Gwyneth Jones "Isolde's Liebestod" Tristan und Isolde

[NazTb0y]

How old is she here? Definitely too old for Isolde, it seems. Still, hers is the definitive Venus from back in her prime!

[cookalvega]

Like Gwyneth. Like welsh peeps. Not here at her best, perhaps that was as Brünhilde in master K's Ring.

[cookalvega]

Saw the same as Ettoredipugnar. Was fascinated. Still am.

[Ettoredipugnar]

I saw her as Isolde at the Met mmmmm1982 with Spas Wenkoff as Tristan. She knew how to  sing Isolde. As did Nilsson

[mikedparen]

I first heard Jones as Salome at the Met in 1980?, when I was a high school student. Her voice was unique and cutting, and her performance was riveting (no body suit needed for the near-naked Dance of the 7 Veils). It was my first live Richard Strauss, and I will always associate this magnificent artist with Strauss (including a later vivid Marschellin). Someone in these comments said that voices are like chocolate and all good. I'd make the analogy to wines. She was always a vintage artist

[thotmosis]

O,Dios q hermoso,quien puede igualar esto,es increible,me da escalofrios y piel de gallina,es tan bonito,no tengo palabras....estoy facinado...

[michaels7]

I think it is Hanna Schwartz

[crabbe88]

I understand that Ms Jones could be "uneven". I will say that I saw her sing Isolde in Tokyo in the mid 80's when the Vienne Staatsopper toured asia. She was so "on" that night-almost inhumanly beautiful sounds coming out of her-at the same time sweet, powerful, poignant. After the liebestod, the normally reserved Tokyo audience leapt out of their seats and rushed screaming and yelling toward the stage. It was all magnificent!

[Mazeppa7]

Dear benefactor who first put this up - any chance of a reposting with the sound and visuals together? This was one of the joys of my life when it was synchronised a few months ago - would dearly love to play it with sound/sight together before I die...

[allezeg]

Even with the bad quality of this video and her being older, Gwyneth Jones still gives me the chills just as when I saw her performance as Isolde at the opera in Ghent, Belgium about 27 years ago. She was absolutely astounding!

[Joeleole]

Why does it end so abruptly?!?!?

[1401JSC]

If her vibrato is a minor third, does she do trills on a perfect fifth?

[moghedien13]

oooh ouch! lol. gwyneth is one of my all time favourites, but ok ill admit i shared a private chuckle over that.

[Annieneuf]

No I don't like this rendering and taking into account that it's a YouTube video and the sound was out of synch (on my computer anyway). The only consideration is whether the sounds made are 'beautiful' or not and personally, I don't find this to be the case, in this instance.

Ann Isik

[shaun20483]

I recall hearing her Isolde on 3 consecutive nights at Covent Garden and every time it took me quite a few hours to return to normal-her presence, commitment to the role right from the onset was amazing! And that voice- like a tsunami-wonderful (though imperfect, of course,but if one can sing like that-who the hell cares?) Bravo Gwyneth!

[j72050]

I hear at 76 she still sings.....what a gigantic voice that devours the notes, like a shark eating a minnow......

[Alexmeister25]

Nicht schlecht, aber Gwyneth jones hat ein andere tecnica, alt tecnica, in youtube Gwyneth jones, bist alte fraun, für alte fraun, bist sea schön in youtube, sie hat 67 jahre alte oder plus. Sie hat ein schön history in music welt, und ich hat ein schön Cd, recordind `` DECCA ´´, 1979 in opera Die (Ägyptische Helena)-Richard strauss, bist sea fantastisch.

Tut mir leid, aber ist mein mäntalitet.

[erar01]

Good around and just before the climax. And at the very end. Apart from that it is utterly horrible. Glissandi up to the tone followed by a tormenting all-over-the-place vibrato.

[nikodemus7777]

Where is the fantastic end???

[SPTN58]

I love Dame Gwyneth (saw her live in Vienna and NYC many times), but her straight-toned attacks, the wobble, and the generally laborious nature of her tone production is not as easily listened to as other exponents of this role.

[Rastignac2008]

I happen to like her voice. Vocally, she is gorgeous, and the interpretation so spiritually and emotionally intense.

[robertcarito]

Does anyone agree with me when I say that this is the most annoying Liebestod ever? My God! The lyrics are so laboriously delivered in the sloooowest fashion possible. The greatest and most difficult aria for a soprano becomes difficult to get through here. I love Isolde, but Jones' pronunciation at the end of the aria is poor, and even though she basically hits her higher register, when she goes slow...she goes slooooooow....

[urgrad03]

Gorgeous, yes. The most difficult? Nah. But, I can see why you would be annoyed by Jones' tendency to be very deliberate with the lyrics. Many a Libestode will drag on 8 minutes or so, so this one's not bad.

[Operataurus]

I very much doubt that the soprano in Tristan can ever control the tempo - the conductor is responsible for that. There are no absolutes with tempi anyway.

Jones negotiates the pacing of this scene with great intensity. Can't imagine anyone in the theatre was disturbed by the speed.

Wagner, of all composers, wanted singers to make an effort with the words. This is theatre afterall

[belcantovendicatore]

Annoying ever?Listen to Verret's...it is a Porgy and Bess version of Tristan!

[erar01]

Verret's version is beautiful and compared to this very enjoyable. Do you by calling it "Porgy and Bess version" refer to that Verret is black? Well, that's quite obvious, but irrelevant.

[belcantovendicatore]

No I meant because she sings evrything with that style...apart from that she is not"very enjoyable"at all:she is flat,and her german is awful.

[erar01]

Totally agree. She butchers the piece.

[Operataurus]

Here we go again......such dismissive comments are a little vexing in any circumstances.

Don't judge a singer only by how she sounds on youtube. Do you have any notion of how difficult it is to record a huge voice? Jones was past her best here in purely vocal terms but there are many many other things to compensate. She is one of the most celebrated singers living and it has nothing to with PR.

[erar01]

Sorry if you felt I insulted your favorit diva. I am not at all judging mrs Jones as a singer. There are several clips here on youtube from early on in her career where she sings brilliantly. This is not one of them though and I was merely commenting this version of Isolde's Liebestod.

[Operataurus]

Wouldn't say she is my favourite singer, though I admire her achievements. I am not pointing the finger at you here but it would be great if people were a little more sympathetic to the super-human challenges posed to singers by such music.Years of work, commitment, investment and slow development are the reality of singers' lives(not very glamourous really).Good that people respond personally to what they hear but why often with such bile and such negativity?

[Operanut9]

Jones was always uncomfotable to listen to. She was off key and downright squally much of the time.

[promptersbox]

Ha ha ha ha!

The deaf speak.

[beacoloratura]

Love her voice. It is so much better than Nilsson's: the top! Nilsson, also in this aria, has a "lid" on the top and makes me uncomfortable. Gwyneth has such a gorgeous, natural-sounding top. And middle... and bottom...

I always remember H. C. comment in Sunday Times: "shame she never learned to sing". Shows you not to trust critics...

[TommyHaegin]

I totally disagree as will most people understanding a thing about singing: Nilsson's voice is much more perfect and even in all registers, and she never slips into the notes as Jones often does. But I do like Jones very much, she is a great artist and very expressive. I think this particular video is from later in her career. She showed more ease when she was younger. Nilsson is just untouchable.

[Operanut9]

Tommy,

The weight of history is on your side!!

[belcunto]

@Operanut9 yes, but all great truths begin as blasphemies :P

[juancar988]

Gwyneth Jones to me is one first dame of Opera and her Isolden it is wonderful with her dramatic voice and strong attitude. I love she.

[franz0woyzeck]

love Dame Gwyneth, interesting interpretation. Is it just me or does Hanna Schwarz become more beautiful in every performance.

[NonInflatable]

I've listened to most of the You Tube Liebestods. It's like a box of chocolates, all different and all delicious.

Which to pick?

It's still Birgit Nilsson for me.

Jessye Norman would have been wonderful, but for the smothering of the two great climaxes by Karajan.

The sheer power of Nina Stemme's voice is astonishing.

[CalifaJohn]

Recordings can never capture the full power of her voice. I am grateful that I got to hear her sing live many times before her retirement.

[Rastignac2008]

Well, she hasn't yet retired, and has recently performed in Poulenc Voix Humaine, as the Queen of Hearts in Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland and Herodias in Salome. Euroarts has just released the dvd of Alice in Wonderland, taped in Munich last June.

[cek1111]

Great!

[MezzoMaleprano]

This woman is what the operatic world calls a "Sacred Monster" She is utterly fantastic vocally and as a complete artist...I definitely love her.

[raywong]

Dame Gwyneth was already in her mid-50s here. But what dramatic dedication and generous singing! The vibrato is under control. Beautiful ending, too. No, it's not perfect, but it still compares favourably with most current exponents of the role who're mostly pushed-up jugendlich dramatisch soprans, who, after taking on this type of roles, begin to lose their top notes and vocal quality when they're just in their 40s.

[moghedien13]

I feel like when a great voice like this gets older we keep listening because every now and then they will have one of those amazing nights where it seems as if they are back inn their prime and its like your taken to a fantasy world when that happens and Dame Gwyneth Jones, who was always an inconsistent performer, is def one of those.

[Mazeppa9]

Gwyneth caught riding high at the peak of her greatness, at home with Friedrich's marvellous less-is-more direction. A marvel.

[52dalibor]

i find gwyneth's performance more convincing than the comments of these pygmies.

[dare57]

Treason!Retire...

[Hako2004]

Personally, I would rather hear a great instrument passed it's prime than a mediocre instrument in it's prime. Once a great voice is silent, there are only recordings. Some prefer that great singers retire while still singing at their highest level.... and not tarnish their memory. I understand that, but a great artist has more to offer than perfect sound.  Her instrument is very rare, and even though it's aging, and showing imperfections, a wonder to hear.

[nathnwil]

I totally agree with you. Some of these "younger" singers could learn a lot from some of the great singers "bad" performances. The "B" singers of bygone eras could give most of the "A" list singers a run for their money today! The singers of today are like the culture of today...they lack depth, commitment and pathos when it comes to their singing and/or their art! Keep on singing Gwyneth! Sing until you can't anymore!

[williamsagency]

DAME GWYNETH JONES!!! What more can be said about this incredible woman? Her drama negates any vocal inadequacies she may have. She is simply amazing.

[thotmosis]

JUST GREAT!!!!

[timsuffolk]

Its all a matter or personal preference, I never found her voice ugly in any way

[Heldenexpresso]

I can't agree with you on that Stellavox, Gwyneth's vibrato may be slower but u can CLEARLY here the pitch. But true as one gets older the muscles don't work as well as they use to and your vibrato tends to get a little slower. And here the pitch is not compromised at at all, and it sure beats the hell out of some annoying fast vibrato like some opera singers.

[Stellavox]

Yes, I'm afraid Gwyneth's wonderful acting ability and stage presence is spoilt by this ugly vibrato. She's had it throughout her career - it got worse as the years passed. I heard her sing this piece in 2005. It was painful to listen to and I was embarrassed for her to be in the audience.

[nibelungensohn]

Judging from this clip, its really her excessive tendancy to "scoop" that's the problem.

I do understand as she got older the unsteadiness in her voice got worse.

[kennethadler]

an incredible singer, but not in this segment