Favorite vocal recitals on CD or DVD

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

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DavidW

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on May 21, 2023, 01:20:10 AM

The late lamented Lorraine Hunt Lieberson had a superb gift for communication that makes you feel she is singing directly to you.

This recording, using modern instruments, was made shortly after Hunt Lieberson had appeared in performances, specially staged for her by Peter Sellars. The performance of Ich habe genug took on special poignancy as she was at that time fighting the cancer that would kill her a few years later. Sellars had her singing in a hospital gown, trailing life support equipment after her, which she ripped aside for the final Ich freue mich auf dem Tod.

A wonderful disc.

That is in my top ten favorite recordings!

Pohjolas Daughter

Her voice and singing were wonderful.  I have four or so albums of hers and cherish them.  So sad that she died so young.

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Tsaraslondon



I love Berlioz's Les nuits d'été and this is one of my very favourite recordings of the work, taped live at a concert in 1995. These are superbly detailed and deeply heartfelt performances. Throughout Hunt Lieberson is totally inside the music, her response to the poetry seeming totally spontaneous and natural. Unerringly she captures the mood of each song, certain phrases remaining etched on the memory, for instance the blank, despairing tone at the end of Au cimetière, which, though she switches to smilingly insouciant joy for L'île inconnue, creeps back into her tone for the closing measures when she reminds us that not all is happy au pays d'amour. The voice is surpassingly beautiful, the singing intensely concentrated and she communicates so much.

The rest of the disc is taken up with a group of Handel arias, written for Margherita Durasanti, who enjoyed a long association with Handel from 1709 to 1734. Durasanti's range, both vocal and theatrical, must have been qute extraordinary and Hunt Lieberson doesn't put a foot wrong, whether expressing, joy, sorrow or rage. What a great loss she was to the musical world.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



This recital was possibly recorded a little late for comfort. The lovely voice is showing a few signs of tarnish at the top, a little thinning out of the strands, but her passagework is as deft and nimble as ever. A fuller review with contents is available on my blog.
 
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



This is something of an exercise in nostalgia. Valerie Masterson was a mainstay of my opera going in my early days and I saw her quite a few times on stage and in some of the roles she sings on this disc. She was a very beautiful woman with a lovely voice and a charming stage presence and it would have been hard not to fall under her spell.

She first came to prominence singing Gilbert and Sullivan with the D'Oyly Carte company, but was soon snapped up by English National Opera, where she sang many of these roles in English. However the French also took her to their heart and she appeared regularly over there too, as well as at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, where she would have been singing in French and she sings the language very well.

This recital was recorded at three separate sessions in 1991 and 1993 when Masterson would have been in her mid fifties and, though the voice is still beautiful, it is no longer the fresh voice of youth. What a shame she didn't get to record this material, say, around fifteen years earlier when she sang Matilde to Caballé's Elisabetta in Rossini's Elisabetta, Regina d'Inghilterra both in Aix-en-Provence and on record. Two years is a long time when one is nearing the end of one's career, and it is notable that the arias recorded in 1991 find her in better voice than those recorded in 1993. Still, there is much to enjoy, especially in those roles that Masterson had made very much her own, Manon, Juliette, Marguerite, Louise and Micaëla. The vibrations may have loosened somewhat, but she is mercifullly free of wobble.

Favourite tracks for me were Micaëla's Je dis que rien m'épouvante, Louise's Depuis le jour, the brief excerpt from the Saint Sulpice scene in Manon, Margeurite's Jewel Song and L'Ensoleillad's lovely little Vive amour qui rêve from Chérubin. To be honest, only in Thaïs's Mirror Aria, which was recorded at the last sessions, does the beat in the voice start to become distracting and it is notable that she doesn't take the higher option at the end, whereas a few years before this would have been easily within her voice. Throughout she pays due attention to the text and the mood of each aria, and her voice has its own individual character that I've always found instantly recognisable.

The sound is superb, the orchestral conributions under John Owen Edwards excellent, and the booklet comes with texts and translations, an interview with Masterson and stage photos of her looking absolutelty gorgeous as Margeurite, Manon, Juliette and Louise.

So, as I said, a little late for comfort, but still a disc worth hearing for any of us who fell under Masteron's spell when she was regularly appearing on our stages.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



I've always thought of McCormack more of a concert singer, but he studied in Italy and indeed started his career in opera. That said, I do feel a lack of passion in his singing of some of the arias here and, for me, the most successful items are his famed version of Il mi tesoro, which displays his superb breath control and his impeccable runs, and the Handel arias at the end, in which he sings with enviable poise.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



A collection of mostly bravura Mozart arias by Edda Moser, taken from her catalogue of complete operas, recitals and choral works. A fuller review on my blog.
 
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



Aside from the final track (Mimi's Act I aria recorded in 1910) these are all late recordings from 1934 and 1935. The voice may have lost its youthful freshness by then, but the gains in emotional involvement are enormous. They are also, of course, in much better sound. A more detailed review on my blog.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



Jarmila Novotna is probably best known for her appearance in the movie The Great Caruso, playing the diva, Maria Selka. She had quite a long career, having made her debut (as Violetta) at the age of 17. Not a major singer, and she only warrants passing attention in Steane's The Grand Tradition (where he compares her Donna Elvira unfavourably to that of Schwarzkopf).

Jarmila Novotna -The Great Soprano's Own Selection of her Finest Recordings
 
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



What a wonderful disc this is and what a gorgeous voice Panzéra had, allied to superb musicality and interpretive intelligence. The disc is called The Master of French Song, but we also get a superb performance of Dichterliebe.

A fuller review on my blog.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



I was less impressed with this recital this time than I was when I reviewed it in my blog a couple of years ago. The playing of Les Talens Lyriques under Christope Rousset is really wonderful and contribute greatly to its success, but, and this could be because of I've beem listening recently to so many recitals by older singers recently, I was more aware of some of Piau's 'early music' mannerisms; the tendency to use what John Steane once called the squeeze-box method of stressing individual notes, thus impeding a proper legato and also a tendency to slightly aspirate her runs. She is nowhere near as bad as Bartoli in this respect, but there's still a hint of it and I don't lke it. Shock! Horror! I enjoyed Fleming's Handel recital, which I listened to just a few weeks ago, much more.

There's no doubting she has a beautiful voice, nor her dramatic commitment to the music, but the mannerisms got in the way this time round.
 
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on May 29, 2023, 12:37:36 AM

I was less impressed with this recital this time than I was when I reviewed it in my blog a couple of years ago. The playing of Les Talens Lyriques under Christope Rousset is really wonderful and contribute greatly to its success, but, and this could be because of I've beem listening recently to so many recitals by older singers recently, I was more aware of some of Piau's 'early music' mannerisms; the tendency to use what John Steane once called the squeeze-box method of stressing individual notes, thus impeding a proper legato and also a tendency to slightly aspirate her runs. She is nowhere near as bad as Bartoli in this respect, but there's still a hint of it and I don't lke it. Shock! Horror! I enjoyed Fleming's Handel recital, which I listened to just a few weeks ago, much more.

There's no doubting she has a beautiful voice, nor her dramatic commitment to the music, but the mannerisms got in the way this time round.
 
Sorry to hear that as I've greatly enjoyed her recordings (the few that I have--including this one).  I know that I have another one with her and Mingardo and I want to say at least one complete opera with her in it (would have to do some digging around to remind me which other ones I have of hers).

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Tsaraslondon

Quote from: Pohjolas Daughter on May 29, 2023, 10:11:25 AMSorry to hear that as I've greatly enjoyed her recordings (the few that I have--including this one).  I know that I have another one with her and Mingardo and I want to say at least one complete opera with her in it (would have to do some digging around to remind me which other ones I have of hers).

PD

It's possible it was my mood. I used to really like this disc, but (and, as I said, this could have something to do with the fact I've been listening to lots of recitals by singers of an earlier era) I started to become aware of her tendency to squeeze the voice in the manner of many 'early music' singers, and just occasionally her runs started to acquire something of the dreaded Bartoli rattle. In another mood and on another day, I might not have noticed at all.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon





Not too much overlap here. I reviewed the Verdi disc a couple of years ago on my blog. There is no doubt Ponselle was one of the greats of the pre WWII era.
 
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Pohjolas Daughter

Quote from: Tsaraslondon on May 30, 2023, 12:45:41 AM



Not too much overlap here. I reviewed the Verdi disc a couple of years ago on my blog. There is no doubt Ponselle was one of the greats of the pre WWII era.
 
I have that top one.  I can certainly understand why Callas worshipped her.  :)

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

Tsaraslondon



This reissue of Popp's 1983 Mozart recital adds the Mozart items from an earlier (1967) recital of Handel and Mozart arias. A lovely disc, which I reviewed for my blog about three years ago.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



This two disc set is possibly most treasurable for giving us the complete Vier letzte Lieder under Tennstedt, but there is much to enjoy from her many recordings for EMI over a twenty year period from 1967 to 1988. Tragically, Popp died from brain cancer five years after the last of these was made, but she lives on in her many recordings. I reviewed this two disc compilation favouraby on my blog a few years back and I see no reason to change my views from then, other than to say that this time around I became a little more aware of what John Steane used to call the toothpaste squeeze method of vocal emission, which sometimes impedes a true legato. Nevertheless she had a beautiful voice and a winning manner, so it does seem a little churlish to complain.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



This one's making for the jettison pile, i'm afraid. A complete horchpotch of arias, some good, some not so good (I thought Mozart's L'amero, sara constante was really ghastly, especially after recently hearing Lucia Popp sing it so divinely), really skimpy documentation with no credits for any conductors, other singers or recording dates. Maybe I just don't like Leontyne Price that much.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



I was a little more charitable towards this set when I reviewed it on my blog three years ago. This time I couldn't get past the first CD before realising Price just isn't my singer. Yes, the voice was a glorious one, at least when the first recordings were made, but she never seems to have anything to say about the music. Purcell, Mozart, Verdi and Charpentier all emerge sounding pretty much the same. This first disc aslo includes an ill-advised late (1978) attempt at In questa reggia which makes for very uncomfortable listening. I wonder how much I can get for the set on ebay?
 
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas

Tsaraslondon



Katia Ricciarelli is a singer I heard live a few times and one I've come to admire more with the passing of the years. No doubt she took on a few roles that were a mite too big for her essentially lyric soprano, but in the right repertoire she could be exquisite. This early recital, recorded when she was just 26, shows a few weak flaws in her technique, but immediately one notices her engagement with the text and the music. A fuller review of the disc on my blog.
\"A beautiful voice is not enough.\" Maria Callas