What Classical are you listening to?

[flippo]

 

[eljr]

 

[Forsooth]

German soprano Erna Berger (1900-1990). A beautiful, beautiful voice.

This was probably recorded during the 1940s, so the date on the cover is evidently a publication date.

She retired at 60 after making her final recording. Still doing well when she was age 80 as you can see and hear below:

 

[Forsooth]

Great voice for Baroque -- very authoritative...Magdalena Kozena.

 

[eljr]

 

[eljr]

 

[Forsooth]

Karita Mattila -- Big opera and recital star new to me. Her voice compares very well to Anne Sophie Von Otter (IMHO).

Lasse Mårtenson composer
Karita Mattila singer
Riku Niemi conductor

 

[eljr]

 

[MR.MAGOO]

 

[Verdinut]

Karita Mattila -- Big opera and recital star new to me. Her voice compares very well to Anne Sophie Von Otter (IMHO).
View attachment 25203
Lasse Mårtenson composer
Karita Mattila singer
Riku Niemi conductor

It cannot entirely compare with Anne Sophie Von Otter's voice, Karita is a soprano and Anne Sophie is a mezzo soprano. They both have a splendid voice and use it with intelligence and musicality.

 

[Verdinut]

- King of Instruments (Delos label -DE3503)

- Fantaisie Triomphale (Chandos Hybrid SACD - CHSA5048)

- Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition (Dorian -DOR-90117)

- Poulenc: Concerto for Organ ( Gillian Weir, organ-English Chamber Orch. Linn label)

 

[MR.MAGOO]

Alexander Zemlinsky - The Mermaid
Psalm XIII, op.24

 

[Forsooth]

It cannot entirely compare with Anne Sophie Von Otter's voice, Karita is a soprano and Anne Sophie is a mezzo soprano. They both have a splendid voice and use it with intelligence and musicality.

Well, darn, Von Otter certainly is a mezzo. Thanks for pointing that out. As much as I've listen to her recordings, I have always mistakenly believed she was a soprano, just one with a big range. So much for my musical discernment! As, they say, it ain't what we don't know, it's just that we know so much that ain't true.

 

[Forsooth]

“I have the most beautiful voice in the world.” That was Zinka’s appraisal of her own voice. Who am I to argue with such a source? Besides, she did. (From a BLOG I read this morning.)

"Zinka Milanov (1906-1989) was a Croatian-born operatic spinto soprano who had a major career centered on the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. After finishing her education in Zagreb, Milanov made her debut in 1927 in Ljubljana as Leonora in Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore."
***Had to look up "spinto soprano." --> "A spinto soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has the limpidity and easy high notes of a lyric soprano, yet can be "pushed" on to achieve dramatic climaxes without strain. This type of voice may possess a somewhat darker timbre, too, than the average lyric soprano. It generally uses squillo to "slice" through the sound of a full orchestra, rather than singing over the orchestra like a true dramatic soprano."

 

[Verdinut]

“I have the most beautiful voice in the world.” That was Zinka’s appraisal of her own voice. Who am I to argue with such a source? Besides, she did. (From a BLOG I read this morning.)
View attachment 25265View attachment 25266
"Zinka Milanov (1906-1989) was a Croatian-born operatic spinto soprano who had a major career centered on the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. After finishing her education in Zagreb, Milanov made her debut in 1927 in Ljubljana as Leonora in Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore."
***Had to look up "spinto soprano." --> "A spinto soprano is a type of operatic soprano voice that has the limpidity and easy high notes of a lyric soprano, yet can be "pushed" on to achieve dramatic climaxes without strain. This type of voice may possess a somewhat darker timbre, too, than the average lyric soprano. It generally uses squillo to "slice" through the sound of a full orchestra, rather than singing over the orchestra like a true dramatic soprano."

Ah yes! She had a powerful and mellow voice. I have a few Verdi operas with her: in the Forza del destino, The "Pace, pace mio Dio" area, the high notes are smooth as a violin in the likes of Caballé, and I'm just having thrills as I am writing this to answer you.

 

[Forsooth]

Oda Slobodskaya - Russian soprano, 1888 – 1970

From Wikipedia: "Slobodskaya had a voice of immense purity, steadiness, agility and expressiveness with an almost incandescent quality above the stave. As a recitalist, she possessed the imagination and vivid temperament to convey to an audience ignorant of Russian the precise mood of each song, whether elegiac, boisterous, satirical or childlike. As her many recordings reveal, these rare interpretative powers were matched by a beautiful and ample voice of characteristically Slavonic colour and by a technical mastery which showed itself especially in supple and sustained legato phrasing. She retained her vocal and interpretative powers to an advanced age."

 

[eljr]

 

[Verdinut]

Balduína "Bidu" de Oliveira Sayão was a Brazilian opera soprano. One of Brazil's most famous musicians, Sayão was a leading artist of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1937 to 1952.
She persuaded her old friend Villa-Lobos to transcribe for soprano what had originally been a violin solo and the first recording of Bachiana Brasileira No. 5 became the recording that everyone knows, and that introduced her voice to people for decades.

 

[TLS Guy]

The 2018 Prom season is in full swing. As is usual there is an abundance of riches to savor.

You can listen in on the US BBC iPlayer. Just click on the programs

 

[Forsooth]

View attachment 25284

Balduína "Bidu" de Oliveira Sayão was a Brazilian opera soprano. One of Brazil's most famous musicians, Sayão was a leading artist of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City from 1937 to 1952.
She persuaded her old friend Villa-Lobos to transcribe for soprano what had originally been a violin solo and the first recording of Bachiana Brasileira No. 5 became the recording that everyone knows, and that introduced her voice to people for decades.

Thanks! New to me, and her voice is stunning to say the very least. I have been listening to her albums on Spotify today. What a gift she had!! Seems like there is nothing that she could not do. Only problem is that many of her recordings were made in the 1930s and 1940s with infant recording technology. Sweet, sweet voice.