4.0 out of 5 stars
A souvenir of two great singers in stately music ideally suited to their voices, July 8, 2011
This review is from: Gluck: Opera Highlights (Audio CD)
This Alto disc is very cheap and provides souvenirs of two great singers in favourite roles, singing music ideally suited to their gifts and timbre. Conductor Fritz Stiedry might have been unpleasant to Kathleen Ferrier about her acting skills but at least that proceeded from his proper sense of the dramatic, thus his tempi are surprisingly swift and his drive very welcome in music that can easily become bogged down. Ferrier's big numbers here sound far more involved than in other live performances and on her recital records. It is such a beautiful voice: a warm, vibrant viola tone with an emotional directness which plumbs the depths both literally and metaphorically. Her Italian vowels at this stage are still a bit British but really not too bad. The Glyndebourne chorus is surprisingly good in this 1947 recording even if some of the instrumental playing is scrappy and ill-tuned.
There is no denying that Flagstad's voice was worn by the time she recorded "Alceste" in 1956, when she was over sixty. There is some wear and edge in the tone and she tends to scoop, yet the B flat is still there, as is the majestic amplitude, the smooth legato and the broad phrasing underpinned by plenty of breath. Of course this is in good stereo whereas the "Orfeo" is in mono but cleaned up to remove the hiss without shaving off too many of the top frequencies.
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