Verdi - Requiem / Price, Pavarotti, Cossotto, Ghiaurov, von Karajan, Teatro alla Scala
by Henri-Georges Clouzot
from Philips
Voices of Firestone: The Great Sopranos / Steber, Price, Tebaldi, Sayao, Nilsson, Moffo, Albanese, Peters, Munsel, Traubel, Sutherland
from Kultur Video
For more than thirty years, The Voice of Firestone brought the world's greatest artists into the homes of music lovers. Now, through a special arrangement with New England Conservatory in Boston, Kultur is proud to make these rare telecasts available to today's audience. CLASSICAL PERFORMANCES 1950-1963 ELEANOR STEBER: Dove sono (Mozart), My Hero (Strauss) JOAN SUTHERLAND: The Soldier Tir'd (Arne) LEONTYNE PRICE: O patria mia (Verdi) BIRGIT NILSSON: Suicidio (Ponchielli), Wien, du Stadt meiner Traume (Sieczynski) ANNA MOFFO: Jewel Song (Gounod) BIDU SAYĆ0 O mio babbino caro (Puccini) RENATA TEBALDI: Un bel di vedremo (Puccini) LICIA ALBANESE Ballatella (Leoncavallo) HELEN TRAUBEL: Du bist der Lenz (Wagner) ROBERTA PETERS: Der holle Rache, Batti batti (Mozart) PATRICE MUNSEL: Adele's Laughing Song (J. Strauss) JEANETTE MACDONALD: Italian Street Song (Herbert)
Verdi - La Forza del Destino (remastered)
by John Dexter
from Deutsche Grammophon
For much of the late 20th century, Leontyne Price was the leading exponent of Verdi's heroic soprano roles--among the most demanding vocal and dramatic categories in opera. One of her specialties was Leonora, the tormented heroine in La forza del destino (The Power of Fate). Her classic performance, combined with some of Verdi's most soaring and energetic music, did much to justify this flawed but compelling masterpiece--a thud-and-blunder melodrama about war, duels, violent death, guilt, vengeance, and concealed identities in which, following a tried and true operatic formula, nearly everybody dies at the end. There are also comic scenes.
A Metropolitan Opera production of La forza del destino starring Leontyne Price should be a basic item in any collection seriously dedicated to Verdi. This would be an even better production if it had been recorded earlier, when her voice was richer and more precisely controlled, but it is clearly a case of better late than never. The supporting cast is capable and sometimes exciting, but frankly no match for the all-star ensemble supporting Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli in a 1958 performance at the San Carlo Opera in Naples available only on VHS. That production is filmed in black and white; no subtitles are provided and the video's technical quality is primitive. But it captures the opera's emotional energy and epic scope. --Joe McLellan
Great Stars of Opera, Vol. 2 - Telecasts from the Bell Telephone Hour 1959-1967
from Video Artists Int'l
Verdi - La forza del destino / James Levine, The Metropolitan Opera
by Kirk Browning
from Geneon [Pioneer]
For much of the late 20th century, Leontyne Price was the leading exponent of Verdi's heroic soprano roles--among the most demanding vocal and dramatic categories in opera. One of her specialties was Leonora, the tormented heroine in La forza del destino (The Power of Fate). Her classic performance, combined with some of Verdi's most soaring and energetic music, did much to justify this flawed but compelling masterpiece--a thud-and-blunder melodrama about war, duels, violent death, guilt, vengeance, and concealed identities in which, following a tried and true operatic formula, nearly everybody dies at the end. There are also comic scenes.
A Metropolitan Opera production of La forza del destino starring Leontyne Price should be a basic item in any collection seriously dedicated to Verdi. This would be an even better production if it had been recorded earlier, when her voice was richer and more precisely controlled, but it is clearly a case of better late than never. The supporting cast is capable and sometimes exciting, but frankly no match for the all-star ensemble supporting Renata Tebaldi and Franco Corelli in a 1958 performance at the San Carlo Opera in Naples available only on VHS. That production is filmed in black and white; no subtitles are provided and the video's technical quality is primitive. But it captures the opera's emotional energy and epic scope. --Joe McLellan
La Forza del Destino in Verdi's panoramic tragedy of honor and vengeance in 18th Century Spain an dIntaly. Its characters, ranging from aristocrats to camp followers, from soldiers to monks. Leotyne Price's memorable performance as leonora "can still bring tears to the eyes." "James Levine's conducting is full of drive and fire,"and "the grandeur of the magnificent score come through" New York Times This presentation of La Forza del Destino includes optional English subtitles and was taped during the March 24, 1984 performance at the Metropolitan Opera. No material was taken from rehearsals, other performances or remake recording sessions. Optional English Subtitles "a first class performance" -Washington Post
The Art of Leontyne Price / Aida Act III, Bell Telephone Hour Arias, Concert with Charles Dutoit and Montreal Symphony Orchestra
from Video Artists Int'l
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