Leontyne Price (soprano)
Personal Choice
rec. 1959-63
Alto ALC1482 [77]
Mary Violet Leontyne Price had a most glorious voice, well displayed in this programme. The musical excerpts come from previously issued material – see the list at the end of the review. Of course, I adore her voice, and I can hardly say any more about it than has already been said by musicians far more qualified than I. Whether this selection is her “Personal Choice”, I could not say, but the booklet notes claim that she was particularly fond of spirituals.
I was particularly taken by the last item here, Oh Holy Night, in this performance, which I have not heard for many years. I may have had it on LP. Adolphe Adam composed it in 1847, with the English words later attributed to John Sullivan Dwight. Sung by others, it has long been a favourite of mine. This version, of course, is ravishingly beautiful. A search on the Internet reveals the ludicrous discrimination by the Church that this song suffered in France. It was banned from churches because Adam was of Jewish extraction.
I presume that Alto took these tracks from existing CDs or LPs. I mention the latter because the opening track has a higher level of noise, and sounds are limited in the treble, almost as if an LP had been played with the filter on. The effect vanishes later, and the remaining tracks sound fine.
There is not much else that I can say about Price’s wonderful singing, except to express my horror at the stories told in the booklet of racial antagonism and pure racist discrimination that she suffered in her early years. When she was 9, she and her mother went to hear Marian Anderson in concert. The experience changed her life – she said “That’s what I want to be” – but they were forced to sit in a ‘blacks only section’ of the theatre. She later faced opposition to her training as a singer. In 1957, a TV broadcast of Tosca was refused an airing in some Southern states, including her hometown of Laurel, Mississippi, because it featured a love scene between her and a white tenor – shades of South Africa and apartheid.
If you want an inexpensive disc which shows Price’s range and voice, then this one will serve you well.
Jim Westhead
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Details
Giuseppe Verdi
[1] Ritorna vincitor (Aida) 6:56
[2] O patria (Aida) 6:27
[3] Tacea la notte placida (Il Trovatore) 5:55
[4] Timor di me – D’amor sull’ali rosee (Il Trovatore) 5:14
[5] Chi il bel sogno di Doretta (La Rondine) 2.44
Giacomo Puccini
[6] Vissi d’arte (Tosca) 3:13
[7] Un bel di (Madama Butterfly) 4:22
[8] Death of Butterfly (Madama Butterfly) 3:36
[9] Signore, ascolta (Turandot) 2:29
[10] Tu che di gel sei Cinta (Turandot) 2:34
George Gershwin
[11] Summertime (Porgy and Bess) 2:27
[12] I Loves You Porgy (Porgy and Bess) 2:24
[13] My Man’s Gone (Porgy and Bess) 4:07
traditional arr. Leonard de Paur: Spirituals[14] He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands 2:13
[15] Ride On 2:38
[16] Swing Low, Sweet Chariot 3:19
[17] Deep River 3:05
[18] Were You There? 4:30
Franz Schubert
[19] Ave Maria 3:04
Adolphe Adam
[20] O Holy Night 4:26
Performers
[1-2] Rome Opera Orchestra/Georg Solti
[3-4] Rome Opera Orchestra/Arturo Basile
[5-10] Rome Opera Orchestra/Oliviero de Fabritis
[11-13] RCA Victor Orchestra/Skitch Henderson
[14-18] orchestra and chorus/Leonard de Paur
[19-20] Vienna Philharmonic/Herbert von Karajan
Recording dates
[1-2] 1962, [3-10] 1959, [11-18] 1963, [19-20] 1961
