Essential

Leontyne Price (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 13, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 11
• Label: RCA
• ASIN: B000003FWD
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #425,479 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #74 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Divas > Price, Leontyne

Track Listings

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

This 11-CD set, one might say jokingly, contains all the music ever written for the soprano voice and a bit for mezzo as well. And indeed, it's a staggering collection: In addition to her great Verdi heroines (the two Leonoras, Aida, Amelia, and Elvira in Ernani), Price is heard in her Puccini roles--Manon Lescaut, Butterfly, Tosca--and at least two dozen other roles, most of which she never sang on stage. Here are her heroic, secure Leonore in Fidelio, Strauss's high-flying Egyptian Helen, Purcell's Dido, Barber's Cleopatra, Bellini's Norma, Ariadne, Verdi's Violetta and Desdemona, Bizet's Carmen, Mozart's Countess, and Fiordiligi. Some are, naturally, more successful than others; almost none are embarrassing (Carmen comes close). In addition, she sings songs by Schubert, Schumann, and Strauss--none of them as well as say, Janet Baker or Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and Barber's Knoxville, etc.--quite beautifully. Berlioz's Les Nuits d'été is not very good, but a group of spirituals is. In all, however, this is an amazing display by one of the century's greatest sopranos. There may be no new depths plumbed here, but the singing is a knockout. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brava! Can we have more? "Essential 2, perhaps?", August 18, 1999

By 

Michael Newberry (Santa Monica) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Essential (Audio CD)

Leontyne Price is one of the great artists of the 20th Century. She possesses a glorious highflying voice that is agile, full bodied and she has the uncanny ability to oscillate from smoky lows through rich middle tones to ethereal highs. When you combine all that with the passion she projects and the thoughtfulness she imbues to the lyrics, you get, something like, heaven on earth. I saw this compellation, jumped for joy, and bought it; it since has given me ecstatic pleasure. There are many excerpts from her famous roles. What is fascinating are some of the arias from operas she didn't perform or didn't record complete. If you want to know what a great Verdian singer she is listen to what she does with La Traviata, a role she never performed or recorded, and compare that to any Violetta. For years I had been looking for a CD version of her "Blue Album", Puccini and Verdi arias, and I was delighted that some of the tracks are here, like the riveting death aria of Butterfly's. I am not a musical expert, don't know the ins and outs of performance technique, but I love her Mozart. Some people have said that she is romantic, too warm and passionate for him. Interestingly, Maria Callas in The Master Class (the 3 CD set), said that most singers are too careful with Mozart, and Leontyne definitely goes full throttle. All the takes from Cosi Fan Tutti are beautiful. There are two CDs here of duets with the likes of Domingo, Horne, and Corelli. It can also be read "Operas Greatest Moments". A section of the spirituals, accompanied by the Rust College Choir, with no orchestra, is very powerful though it is quite understated. The mood, rhythm, and expression in I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free haunts me in my dreams. Were You There, sung acapella, is something I experience very... still, very quite in my soul. There is a difference between Leontyne's Spirituals and the live performance of Spirituals with Norman and Battle. The latter have the feeling of bravado in their singing, but Price has pathos, and something fastidious-like, even though she is singing for us there here is something private. Lieder is not my "cup of tea", but I think that is mostly because they are intimate songs where the words matter a great deal, and there is less musical drama. But when I understand what she is singing, like the Barber's Knoxville, it's a very moving experience. Obviously, I am a fan. But this collection is not easy; it takes time to assimilate it all, but then, think what it took to make it. Its really a small price to pay for Leontyne's dedication and genius, and isn't fantastic that such music and such a voice can be had on CD.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the greatest american soprano of the 20th century, December 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Essential (Audio CD)

This collection of arias, art songs, and spirituals is truly amazing for the sheer breadth and depth of this soprano's artistry. It is hard to imagine any Verdi soprano after Ms. Price who could offer us the smoky richness of her vocal color, and there are so many wonderful selections, many of them being roles she did not perform on stage. Among my personal favorites are her scene from Dialogues of the Carmelites, the Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin, and the drama of her Lady Macbeth. For those of us who heard Ms. Price over the years in opera and concert, this collection brings back wonderful memories...It is truly a must-have for any serious opera lover.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE WONDERFUL LEONTYNE PRICE, September 15, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Essential (Audio CD)

Leontine Price es una de las cantantes mas fascinantes del siglo. Su dominio técnico, sus enormes cualidades de intérprete, la belleza sinigual de su timbre (cálido, como un terciopelo rojo cubierto de rubíes), la enorme potencia de su voz, siempre al servicio de un temperamento y una personalidad únicos, la convierten en una de las mayores cantantes-actrices que hayamos conocido. La presentación de los once discos está tan bién hecha que ya nos hace presentir lo que vamos a escuchar: una presentación personalísima y adecuadísima como las interpretaciones que de las diferentes arias, dúos,fragmentos de opera, canciones, himnos, etc. oímos en la voz de Leontyne. Probablemente estamos escuchando a una de las tres o cuatro cantantes que merecen el calificativo de ARTISTA desde que se conoce el sonido grabado. Por desgracia nunca he podido ver a Leontyne Price en un escenario; si hubiera podido creo que habria sido una de las experiencias mas extraordinarias de mi vida. Si me preguntaran cual es el tesoro mas grande de todos los Estados Unidos, no tendría duda: Leontyne Price.