Leontyne Price: The Prima Donna Collection; Highlights
2007; Routledge; Volume: 63; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Musicology and Musical Analysis
ResumoLeontyne Price: The Prima Donna Collection; Highlights. Leontyne Price, soprano. RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra; London Symphony Orchestra; Philharmonia Orchestra; New Philharmonia Orchestra. Francesco Molinari-Pradelli, Edward Downes, Henry Lewis, Nello Santi, conductors. (RCA Gold Seal 09026-62596-2; 75:02) Purcell: When I am laid in earth (Dido and Aeneas). Gluck: Divinites du Styx (Alceste). Verdi: Caro nome (Rigoletto); Come in quest'ora bruna (Simon Boccanegra). Charpentier: Depuis le jour (Louise). Bizet: Je dis que rien (Carmen). Wagner: Mild und leise (Tristan und Isolde). Puccini: Senza Mamma (Suor Angelica). Massenet: Adieu, notre petite table (Manon). Giordano: La mamma morta (Andrea Chenier). Dvorak: Song to the Moon (Rusalka). Korngold: Gluck, das mir verblieb (Die tote Stadt). Barber: Do not utter a word (Vanessa). I have always insisted that my students listen to recordings of great artists of the past and present. Early on I assembled sets of tapes with representative performers from separate voice categories to which I encouraged my students to listen. The major singers would include Jussi Bjorling, Nicolai Gedda, Luciano Pavarotti, Leonard Warren, Robert Merrill, William Wallace, Dmitri Hvorostovsky, Renata Tebaldi, Eleanor Steber, Leontyne Price, and Renee Fleming, just to name a few. If it must be just several, then let it be Bjorling, Warren, Price, and Steber. [Richard Miller] From his larger list of paradigmatic singing artists, Dr. Miller singled out four exemplary singers, each having left behind a rich recorded legacy. Extensive discussion of their respective discographies will not be possible, given both time and space constraints, but for each singer a singularly praiseworthy recording will be recommended. These should be regarded as ideal introductions to these fine singers and to the qualities that made each of them a unique and treasured artist. The four singers Miller identified represent in various ways the very pinnacle of their craft, but Leontyne Price represents something more. Not only was she one of the most revered artists of her time, she was also one of the most powerful symbols of a new era of opportunity for African Americans in this country. President Lyndon Johnson bestowed on her the Medal of Freedom, among the highest honors that our country can give to a civilian, and he did so less than five years after her historic Met debut, while she had more than twenty years of singing yet to share with the world. Price was honored the next year with the starring role in the first opera to be performed at the new Metropolitan Opera House in 1966, and when the company observed its centennial with a spectacular gala concert in 1983, she was chosen with Luciano Pavarotti to finish out that celebration. Two years later, during the unforgettable live telecast of her farewell opera performance as Aida, she was treated to the greatest ovation accorded any singer in a Met telecast before or since. Outstanding recitals and concerts continued for a decade after that, before she finally slipped away into much deserved retirement. Then in the wake of 9/11, she emerged from retirement quite unexpectedly to perform in a Concert of Remembrance at Carnegie Hall in honor of her country and in memory of those who had perished on that terrible day. Her heartbroken yet unbowed majesty that day as she sang America the Beautiful called to mind President Johnson's words from more than thirty five years earlier, when he said that her singing has illumined her land. One would hope that a singer who achieved all that and more could not possibly slip into obscurity, especially because she left such a rich recorded legacy behind her. And yet, in an admittedly unscientific study, this writer asked seven vocal performance majors at two different schools if they had ever heard of Leontyne Price or heard her sing; two of them thought they had heard the name, only one of them had heard her on a recording, and none of them could say anything about who she was or what she had accomplished. …
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