Customer Reviews

Opera Arias & Concert Songs

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was most impressed by this issue.The sound quality is exemplary and the potted biography illuminating. Coming to the the "voice" itself, it is an extraordinary instrument, not unlike Titta Ruffo in timbre and power, and melifluous in the more tender moments. My only disappointment centred on the Falstaff and Otello items: a little too generalised, where perhaps he could have sacrificed beauty of tone for the characterisation displaid elsewhere on these discs and of course in his complete recordings. But never mind. This is certainly a collection worth having and one which I shall return to with pleasure and admiration. Please can we have more of his deleted material?

Leonard Warren possessed an unusual voice; a lyric baritone with the fullness of a powerful basso cantante. His high notes traveled into the upper baritone stratosphere, with a beauty matched to my ears only by Riccardo Stracciari... and he sang them with an ease most tenors can only envy. (And I love the tenor voice, don't make any mistake about that!) Listening to this two CD set brought one thing forth to my mind- Leonard Warren flat out enjoyed singing and he enjoyed spreading that fabulous feeling far and wide.
Listen to his renditions of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, the four sea shanties gracing this disc, and America the Beautiful. How many singers have ever rendered these old songs with such enthusiasm and beauty? To my ears, few can compare. A Little Bit of Heaven is a charming little piece of nostalgia for old Ireland, with perfectly placed high notes that provide a baritone counterpoint to the marvelous Scottish and Irish tenors that have graced our ears throughout this century. The sound on most of the songs is clear, showing off Warren's voice to his and the listeners' advantage.
Now we come to the opera arias and there's a rich assortment on display here. The Gounod Faust aria is from a rare Russian concert recording and is gorgeous, though it's accompanied by a piano. (Nothing against pianos, but I wanted the full orchestra. On other selections in the songs CD, the piano works superbly. Just a matter of personal taste.) The classic Scintille Diamant from Offenbach's Tales of Hoffman shows off his upper range, as he hits the high G-sharps with authority and ease. One of my favorites is the great aria from Verdi's MacBeth, in which Warren gets it all together. MacBeth's humanity is rarely on display in this version of the drama, but here it is in spades, along with his arrogance, fear, and anger at being attacked. "Birnam Wood on the march indeed!" The ease and fullness of the high notes, which are all in service to one of Warren's greatest characterizations, are a wonder.
Don't get the idea that only his high notes sounded good, or that Warren was a bellowing beast. He floated a pillowy pianissimo that has to be heard to be believed. The only other baritone voice that compares in this respect, of those whom I have heard, is Cornell MacNeil. I regret that there seems to be no great baritone duets these two great singers could have engaged in, like Verdi provided for bassos in Don Carlos. Does anyone out there remember either of the two great performances by Ghiaurov and Talvela of the King Philip/Grand Inquisitor duets under either Stein or Solti?
Back to Leonard Warren...
In terms of sound on the opera selections, the later, the better, though most of the pieces sound fine. I must agree a bit with an earlier reviewer in the case of Il Balen, from Verdi's Il Trovatore. The sound is fuzzy, bloated, and unclear, at least on my machine... but most all the others sound fine on the same machine. What happened? I had several versions of this great aria on LP, and I do remember one of them being well below the sonic standard of any of the others. The version on the old Cellini conducted complete recording with Bjoerling and Milanov sounded fine, as did the version he recorded with Leontyne Price and Richard Tucker. Why have this one, which does a disservice to the singer and the CD as a whole? And where is his incredible Per me ora fatale from the same opera? Even hearing a badly recorded version of Leonard Warren performing this aria would be a thrill. His singing of Il Balen is excellent- it just sounds foggy. Except for that, I would recommend this set to anyone interested in Warren's singing who might not have many of these recordings on CD. If you have virtually all of them, why bother with this set... unless there's a song you just cannot live without?
The Otello excerpts are exceptional, and there's the treats of his Nemico della patria (Andrea Chenier by Giordano) and Di Provenza (La Traviata) which are my favorite versions of these arias.
To those who might love the singing of Sherrill Milnes and Thomas Hampson, Leonard Warren should be heard and savored for what he was: an American original we can all be proud of.

Leonard Warren was part of two great traditions: Firstly, from a tradition of American Baritones, featuring the likes of Robert Merrill, Cornell MacNeil, and more recently, Sherrill Milnes. Secondly, and sadly, from a tradition of opera singers who died when they should have been at the height of their powers: a list that includes Ettore Bastianini, Mario Lanza and countless others.

This collection shows the artistry of Leonard Warren. On the first cd, is the work most people would recognize Warren for, Rigoletto, Iago, with a few roles he didn't normally play thrown in, such as Escamillio, and most interestingly, Wolfram from Tannhauser.

The second cd is fun only if, like me, you like to hear opera singers singing, and singing well I might add, in a different medium. On this cd, Leonard Warren sings sea shanties, Irish songs, religious songs, all with that marvelous instrument of his. It was a side of Leonard Warren I Was excited to hear, to hear this American Baritone singing in English for once.

It's fantastic to see an artist of his calibre getting the recognition he deserves, and the two cds are an excellent purchase.

I could not wait for this collection when I first heard that the Leonard Warren Foundation was releasing it. Now that I have listened to it, I still think it is good, but the quality is just not the best. Maybe the age of the original recordings has something to do with the grainy sounds, but with today's technology it would seem that the sound quality would have been better. I still think Leonard Warren is the best baritone of this age (with Bryn Terfel running second). I will try to ignore the quality of the sound and concentrate on Warren's talent.

Thomas Hampson should be tied down and forced to listen to this great artist sing Verdi, THE WAY IT SUPPOSED TO BE SUNG. He would learn about phrasing, breath control, power, tone, artistry and drama all at the same time. Hampson can't carry Maestro Warren's scores for him.

I just read some reviews here that said the sound quality was not good on all the songs contained in this collection. Up to now I only have heard three of the songs on Disc 1...but they exemplify great singing. Those three songs from Pagliacci, The Barber of Seville, and La Traviata make this set worth buying in and of themselves. I read that Mr. Warren died at 49 years of age during an actual performance while singing on stage at The Metropolitan Opera House! That's quite a story! This set looks alittle expensive but I usually buy used---in this case $10 off the new price. I will listen some more to the rest of the set and ammend my review if necessary. But, for now, I'm very glad I purchased a sample of the beautiful voice and musical and dramatic artistry of Leonard Warren. Email:boland7214@aol.

Aside from 4 "previously unissued" tracks, everything on these CDs is available elsewhere especially Romophone and Myto. This is a dispapointing release that could have been far more valuable by making available Warren's live or privately recorded material. For example, the book mentions Warren's Met Audition on the Air. A fellow artist, John Carter, recorded his parts of the program - which included the duet from THE PEARL FISHERS with Warren. The annual CD for a UK magazine, THE RECORD COLLECTOR, included this track. Why couldn't it have been used by the Warren Foundation. Ditto for Warren's live Met material, much of which is beyond the 50-year copyright limit.

The answer is that instead of celebrating Warren's art, their goal was a quick buck from readily availabe material. But, maybe such laziness complements the equally poor biography.

Warren was a superstar. His voice of supreme power and lovely sound was so versatile. He could sing Verdi like Verdi always wished his wonderful music to be sung and he could sing American songs with the patriotic passion they should convey. This collection is magnificent.