Marian Anderson - Die Forelle (Schubert)

Marian Anderson (1897-1993) singing Schubert's Die Forelle (The Trout) in 1936. Her voice changed a lot between this and the 1940's. Although famous for her spiritual recordings, she said that they were not part of her childhood; she had to learn them as an adult.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Marian
• Anderson
• Schubert
• Victor
• Orthophonic

[gtimny]

Yes, please repost this at the right speed. She sounds very odd and unrelaxed in this post. B-flat by all means, please.

[merrihew]

I compared it directly with a CD reissue transferred by David Rennick (who has a good reputation) and they are identical in pitch.

[gtimny]

Well, quality of reputation aside, and taking your word that the Rennick version is at the same pitch, then I'm afraid you're both wrong.  Besides the fact that Anderson sounds ridiculous in this (her vibrato for instance, and the slight unevennesses of rhythm which wouldn't be apparent at the right speed) the "low" key for this song is B-flat and this is coming out in B. Having read the rest of the comments now, I see someone else pointed this out to you two years ago. Why leave it like this?

[merrihew]

You accuse me of being wrong but I never said that I was right. I just synchronized this 78 with her 1966 version and the pitch is exactly the same. Nevertheless, I have contacted someone who should be able to verify. I certainly want this posting to be at the correct speed. By the way, you might try being a bit more civil.

[gtimny]

merrihew - if I seemed to you in any way uncivil, it's only because I think MA was one of the greatest lieder singers ever and I don't like to see her falsely represented. People have been telling you to fix the pitch on this for 2 years now. You admitted here yourself 1 year ago that you'd discovered that your machine was running fast and that you'd had it fixed, yet this damn silly sounding video is still here. So as politely as I can.... what gives?

[merrihew]

Actually I had posted this after I fixed the machine. I just played the record again using a strobe at 78.26 and its the same as my posted pitch - which, of course may still be wrong as you say. Ward Marston's (do you know who he is?)producer is going to check the posting against the score for me. I'll follow his recommendation. I appreciate where you're coming from and I do want to get it right. Did you see the MA documentary on PBS in the early '90's? If not I can sent you a VHS copy.

[NancyWhyteDance]

I grew up in the fifties hearing recordings of this wonderful singer. Thank you so much for posting this.

[Squarerig]

I am no musician but it does seem to me that there is too much hair-splitting and nit-picking here on tone,pitch and tempo.It is a beautiful piece and I am grate ful for your having posted it.Pace to all!

[opera888able]

What fascinates me about Anderson is her vocal range. She is classified as a contralto but has mastery over an astonishing range. beautiful singer master of leid.

Great pity she never appeared in more opera.

[Brace67]

Loved it. Played the way it was intended. All these arm-chair critics. What drivel. I have this same Marian Anderson recording of "The Trout" on a modern digital CD and have listened to it many times on my Sony CD player. No discernable difference between it and your playing on this vintage record player. All these experts feel compelled to weigh in about tempo, speed, etc. It sounds a little fast but so does my CD recording. So what? That's how it was originally done. Thanks for this posting.