Lucia POPP sings Gretchen am Spinnrade

[Altonahh10]

Das unglaubliche Talent Schuberts als Komponist wird für mich immer wieder mit diesem Lied plastisch. Das Bild des Spinnrads in der Monotonie der Melodie muss eine Sängerin erst einmal meistern. Und vor allem den Wahnsinn, dem Gretchen immer näher ist. Popp hat natürlich die perfekte Stimmfarbe für Gretchen und eine technische Meisterin ist sie ja sowieso.

[Ludlow889]

Gorgeously sung, as always. Love Lucia, love Franz.

[SavedSMVElove]

Amazing sound and resonance in her vocals! You've also gotta love Schubert for his tremendous vocal lines.

[SugarTomAppleRoger]

@bassfanne45 "You might also like to listen to Barbara Bonney's"

Of course I will. I always love whatever Barbara does. love Lucia also. Everything Lucia does is perfect for me. She is Miss Perfect.

[ZeevRoizman]

The best of the best. Beautiful!

[romanticgeek87]

Learning this song now, geez wish I could sing like her.

[Denuhm]

@romanticgeek87 you and I both xD(on both counts xD)

[robertavaleria68]

Very beautiful !!!

[DonnaVetta]

do you know who is the pianist in this recording?

[Pianokitty23]

WOW!!! What a performance.....that gave me chills!

[OrangeSodaKing]

I am a pianist who only likes to sing for fun, but I still appreciate the sheer beauty of her voice and the very convincing "spinning" sound produced by the pianist. 5 stars!

[Azzenstudent]

After listening to Gundula Janowitz and Kiri Te Kanawa put this song to sleep, it's easier to appreciate the vocal assumption that Popp made here. She's a light-lyric soprano singing a song with such dramatic intensity that her voice nearly comes unglued. But what passion! This is why Popp may well have been the greatest female Schubert of interpreter of the modern era. Other vocalists graced this song with greater beauty but none with greater conviction.

[swanningaround]

Azzen. I know what you mean. It just shows that even Gundula and Kiri are not perfect.

[BazzasBest]

@Azzenstudent ... and no one writes more lucidly or gets more to the heart of the matter!

[wayne2k33]

amazing... never get tired of Lucia Popp!!! One of the most expressive voices of the 20th century.

[andreagranadosa]

Maravilloso.

[ZsaZsadoll]

Beautiful*********

[semprelegato]

her voice is GORGEOUS!

[jackylen57]

Quelle jolie voix ! Elle m'émeut toujours

Merci

[acatalano2641]

The lovely Lucia Popp, beautiful voice. Thank you.

[kaylatrailor]

i like this tempo the best.

and her tone - fab :)

[lochness11]

Thanks for sending this to me.Another wonderful Schubert piece,beautifully sung.

[joanna4659]

The accompaniment is so amazingly written!

[MrPHBarr1919]

mesmerizing

[saverioorlando]

Very fine singer.She works about Goethe's poetry+ music perfectly.

[timaenot]

But what a talent Schubert was - he, a man, was able to feel the misery of Goethes Gretchen this profoundly...

[clam0391]

I believe he was still a teenager when he wrote this song, too

[JediLongOne]

Yeah, Schubert was 17 when he wrote this. It's his Opus 2. lol

[toniatonne]

not lol what do you mean by lol? it is admirable, uncommon and just amazing that he could create so much tension in this piece!!!

[Barbapippo]

@timaenot  not a man... a 17 year old boy!!!!

[ProphetCassandra]

@Barbapippo Schubert was 17 years old when he wrote this??? seriously?

[Barbapippo]

@ProphetCassandra yes! He composed this lied in 1814

[sprayberryjoy]

@Barbapippo yes! so crazy!!! what a genius!



[timaenot]

Her voice suits the song so well! Beautiful, emotionally nuanced and deeply felt performance!

[hiflynblues]

WOW! I love her smooth expression. And the beauty of the rich sound.*****

[theropodia]

Lucia Popp is one of my favorite singers... BUT this reading is seems a bit planned. To take one of the seminal songs of all and give it such a planned and controlled reading is a bitdisappointing. I do no hear the desperation i crave here/

[AccidentalTouch]

Strange but very interesting interpretation. Until today I just knew the recording by Christa Ludwig and it's played way faster. Ôo

[CptJackSparrowLove]

Mhm, I did this song for a performance(There was an accompaniment cd with my music book) and it was much faster than this. It sounds much better faster. It's more spinning wheel like.

[Azzenstudent]

Irwin Gage.

[LLehmannfan]

I like this recording very much, because Lucia didn't sing the song with the shrill and "dramatic" timbre often used by singers of the "second row".

Here the melody just flows quite seamless.

Thanks a lot!

[Musettaprof]

Me encanta, el lied y la intérprete.

[opiuytc]

Also Barbara Hendricks and Radu Lupu play the lied wonderful, excepting the german pronontiation of Hendricks

[swanningaround]

opiuytc. I would love to hear that! Radu Lupu is about my favorite pianist.

[opiuytc]

Anybody listened the recording with Schwarzkopf and Edwin Fischer? Nothing else matters.

[shearmanny]

I still think that Christa Ludwig is the best Gretchen am Spinnrade.

[germanbigdaddy]

I still think that I should be working in college, helping all those young women perform Gretchen am Spinnrad *bösesgrinsen*

[pfhrsharp]

She is just an awesome singer.  Hands down!!!! I love her voice!!

[blairinnyc]

This was lovely, but I think my favorite interpretation is still Jessye Norman singing this. Definitely worth a listen!!!

[Azzenstudent]

Popp did sing Wagner (Eva, Elsa, and on record, Elizabeth). As she matured, her voice became "jugendlich dramatische", fuller and more sensuous. But it was never a big voice. I admired Popp's risk-taking but she was close to being the opposite of Birgit Nilssen.

[AlexiouValenti]

Most singers are close to being the opposite of her!! With that voice no one could touch her!!!

[Pathetikos]

absolutely the best

[jm960]

Brilliant. Absurd to suggest this Lied was outside here Fach....give me a break. Have a listen to the Fleming- Eschenbach recording for a real laugh. It sounds like pornographic verismo with the longest Kuss in history....roaring and exciting but not Schubert.

[claraclairbert]

I don't know this recording but I heared the song live by Fleming some years ago and I had exactly the same impression. In French we say, it's du "chiqué", meaning that everything is prepared with effect in view. With Popp, we have a real emotion.

[Azzenstudent]

Just to be clear, I'm an unapologetic Popp fan. Her artistry was first-rate. Great singers are judged not by the imperfections in their instrument (Callas would be the most obvious example here) but by their emotional idenitication in conveying the material at hand. Her vocal limitations notwithstanding, Popp was a major artist. I saw her perform at least a half dozen times and no one surpassed her in expressing a character's humanity.

[Azzenstudent]

Elly Ameling and Lucia Popp had different voices even thought they were both classified as lyric sopranos. As she matured, Popp's top began to narrow and her high notes often sounded forced, although she was still able to float ravishing pianissimi. Singers like Ameling, Edith Mathis, or Kathleen Battle were able to "bloom" at the top naturally - their voices didn't strain under pressure.

[gspaulsson]

Come on, Schubert doesn't tax his singers technically. I think the high A near the end here is the highest note he ever wrote in a lied. Expression is everything.

[MarcionusNovus]

Co-sign on the top note observation except for Kathleen - she "bloomed" up to a C or C#6 but above that - ew. Listen to her "Una voce poco fa" or better/worse, "Grossmächtige Prinzessin". Everything above a D flat is dry and thiiiiis close to a scream.

[baakal01]

I disagree; I think she has a lot of beautiful sounds and great intensity.

[CinnamonHunter]

This is the best version of this song! Her voice is high and clearly without any pressure, but bright and free! Great!

[BravaBerganza01]

I have the same opinion as you!!! I don´t agree with the opinion of "Azzenstudent" - I don´t think, that this song was not for Lucia´s voice. She sings it incredible, without any slip!!! and also very dearly and feelingly *BRAVO LUCINKA*

[Azzenstudent]

As much as I love Popp, this song is simply wrong for her voice. The fortissimo on "dein kuss" really suffers for lack of heft. Popp, of course, was famous for singing outside her "fach". While I admired her courage, I used to think she was exposing her voice unnecessarily. Sometimes the overall result was worth the risk, but in this case, probably not.

[PeterPetronovich]

Elly Ameling sang this. How could Popp's voice be wrong for this song?

[AlexiouValenti]

I know a 14 year old girl who sings this song beautifuly,in a very similar way to lucia!! I think that it is much better with a lighter (or younger ) voice but with plenty of emoition thana hefty voice with no emoition!!

oh and by the way are you aware that Lucia sang Wagner? I highly dount that anyone who could sing even the lighter wahner would have a voice too small for a lied!!

[Azzenstudent]

I heard Popp sing at least a half-dozen times back in the 70s ( as Sophie, Susanna, Rosina, Zerlina, Despina). Her voice was small and easily got swamped by others in ensembles. I don't mean this as a criticism. She was who she was, and her voice was quite pure for this reason. Bigger voices almost invariably sacrifice tonal beauty for size.

[Glenmed]

Lucia Popp! Dakujem vám!

[LaViolettaValery]

I love Lucia Popp! Thank God for this voice!

[boekelman]

Great singer with a very own sound, lovely and bright!

[civileso]

Lovely rendition. Very heartfelt and passionate.. A great pic, too!