Leontyne Price "Frühling" Strauss' Vier Letzte Lieder

NY, 1979

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Opera
• Song
• Strauss
• Leontyne
• Price

[sillyboydeux]

This is magnificent, even with the scoops. She did this at one of her Carnegie Hall concerts and had cleaned up a few of the technical problems. But who cares? This is the most beautiful voice of her generation, with Arroyo in the wings. What a woman, what an era! When she did her farewell Aida I said opera was really really finished now!

[MissFireMagic]

AWESOME!

[tuberobotto]

Unbelievable how the texture of her voice adds more color to the orchestra when they start blending in the high registers. I even believe she adds weight and thickness to the entire set of songs. It's a breakaway from the Germanic singing traditions of Strauss's time and the bel cantos but it's such a refreshing approach. I love Mdme Leontyne Price.

[puppi1974]

wawwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww



[4114224]

After listening to many of the interpretations of this song available on YouTube, I find this performance to be the most viscerally exciting version of them all, precisely for the reason expressed by Bigman240. Along with the freedom and spontaneity, there is so much vocal thrust and individuality. The reservations people are mentioning about the stylistic aspects add to this sense of excitement. This is no studied and preciously echt performance a la Schwarzkopf, but a live pulsating rendition

[GuidoKaiserBariton1]

Phantastische Sängerin, wundervoll ! Einfach eine andere Generation.....

[sirenadellopera]

I love you, Ms. Price. Thank you!

[piotrsergei]

wonderful voice, ok but what an awful style ! she makes degueulandi (or "port de voix") in half of the song and she doesn't seem to understand very well what she's singing about. Go and hear Elisabeth Söderström, she was the appropriate one to sing that repertoire !

[Bigman240]

What's truly amazing about her singing is the FREEDOM of the voice, spontaneity, perfect pitch, balance of sound/support producing no strain and resonant tone. Where are these voices today?????

[silvanero]

An Absolutely Glorious voice. Who cares about the little scoops here and there!! You have to get to the notes somehow and somedays you just don't feel vocally there and do what you have to to communicate the music. Brava Leontyne !!! If we were all machines, you could push a buttons and get everything sung "perfectly" but it's those imperfections that tell us WHO you are when you sing. And She tells us much when she sings !!!!

[maxpowermezzo]

"Frühling", right?  Thanks for posting!!

[liedersanger1]

@sillyboydeux The only time she sang these in Carnegie Hall was in 1971, with the Minnesota Orchestra. It's on YouTube. I'm not sure that version is better; I think her voice in the late 70s was finally the right weight for these songs. You're right about the scoops, of course--but they clear up after the initial phrases, don't they? She told John Culshaw, who produced this, that she wanted to record these songs again--I wish she had. I think this is better than the set with Leinsdorf.