The Essential Leontyne Price:Great Opera Scenes

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This is the desert island two-CD set, if you're looking for Leontyne. The selection is astounding: Highlights are the astonishing Awakening Scene from R. Strauss's Die Ägyptische Helena, an absolute object lesson in Straussian line, arching up to and over a gorgeous high D-flat; a Traviata "Sempre Libera" with amazing agility (and top notes, again) for such a big voice; a "Senza mamma" which is heartbreakingly lovely; and still--after thirty years--the benchmark "Sogno di Doretta" from Puccini's La Rondine. The occasional minus--breathiness, a hollow lower register, lack of interest and intellect, and a truly disgusting Carmen--are to be forgiven. Price never sang any of these roles onstage and may not have been suited for them--but in a way, this is what she was all about. --Robert Levine

Tracks:

Otello: Act IV: Era piu calmo?
Otello: Act IV: Mia madre aveva una povera ancella (Willow Song - Lied von der Weide - Romance du saule)
Otello: Act IV: Ave Maria
Fidelio Act I:: Abscheulicher!
Senza mamma, o bimbo, tu sei morto!
Carmen: Act 1: L'amour est un oiseau rebelle (Habanera)
La traviata: Act 1: E strano, e strano!
La traviata: Act 1: Ah, fors'e lui
La traviata: Act 1: Sempre libera
Le nozze di Figaro: Act 1: E Susanna non vien!
Le nozze di Figaro: Act 1: Dove sono
Die agyptische Helena: Act II: Arie der Helena - Awakening Scene - Scene de reveil
La rondine: Act 1: Ore dolci e divine
Salome: Finale - Final Scene - Scene finale

Tracks:

Eugene Onegin: Act II Letter Scene - Briefszene - Scene de la lettre: Puskai pogibnu ya
Eugene Onegin: Act II Letter Scene - Briefszene - Scene de la lettre: Ya k vam pishu
Eugene Onegin: Act II Letter Scene - Briefszene - Scene de la lettre: Net, nikomu na svete
Eugene Onegin: Act II Letter Scene - Briefszene - Scene de la lettre: No tak i byt'!
La rondine: Act I: Chi il bel sogno di Doretta
Vanessa: Act I: He Has Come, He Has Come!
Vanessa: Act I: Do Not Utter A Word
Carmen: Act 1: Pres des remparts de Seville
Manon: Act II: Allons! il le faut!
Manon: Act II: Adieu, norte petite table
Macbeth: Act IV Sleepwalking Scene - Schlafwandlerszene - Scene di Somnambulisme: Vegliammo invan due notti
Macbeth: Act IV Sleepwalking Scene - Schlafwandlerszene - Scene di Somnambulisme: Una macchia e qui tuttora
La Boheme: Act III: Addio Donde leita usci (Mimi's Addio)
Die Frau ohne Schatten: Act II: Erwachensszene der Kaiserin - Empress's Awakening Scene - Reveil de l'Imperatrice
Dido And Aeneas: Act III: Thy Hand, Belinda
Dido And Aeneas: Act III: When I Am Laid In Earth
Don Carlo: Act V: Tu che le vanita conoscesti del mondo

Amazon.com

This is the desert island two-CD set, if you're looking for Leontyne. The selection is astounding: Highlights are the astonishing Awakening Scene from R. Strauss's Die Ägyptische Helena, an absolute object lesson in Straussian line, arching up to and over a gorgeous high D-flat; a Traviata "Sempre Libera" with amazing agility (and top notes, again) for such a big voice; a "Senza mamma" which is heartbreakingly lovely; and still--after thirty years--the benchmark "Sogno di Doretta" from Puccini's La Rondine. The occasional minus--breathiness, a hollow lower register, lack of interest and intellect, and a truly disgusting Carmen--are to be forgiven. Price never sang any of these roles onstage and may not have been suited for them--but in a way, this is what she was all about. --Robert Levine

Customer Reviews:

fantastic.......2002-09-21

leontyne price is to me the greatest diva of all time

fantastic.......2002-09-21

leontyne price is to me the greatest diva of all time

Track Listings: