa Stoltz, in mind.  Stoltz sang the world premiere of the requiem, and the La Scala premiere of Aida, which Verdi considered more important than the Cairo world premiere.

[wagnernn]

And how about Maria Callas, a special Aida with very high notes?

[Wendell_E]

And how about Maria Callas, a special Aida with very high notes?

She never sang the Requiem, which is a shame.  According to Frank Hamilton's list of Callas perfomances (http://www.frankhamilton.org/mc/c5.pdf):

She was supposed to have sung it in London in 1953, but British immigration would not allow her to enter the country due to a flu epidemic in Milan.

In 1954, Walter Legge cabled her at the last minute with an offer to sing the mezzo part (Legge's wife, Schwarzkopf was doing the soprano) with de Sabata conducting.  Callas declined.

1963:  Another EMI/Legge recording, Giulini conducting.  Again Schwarzkopf got the soprano part. According to Michel Glotz:  'Callas had always wanted to record this. She was furious she was not invited and severed her relationship with Legge, so I became her record producer thereafter.'