Search - Leontyne Price :: Prima Donna Collection Highlights

Fascinating and Unreservedly Marvelous

Michael Newberry | Santa Monica | 07/29/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Leontyne Price singing this collection is, for one thing, fascinating because it is a taste of what could have been. These arias are from operas that she didn't perform or sing complete. And that doesn't mean they are stolid, quite the opposite. In fact, there are some arias that I would claim, set the standard on how great an interpretation can get! Caro nome from Rigoletto, is a case in point. Callas and Sutherland do magnificent and very different interpretations of this aria, but Price comes in with yet again a take radically different than either of theirs. It has a wonderful structure that unfolds with nuance, her tone is warm, heartfelt and absolutely limpid in the stratospheric highs-it's a perfect mesh between the lyrics (of sighing, flying, and adoring) and the quality and tone of her singing. She creates a haunting, bittersweet, and ravishing image in Korngold's Marietta's Lied, again accomplishing a marriage between the lyrics and the voice. Her Dido from Purcell is the most moving and beautiful aria I have ever heard, its out of time and place. One more aria that is the best interpretation I have heard is Dvorak's Song to the Moon. With all the rest of the arias she comes through with flying colors. Perhaps with the Liebestod, there will be a few other sopranos with superior takes. The sound is very good; the conducting is not consistent due to the four different conductors. But overall the collection is sincere, fascinating, and amazing!"

Price's best work, a real treasure.

Elizabeth F. Waterbury | Redding, CA | 01/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is a rare find, featuring some of the greatest products and clearest reproductions of Price's talent. Her recording of Caro Nome is quite fascinating, in part because you have to wonder if it was a very good choice for her voice. Even though it is bit out of her fach, she pulls it off masterfully. Her Depuis le Jour is, in my opinion, the quintessential recording of that aria, as are her La Mamma Morte, Je Dis, Marietta's Lied, and the Liebestod. The orchestras, under the batons of four different conductors, all compliment her voice perfectly with rich interpretations and lush dynamics which allow her to take the listener on a truly unforgettable muscical journey. I value this recording as the most valuable in my posession, and every opera-lover and listener of classical music in general should have a copy."