Favorite vocal recitals on CD or DVD

Started by bhodges, April 24, 2007, 11:04:11 AM

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knight66

Does the Warner box significantly improve the sound on the earlier editions of the CDs? I have been hoovering up some very cheep second hand CDs of Schwartkopf's Schubert/lieder recitals, possibly available via new Warner box owners.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: knight66 on January 05, 2016, 12:42:16 PM
Does the Warner box significantly improve the sound on the earlier editions of the CDs? I have been hoovering up some very cheep second hand CDs of Schwartkopf's Schubert/lieder recitals, possibly available via new Warner box owners.

Mike

They all sound pretty good to me, but maybe not significantly an improvement. That said, even in the mono recordings, the sound has always been pretty good.

What I like about this set is that it reproduces exactly all the recitals Schwarzkopf made  for EMI in their original format, some of the items never before available on CD. Unfortunately, though, there is no extra disc with texts and translations, as there was with the Callas box. This does Schwarzkopf a disservice. To really appreciate her art you need to understand what she is singing.

\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

knight66

Thanks, that confirms to me that there is little to be gained in rebuying all the discs that I already have.

Cheers,

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Marsch MacFiercesome

#243
Quote from: Greg Mitchell on January 05, 2016, 01:49:10 PM
They all sound pretty good to me, but maybe not significantly an improvement. That said, even in the mono recordings, the sound has always been pretty good.



What I like about this set is that it reproduces exactly all the recitals Schwarzkopf made  for EMI in their original format, some of the items never before available on CD. Unfortunately, though, there is no extra disc with texts and translations, as there was with the Callas box. This does Schwarzkopf a disservice. To really appreciate her art you need to understand what she is singing.

There is indeed a small but discernible improvement on the sound of all of the Warner remastered cd's in the Schwarzkopf box set vis-a-vis their EMI/Abbey Road re-engineered counterparts.

The Warner incarnations of the cd's have reduced hiss and a clearer vocal timbre when you hear them with a good D/A converter, headphones, and headphone amp- which will reveal everything.

Easier slayed than done. Is anyone shocked that I won?

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Marsch MacFiercesome on January 05, 2016, 10:23:58 PM
There is indeed a small but discernible improvement on the sound of all of the Warner remastered cd's in the Schwarzkopf box set vis-a-vis their EMI/Abbey Road re-engineered counterparts.

The Warner incarnations of the cd's have reduced hiss and a clearer vocal timbre when you hear them with a good D/A converter, headphones, and headphone amp- which will reveal everything.

And there is, as I mentioned, the added attraction of having the discs as they were originally conceived. This means, for instance, we get for the first time all the recorded excerpts from Arabella, and all four discs of The Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Songbook in their original sleeves, each programme so carefully thought out. Until now all these discs were only available piecemeal.

I've listened to the whole set now, and it has been a joyful journey. I'd call it essential.



\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Marsch MacFiercesome

Quote from: Greg Mitchell on January 06, 2016, 12:37:02 AM
And there is, as I mentioned, the added attraction of having the discs as they were originally conceived. This means, for instance, we get for the first time all the recorded excerpts from Arabella, and all four discs of The Elisabeth Schwarzkopf Songbook in their original sleeves, each programme so carefully thought out. Until now all these discs were only available piecemeal.

I've listened to the whole set now, and it has been a joyful journey. I'd call it essential.

Absolutely.

The beauty of the box itself, the accompanying booklet with the photos, and the collated original album cover art all being in one place were what made me buy the set to begin with!

I just love the way it 'looks' on the top of one of my cd shelves. ;D
Easier slayed than done. Is anyone shocked that I won?

knight66

I know what you mean about the boxes; but as I have been filling the shelves, I need more of a pretext really. I am still thinking about the Janet Baker box. I have most of what is in it, but it does contain some material that is not otherwise available.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Marsch MacFiercesome

Quote from: knight66 on January 06, 2016, 08:23:55 AM
I know what you mean about the boxes; but as I have been filling the shelves, I need more of a pretext really. I am still thinking about the Janet Baker box. I have most of what is in it, but it does contain some material that is not otherwise available.

Mike

Ha.  Ha.  Ha.  Ha.

But then, isn't beauty its own pretext, John? ;D . . .

Which Janet Baker box were you thinking about?- the EMI (I presume) or the Philips?- I'd get both, myself.

I'll buy anything with Baker just because I love her singing so much.

Well, maybe not 'so much' but rather ' ' ' ' soooooooooooooooooooooo much. ' ' ' '

Easier slayed than done. Is anyone shocked that I won?

knight66

My discs sit behind doors in a huge cabinet; so I don't see them in the way I once did with the old LP boxes: Karajan Parsifal and Kleiber Tristan, those boxes were positively tactile.

I have the Phillips Baker box. Prior to the issue of the EMI one, I reckon I had virtually everything that has ever been issued. These include some live performances brought out by a company which advertised that it was about to issue CDs of Baker as Cassandra AND Dido in the Berlioz, (I assume two unrelated performances melded), then it promptly went defunct. No singer influenced me more. She has been my close companion for almost 50 years.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: knight66 on January 06, 2016, 08:53:56 AM
My discs sit behind doors in a huge cabinet; so I don't see them in the way I once did with the old LP boxes: Karajan Parsifal and Kleiber Tristan, those boxes were positively tactile.

I have the Phillips Baker box. Prior to the issue of the EMI one, I reckon I had virtually everything that has ever been issued. These include some live performances brought out by a company which advertised that it was about to issue CDs of Baker as Cassandra AND Dido in the Berlioz, (I assume two unrelated performances melded), then it promptly went defunct. No singer influenced me more. She has been my close companion for almost 50 years.

Mike

I too have held off the EMI box, as I'm pretty sure I have most of the stuff on it already. I wonder what I'm missing though. Baker, as you know, is one of my favourite singers. She had this ability (Callas had it too of course) to make you feel that the music sprang newly minted from her lips. The act of singing became as natural as speaking.

\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

knight66

There are duets with DfD and I think with another singer that I don't have. But it is a pick and mix, in that much of it is an assemblage of extracts. I have all the main works in full with her performances in their setting.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

knight66

I had another read through the tracks on the Baker discs. There look to be about two discs worth that have never been made available on CD; I ordered it at a bargain price.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: knight66 on January 08, 2016, 09:24:45 PM
I had another read through the tracks on the Baker discs. There look to be about two discs worth that have never been made available on CD; I ordered it at a bargain price.

Mike

Oh dear, looks as if I'll have to make yet another purchase.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

knight66

I have also just plumped for a live Tristan with Vickers and Nilsson; live from Orange. I listened to stretches of it on Spotify and was wowed. Spotify was supposed to stop me buying CDs rather than prompt me.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: knight66 on January 10, 2016, 05:57:09 AM
I have also just plumped for a live Tristan with Vickers and Nilsson; live from Orange. I listened to stretches of it on Spotify and was wowed. Spotify was supposed to stop me buying CDs rather than prompt me.

Mike

Oddly enough, it's done the same to me.  :-[ It's become a rry before your buy site for me!
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

knight66

http://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php?topic=25541.new#new


Link to a review of a superb new song sycle: Let me tell you, by Hans Abrahamsen.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

knight66

Frederica von Stade French Arias LPO Pritchard Sony

I noticed that a box set of this singer's recitals is about to be issued. Long a favourite singer of mine, I went looking for some recitals I had missed. They tend to appear second hand when this kind of collected works is issued. Sure enough, the disc specified above was available for £1 on Amazon.

von Stade has had a terrific career. She was popular and well recorded. But as soon as she stopped appearing in opera houses, her reputation seemed to go into eclipse. Who ever discusses Teresa Berganza these days? It is quite mysterious how the stock of some singers remains high while that of others plummet. von Stade had a most beautiful, round, rich voice with an attractive very tight vibrato which provided distinction and colour to her singing. She was a very good linguist and her French in particular was well thought of.

This disc has nine arias covering Berlioz, Massenet, Thomas, Meyerbeer, Gounod and Offenbach. I wish there were more of them all. Her Margarite is plangent, the Offenbach is high spirited. She delineates the various characters, nothing is generalised. It is a beautiful disc. Pritchard was always a sympathetic accompanist and this singer is not one who will ask for indulgent tempi: so all goes well.

I also bought her recital disc of Faure which I only ever had on a long gone cassette. I know that will also be enjoyable. It is sitting waiting to be played.

Mike

DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

knight66

#257
Teresa Stitch-Randall A Portrait, Vienna Radio Orch, Priestman, Millennium Classics
Opera arias by Bellini, Boito, Verdi, Gounod, Strauss etc.

Recently on a car journey we turned the radio on and heard most of the Jewel Song from Faust by a singer I could not place. My wife and I were both eager to hear who it was. I certainly would never have guessed. At home I turned to Amazon and found a studio recital with the piece on it.

I was surprised to learn that the singer was an American, discovered and promoted by Toscanini who seemingly said that she was "The find of the century." He was not known for extravagant praise, so that was a serious endorsement. His faith in her bore fruit up to a point. She moved to Europe early in the successful phase of her career and was a regular soloist in Vienna and at the Aix de Porvence for about 15 years. She specialised in Mozart and Strauss. Her most famed recording is as Sophie in the first Karajan Rosenkavalier. She is also a bright light in the Markevitch Life for a Tzar. But there are very few studio discs available and the live ones are mainly expensive.

The voice is silvery, bright and certainly it was suited to Mozart. She has a sound technighq, coping well with legato and with florid work. She uses words intelligently. Notes with the disc claim that she mainly sang entirely without vibrato. That puzzled me, as this disc shows that she deploys a vibrancy, a very tight, attractive vibrato, and occasionally she removes it. The sound is pure when she pulls back the vibrato it can sound tubular. The recording is in fair sound, recorded in the early 1950s.

So, how does the disc stand up? I was surprised to hear her singing Norma Tosca and Traviata. The Norma opens the disc and the approach is primarily lyrical rather than dramatic. But she certainly is expressive with the words, it is not bland. I recently heard the Bartoli take on the piece and Stitch-Randall's approach is very similar. Post Callas we tend to expect a large dramatic voice, but this lighter approach works. She does not sound like the role is too big for her. The same goes for Traviata where the voice expands and shows increased weight. The Gounod is as good as I have heard in the aria. The Strauss es Gibt ein Reich is plush and soars. It does not have Jessye Norman type weight, but is in the line with the likes of Lisa Della Casa.

It is a very enjoyable disc which includes Tosca and Lakme amongst other roles. I listened to a live lieder recital from Aix. Reviews of the disc classed it as the best of its kind. Via Spotify on my iPad it certainly came across well. One I will probably buy when I see it at a good price.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.

ritter

Quote from: knight66 on March 24, 2016, 02:52:15 AM
Teresa Stitch-Randall A Portrait, Vienna Radio Orch, Priestman, Millennium Classics
Opera arias by Bellini, Boito, Verdi, Gounod, Strauss etc.

Recently on a car journey we turned the radio on and heard most of the Jewell Song from Faust by a singer I could not place. My wife and I were both eager to hear who it was. I certainly would never have guessed. At home I turned to Amazon and found a studio recital with the piece on it.

I was surprised to learn that the singer was an American, discovered and promoted by Toscanini who seemingly said that she was "The find of the century." He was not known for extravagant praise, so that was a serious endorsement. His faith in her bore fruit up to a point. She moved to Europe early in the successful phase of her career and was a regular soloist in Vienna and at the Aix de Porvence for about 15 years. She specialised in Mozart and Strauss. Her most famed recording is as Sophie in the first Karajan Rosenkavalier. She is also a bright light in the Markevitch Life for a Tzar. But there are very few studio discs available and the live ones are mainly expensive.

The voice is silvery, bright and certainly it was suited to Mozart. She has a sound technighq, coping well with legato and with florid work. She uses words intelligently. Notes with the disc claim that she mainly sang entirely without vibrato. That puzzled me, as this disc shows that she deploys a vibrancy, a very tight, attractive vibrato, and occasionally she removes it. The sound is pure when she pulls back the vibrato it can sound tubular. The recording is in fair sound, recorded in the early 1950s.

So, how does the disc stand up? I was surprised to hear her singing Norma Tosca and Traviata. The Norma opens the disc and the approach is primarily lyrical rather than dramatic. But she certainly is expressive with the words, it is not bland. I recently heard the Bartoli take on the piece and Stitch-Randall's approach is very similar. Post Callas we tend to expect a large dramatic voice, but this lighter approach works. She does not sound like the role is too big for her. The same goes for Traviata where the voice expands and shows increased weight. The Gounod is as good as I have heard in the aria. The Strauss es Gibt ein Reich is plush and soars. It does not have Jessye Norman type weight, but is in the line with the likes of Lisa Della Casa.

It is a very enjoyable disc which includes Tosca and Lakme amongst other roles. I listened to a live lieder recital from Aix. Reviews of the disc classed it as the best of its kind. Via Spotify on my iPad it certainly came across well. One I will probably buy when I see it at a good price.

Mike
I don't know that particular disc, but as of late I've been listening to (and buying) a lot of Teresa Stich-Randall's recordings. Her Mozart from Aix-en-Provence with Rosbaud is top-notch, and I daresay that her rendition of the chorale Sei Lob und Preis mit Ehren--starting at 4'15" in the YouTube below--from J.S. Bach's cantata Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen BWV 51 conducted by Karl Ristenpart is one of the most ravishing vocal recordings I have ever heard.

https://www.youtube.com/v/HPUp4k6q11E

knight66

Ritter, Thanks for that link. I agree, as good as I have heard with superb breath control. She made it sound as though it had been no effort for her. The art that hides art.

Mike
DavidW: Yeah Mike doesn't get angry, he gets even.
I wasted time: and time wasted me.