Birtgit Nilsson & Leontyne Price in Turandot 1961

Giuseppe di Stefano as Calaf
Vienna. June 22, 1961

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Opera
• Puccini
• Turandot
• Birgit
• Nilsson
• Liu
• Leontyne
• Price

[liamandsarah]

I think today we do have voices that can match up to the old voices - I just don't think they ever make it to the stage because they do not fit into the confines that "modern" directors like to see - ie: thin like Anna Netrebko. none of the singers we love from the "golden age" of opera would get work these days because they don't conform to the newly established THIN mans opera.

[sospello]

In terms of significance to the most dramatic and vocally interesting parts of the opera, Liu is central; I think it is a mistake to give the part to sopranos who are not capable of making that clear. Leontyne Price is superlative; I wish she had done the part more; with Corelli replacing Di Stefano this would be the dream cast for Turandot--now Cesare Siepi for Timur and......

[arturo8402]

LP phrasing is AMAZING!

[Republicrat74]

I had the good fortune to see Nilsson as Turandot, with de Stefano as Calaf at the Lyric in Chicago in either 1960 or 61....don't recall who performed Liu. There are several roles which suited di Stefano's voice well but from my experience Calaf was not one of them. I was sitting in the 7th row on the right side of the main floor and it was evident he couldn't hold his own with Nilsson in the last act, getting red in the face trying to keep up during their duet. She was the perfect Turandot!

[sprinter848]

Price's performance is inexpressibly beautiful in sound and intensely moving. Truly heartbreaking , sublime...

[jimuk63]

@liamandsarah Goodness gracious "Opera is not meant to be a visual artform" I could have sworn that opera first took to the stage in the late 16th century when the only way to hear it was to see it too.

[liamandsarah]

@topmeat69 Jennifer Wilson is a pretty damn good Wagner Sop. There are some out there, they are obviously yet to be discovered. Saying good voices only existed during the golden age, is just ignorant. There are stunning voices today, I just think it's harder to forge a career, there is so much involved today. The competition is fierce and the pressure to conform to the "sex appeal" mould is hard, especially for the bigger voices, and money is short. Overall, it's just a different time.

[topmeat69]

@liamandsarah Where do YOU hear " voices that can match up to the old voices" -,where do you hear them today??

[tobobba]

wonderfull

[tobobba]

@topmeat69 I have..1978 in Tristan and Isolde..fabulose

[topmeat69]

@liamandsarah Can you share one with us on you tube??I can share LOTS of real bad one on your tube,sadly

[topmeat69]

@liamandsarah Lets not confuse fine art with entertainment,one can never be ther other.I'm thankful I'm not a snob or an opera queen, I love the best of entertainment and fine art.Well If these fine young voices do exist, YOU TUBE is a place they can be heard by the world for free,to see IF they can establish an audience.Anericans should be talking about which of the 8 young American Tenors they like best,There is no such talk because we dont have such Americans out there performing.