Leontyne Price "Knoxville: Summer of 1915" 1/2

[dubonetducon]

"Now is the night one blue dew.. " What words. What music. What singing!!

[MuseDuCafe]

Masterpiece, masterfully performed by all involved. The whole is one, and flexible, clear, and does not fail to communicate for one tick the entire time. Just one of those marvels that keep all of us going to performances, where once in a while, something like this recorded performance, happens. Thanks so much, making it available, and the sound quality, too.

[theprophet20]

Simply the most beautiful song of them all...

[goldchenberger]

woooww THIS IS

[Trinite33]

metropolitan1966 Thank you for your gracious comment. We definitely agree on the superb quality of this sterling performance by Miss Price. Her reading here of this beautiful work is simply the best. Happy New Year!

[Varese13]

I think this performance may have special poignancy because, according to Price, she had just lost her father shortly before this recording was made. She says that her thoughts were full of her own childhood in Laurel, Mississippi, and that she had to fight back tears during the recording sessions.

[lordnyra]

Read the text. the first section deals with childhood, that explains the lack of vibratto as she is imitating a childs voice.

GOD DAMN

[peacocktravels]

Her pianissini is quite exquisite here.

[Deadlytrick]

I can't find the text anywhere! ERG

[JFman00]

My gripe with this performance would be that the tempo in the first section feels too rushed. I'm not sure if the voice technique has anything to do with it, but I do know that the tempo feels much more like a sewing machine than rocking chair.

[Varese52]

The playwright Edward Albee once said that he thought this piece was Barber's masterpiece. I think he may have had it right.

[whatever456]

This may have been written for Steber, but Barber found his real muse in Price and it shows here.

[sutherland9]

I don't understand the straight tone. Price had such a beautiful vibrato. Was she thinking the straight tone would make her sound like a child?

[enkiduudikne]

Listen to the music. Read the text. Performing a song, particularly one as theatrical and as tied to a specific time an place as this one, is about far more than beautiful vibrato or gorgeous tone. What Price achieves here is a total synthesis of character, text projection, tone, and emotional content. If you're unable to understand that and just want her singing to be more "pretty", you may know singing, but ya don't know Art.

[sutherland9]

My original post did not claim that Miss Price would have better entered the realm of Art by using vibrato, did it? Nor did I say that the lack of vibrato prevented her from achieving a total synthesis of character, text projection, etc. You may know something about singing, but ya don't have reading comprehension skills.

[JeeRant]

I, too, was rather taken aback by her lack of vibrato during the piece's first section. Nontraditional singing, of course, but it does make her sound more 'childlike', as you say, which is very appropriate.

[ZDrums24]

@sutherland9 I would argue that there are times were vibrato is distracting or hinders the performer's interpretation. Whether she was trying to sound like a child or not, the vibrato would be extremely heavy for the first part and the lack of vibrato in this rendition really smooths out the whole overall sound.

[enkiduudikne]

klickenpod, it's just you. This remains, to this day, one of the most exquisitely flawless weddings of text, music, and performer ever recorded. There are other beautiful recordings out there (McNair's included) but none come anywhere as near the heart of this piece as this.

[yodavidnavarro]

Dear Onegin65. Can you please (If is possible for you) post a record of Carmen's Habanera performed by Leontyne Price 'cause is my favorite and I can't find it!

Querido Onegin65! Si esta a tu alcance, podrías publicar la version de Habanera de Carmen interpretado por Leontyne Price. Ya que es mi favorito y no he podido encontrarlo!

[Trinite33]

Price achieves ravishingly beautiful singing and heartbreaking expression in this exquisite prose poem. Her "Now is the night one blue dew" is worth a whole raft of songs by any other singer. Miraculous. Thank you Price, Barber and Agee.

[metropolitan1966]

@Trinite33 Very well stated and perfectly phrased! What you write is the Gospel Truth. I could not have summed this performance up better myself!!

[christineannemarsden]

This is a great performance

I can never get through it without weeping

especially after my father died

Thanks

[tHEnOOSEsWING]

The Steber version is a recital and this version is to the woodwind orchestration that S.Barber reworked. I prefer this version.

[jdeslauriers]

Steber recorded this with orchestra before Leontyne.  I actually prefer the Steber version.

[4lebenbaum]

There's not another performance on record/cd (private or commercial) of this Barber piece that comes even close to Price's singular interpretation. She recorded this just after her father died. Magical and poignantly intuitive is how I would describe this "Knoxville: Summer of 1915." She clearly has captured beautifully what Barber and Agee envisioned.

[superdooperstupor]

Dear Rafael,

You are such a kind and generous friend. Thank you for posting this rapturous performance.

Kestal