Comments on: Hoffnung Festival

By: Camille

Camille — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:54:06 +0000

Thank you, Mr. MarshiemarkII for remedying this oversight.

Her Leonore was always a favorite of mine.
I do so hope you will be finding time enough to care for yourself in light of the loss of your beloved Hildegarde. May her wonderful soul rest in peace.

By: Camille

Camille — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 03:42:48 +0000

Thanks, Mr. Buster. Gre was something special; I love her Elisabeth in Tannhauser.

By: Buster

Buster — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:40:51 +0000

Great clips! Thanks a lot

Charlotte Margiono -- who will sing her final opera performance next month, I already ordered the flowers -- is my favorite living Fidelio too.

Could not find the Helen Donath -- Edda Moser duet from Leonore on youtube, unfortunately.

People who heard her live still rave about Gré Brouwenstein. Fabulous, like everything else she did:

The greatest Flagstad version for me is 1938 Bodanzky live from the Met.

By: marshiemarkII

marshiemarkII — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 05:25:15 +0000

Yes Werther, of course it’s really shocking that no one had yet mentioned the greatest Leonore of the last quarter of the last century. The favorite Leonore of Karajan, Solti and Dr Karl Boehm no less. One of the German Obituaries called her the greatest Leonore of all time!!!!

By: werther

werther — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 01:49:53 +0000

My fav was always Hildegard Behrens, which I am surprised nobody posted or mentioned until now.
But i´m really amazed by Christa Ludwig, whose version I didn´t know until now (thanks bob villa!!). The B in the end sounds so efortless! It´s really unbelievable how well she makes it sound! And it´s like you said, there is no second where the listener gets bored.

By: kashania

kashania — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:16:49 +0000

Better than not bad, I’d say. Pretty damn good.

By: kashania

kashania — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:32:27 +0000

Never heard of Margione before. Beautiful stuff. And you’re right, her voice suits Beethoven perfectly.

By: The Vicar of John Wakefield

The Vicar of John Wakefield — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:29:45 +0000

Fretwell is the touchstone here; in recent years Elizabeth Whitehouse has owned the role.

By: bob villa

bob villa — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 09:07:48 +0000

I´m kinda surprised I had to go as far as posting Christa´s version myself, cause I consider the only recording of this aria that makes sense out of Beethoven´s crazy vocal writing.

1. She finds and incredible balance of words and music right from the opening. She is actually speaking and singing at the same time, and neither loses yields to the other.

2. The arpeggio at ‘sie wird´s erreichen’ sores effortlessly

3. the horn player is awesome

4. its dramatically coherent, the only version that doesnt bore the listener at any point

5. when she growls down there in chest voice its simply intoxicating (and connected to the rest of the instrument)

6. the last note

7. she said she always ended up in the doctors office after singing this role. meaning, this music wasn´t just a fun sing, it was a huuuge sacrifice of her vocal capital that she didn´t mind giving to us.

8. done

By: Camille

Camille — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 04:11:01 +0000

Like floating in the heavens.

After this I can only say is

“Seid umschlungen, Millionen!
Diesen Kuss der ganzen Welt!”

Thank you, La Cieca, for making this possible and thank you, all you wonderful people who have posted this clips. Squirrel, thank you again, for your kind assistance. So lovely of you to help me in my incompetence.

By: CerquettiFarrell

CerquettiFarrell — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:52:55 +0000

I have so many versions but I’ll stick with two: Busch, still the best, and Talich. Can’t figure out which piece I love best, 132 or 131!

By: Camille

Camille — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:38:01 +0000

“One might say it goes beyond anything the human brain has ever created.”

Thank you Mmes. Cerquetti/Farrell for this great gift on this day of days.
I am so grateful as I have been playing nos. 127 and 131 all last week, first Cleveland, and now Takacs, and this is the big ne plus ultra of everything gone on this past week. Mo. Bernstein, wherever he is, must know he is remembered for this.

By: Camille

Camille — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:12:20 +0000

Danke, meine geliebte Leonie

By: Camille

Camille — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:03:48 +0000

Well then, it’s either a pair of mittens or a bottle of Jack Daniels.
Something to keep you warm whilst on the beat this winter.
Don’t forget that snazzy fedora, either.

and, once again, thank you for being so sweet. I really humbly and gratefully appreciate it as I AM RETRO!!

By: alex

alex — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:22:53 +0000

Love the posts so far! In honor of her passing, the Act 2 Quartet from Fidelio with Soderstrom!

(I like her Abscheulicher, too, but there are enough of them here already!)

By: RRnest Thesiger

RRnest Thesiger — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:17:04 +0000

I was prepared to dismiss Leider because I had such great memories of Jones and Rysanek, but Frida L. blew me away. What a great voice!

By: CerquettiFarrell

CerquettiFarrell — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:25:26 +0000

And here is clearly a forerunner of “Gott, welch ein Augenblick”

By: CerquettiFarrell

CerquettiFarrell — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:12:12 +0000

I searched youtube for Margiono’s Leonore or Ah! Perfido in vain, so here is an aria from the cantata on the death of Joseph II, beautiful music and lovely piece of singing

By: CerquettiFarrell

CerquettiFarrell — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:04:14 +0000

Since msot of my favourite versions of the Fidelio aria have already been posted, I’ll just say that I think between them, Jones, Leider and Rysanek get most of the role pretty perfectly. Fidelio is one of Norman’s better opera recordings, since the role is good for her voice and she seems to sympathize with the situation. Mattila was effective if smudgy. The late Inga Nielsen recorded a fairly decent stab at it, with the pretty perfect Goesta Winbergh. Never cared for Ludwig, too heavy. Nilsson was interesting in the Koeln radio broadcast under Kleiber, and sounded utterly different from the 1960s onwards Nilsson: the centre of the voice was noticeably lower than later on, resulting in much more beautiful and intersting sound IMHO. Jurinac is always surprisingly cold in this.
I know I will be murdered for this, but I absolutely love Charlotte Margiono’s Leonore. She sounds like a perfect Beethoven singer, if ther is such a thing, with this humane quality in the voice, the contact with the text, even the evident effort is part and parcel of Beethovenian aesthetics. I know, I know, the size of the voice doesn’t even begin to compete with the Wagnerians, but remember Beethoven’s orchestra had some 60 players in all, and the theatres were much smaller. For me her Ah! Perfido is also absolutely essential, the most beautiful and moving recording of the aria. Now shoot me.

By: Tamerlano

Tamerlano — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:59:38 +0000

You beat me to it on this one. A stunningly beautiful piece of singing, with that unique Wunderlich tone that manages to be at once pure and slightly dirty at the same time…there’s something of sex in that sound.

By: Big Q

Big Q — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:34:57 +0000

My baby brother designs pro-audio equipment and assures me the “warmer sound” of LPs belongs on the list with “one size fits all” and “facial quality toilet tissue.” He also laughs at people who buy Monster Cable, and he collects 78s which, as fetishes go, trumps LPs (no disrespect intended).

By: jfmurray3

jfmurray3 — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:10:54 +0000

I love this movement. Although at 0:34, I find myself singing “There’s a place for us…”

By: kashania

kashania — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:07:45 +0000

OK, the Leider is pretty much ideal to my ears — very close to Flagstad. Thanks Camille for suggesting it and Squirrel for posting it.

By: kashania

kashania — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 23:01:04 +0000

I’m going to be predictable and post Jessye’s recording, which I had not heard before today. With the exceptoin of the final high B, the aria sits very well in her voice. And dramatically, she has everything the aria requires — intensity in the opening, nobility in the middle, and a heroic quality in the final section. And her tone just suits Beethoven’s music really well. Now, I’m off to listen to the Leider and Bernstein clips…

By: kashania

kashania — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:44:26 +0000

Pre-Maude, post-Mame.

By: squirrel

squirrel — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:24:34 +0000

No doubt, the vinyl retro-lution is upon us. It’s having a huge comeback in pop music.

I buy LPs just because they are nice fetish-items, and for nostalgia, and they sound good enough. But I must admit that the oft-cited “warmer sound” is really bunk in my opinion. CDs have them completely beat in fidelity and warmth, plus the benefit of far fewer variables (quality of needle, turntable, balance of arm, etc.) that can go wrong.

By: pernille

pernille — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:23:15 +0000

oops, that was supposed to be a reply to Alto in thread 9. Sorry.

By: pernille

pernille — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:21:18 +0000

Well a number of chamber musicians I know prefer the warmer sound of vinyl to digital. And I understand their point. I wouldn’t want it to be “either-or” but I’m still hanging on to some of my vinyl recordings for that reason.
Apparently there are vinyl fans in popular music as well. Recent newspaper articles suggest so, and I think public radio even had a feature about some group ( I don’t follow that kind of music) that is releasing new vinyl ( with a free mp3 download with the purchase)

By: Alto

Alto — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 22:08:11 +0000

Squirrel, I see — and saw — the alternative-lifestyle aspect, but that’s why I ask if they don’t have to worry about making a living. It’s hard to think of occupations that don’t require or at least greatly profit from efficient electronic communication.

And, Pernille, who are all these people who are “re-embracing vinyl”? Seriously. I’ve been hearing this for at least fifteen years in casual remarks. Yes, I know a few people do it, just as some insist on using oil lamps instead of electric lights. But there must be more of the latter than the former.

By: CerquettiFarrell

CerquettiFarrell — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 20:31:30 +0000

Thanks all for some beautiful clips and here is one of my absolute favourites, the last minutes always leave me crying helplessly. It’s music by a dying soul unashamedly clinging to life.

And this is one of these introductions by Lenny that would send shivers down your spine