Paul Robeson Live at Carnegie Hall

Anonymous (Composer), Spiritual Traditional (Composer), Russian Traditional (Composer), William Shakespeare (Composer), Aleksandr [Piano] Aleksandrov (Composer), George H. Clutsam (Composer), Jerome Kern (Composer), Antonin Dvorak (Composer), Modest Mussorgsky (Composer), Johann Sebastian Bach (Composer), Franz [Vienna] Schubert (Composer), English Traditional (Composer), Earl Robinson (Composer), Czech Traditional (Composer), Ludwig van Beethoven (Composer), Paul Robeson (Performer) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Performer: Paul Robeson
• Composer: Anonymous, Spiritual Traditional, Russian Traditional, William Shakespeare, Aleksandr [Piano] Aleksandrov, et al.
• Audio CD (May 24, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Vanguard Records
• ASIN: B000000EFU
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #102,283 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #26 in Music > Classical > Opera & Vocal > Vocal Non-Opera > Chants

Editorial Reviews

This CD was recorded live Live at Carnegie Hall on May 9, 1958 and features the songs 'Every Time I Feel the Spirit', 'Volga Boat Song' and 'Ol' Man River'. Vanguard. 2005. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I Never Died Says He..., September 27, 2004

By 

Florestan "Florestan" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Paul Robeson Live at Carnegie Hall (Audio CD)

It can be reasonably argued that Paul Robeson has one of the finest voices ever committed to record. In addition to the sheer magnitude of his voice, the subtely of his elocution flatters the English language to unprecedented effect. Any serious singer professing to have mastered vowel sounds should study Robeson's performances carefully.

In speech and in song, Robeson could effectively convey tenderness, outrage, despair, and hope because these sentiments were genuine. Utterly lacking were the musical/theatrical artifices many celebrated opera stars employ routinely to inject their performances with something resembling emotion.

This live recording from Carnegie Hall may be his most satisfying. He selected a songlist encompassing spirituals, folk-songs, hymns, English settings of melodies by J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Moussourgsky, Smetana, and Dvorak, as well as the valediction from his celebrated stage portrayal of Shakespeare's Othello. At age 60, Robeson's voice had lost a negligible degree of its thundering resonance. It remained as exceptional/incomparable an instrument as it had been in its prime, and seemed to ring with even greater authority.

Robeson's career fluorished before the introduction of most modern recording techniques. This album is superior to many of his others in terms of fullness of sound, steadiness of recording rate, and unobtrusiveness of hiss. However, it would benefit enormously from remastering. This complaint is hardly material to any assessment of this album's merit. It is, quite simply, an all-too-brief glimpse into the soul of a man whose mind, voice, and social conscience can never be extinguished or surpassed.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars New version available in UK, February 18, 2006

By 

K. Oppegaard - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paul Robeson Live at Carnegie Hall (Audio CD)

This version is now redundant as Vanguard has released a version in 2005 with the original album cover for the first time and with new sleeve notes. The sound is also better. I purchased it from amazon.co.uk.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good live recording but..., August 14, 2002

By 

Fosdick Fong (Calgary, Alberta Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Paul Robeson Live at Carnegie Hall (Audio CD)

Almost all Carnegie Hall recordings are good because the venue delivers excellent accoustic effect and this one is no exception. This is a good recording for it loyally captured Paul's live performance of songs and monologues. After 12 years of its first CD version release and 26 years of his death in 1976, I would suggest that this album be remastered with today's technology to further restore the fidelity. There should also be more comprehensive liner notes to the tracks. The "Chinese Children's Song" (track 6) seems to be arbitrarily named. This popular Mandarin folk song was written by Wang Luo-Bin in China more than half a century ago and the name should be "In That Faraway Place". Jose Carreras has also recorded this song and included it using the correct name "In That Faraway Place" as an extra bonus (track 14) for the Asian version of his CD album "Passion" (1996). Since this song is so much liked by the Chinese, Jose has been performing this song as an encore piece in his recitals to the Chinese audience. Although Jose Carreras performed better in this song, Paul Robeson was probably the very first to introduce it to the West. This historical recording is certainly an evidence.