We all have our "favorites." Whose "most recordings" do you have of SINGERS?

[Lance]

SINGERS on this one. We all go nuts for some particular performing artists, and I was thinking about who my favorite SOPRANOS are to the point that I wanted everything I could get my hands on. These are some of mine, There are many more, but these immediately came to the front lobe:

Montserrat Caballé
Joan Sutherland
Rita Streich
Kathleen Battle
Eileen Farrell
Irmgard Seefried
Kirsten Flagstad
Birgit Nilsson
Maria Callas

[maestrob]

Goodness, Lance! There are so many for me that I hardly know where to begin.

First and foremost for me would be Anna Moffo, who graduated from my high school in the Philadelphia suburbs (Radnor) before she went on to higher studies in Europe.

Then there would be Mirella Freni, wife to Nikolai Ghiaurov, whom I had the pleasure to meet as he became a client of mine at the NYAC.

AND let's not forget Maria Callas's "rival," Renata Tebaldi, who could stun an audience with her portrayals as well as her singing.

More recently, I would include Dame Kiri Te Kanewa and Regine Crespin, two fine singing actresses whose Marschallins in Der Rosenkavalier leave me breathless.

AND: Who can forget Leontyne Price's Aida, Forza del Destine & Strauss's Four Last Songs, not to mention Barber's Knoxville, Summer of 1915?

Finally, a dark horse: the Czech soprano Lucia Popp, who sang everything from Handel to Wagner with great success throughout Europe.

More later.....

[Belle]

I don't have a lot of recordings from famous female singers. But I always loved Janet Baker - particularly "Sea Pictures".

This is one of my all-time fave performances from another great singer, Regine Crespin: it's a luminous performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFALc1eSlZc

[Febnyc]

I could not choose one from amidst all the names and performances muddled in my aging brain.

But...

Perhaps my favorite - Anne Sofie von Otter. (Well, ok - technically she's a mezzo-soprano.)

Kindly watch and listen to her exquisitely singing Korngold: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WN_vsAUEE8s

[Belle]

Completely agree about this wonderful Swedish mezzo. I've seen her in Vienna and, of course, she was a bit older then. I have her singing in other Handelian operas, much preferring baroque opera to any other.

Her recording of "Dido and Aeneas" with John Eliot Gardner is absolutely gorgeous:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MClSI1nPd1Q

BTW, Janet Baker and Kathleen Ferrier also recorded this work. For me, Baker was one of the very greatest. In this recording, which now sounds so old-fashioned, she shines. But her voice sounds much older than the characters in this mythic opera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rxw_8xuT5O4

Here is Ferrier in Gretchen am Spinnrade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DgOGtakngQ

[barney]

Well, I refuse to join this sexist pile-on. Lance never specified female. Men can sing too.

Fischer-Dieskau (art songs) and Pavarotti (opera) are out front for me, but I'm perfectly happy to list my favourite 100 or so of each gender if pressed.


(Actually probably I'm not. Lucky then that no one is going to press me)

[Belle]

Well, I refuse to join this sexist pile-on. Lance never specified female. Men can sing too.

Fischer-Dieskau (art songs) and Pavarotti (opera) are out front for me, but I'm perfectly happy to list my favourite 100 or so of each gender if pressed.


(Actually probably I'm not. Lucky then that no one is going to press me)

That would be a real pressing, though, wouldn't it?

[Lance]

Yes, it would be hugely pressing for any collector who has that marvelous addiction to great musical performing artists. But SOPRANOS was only the start. My primary point, however, was for you to list those sopranos whom you almost want to hear everything they recorded. Sometimes we accomplish that, other times we almost get there. I feel this way about so many PIANISTS, for example I must have everything recorded by Horowitz, Arthur Rubinstein, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Clara Haskil, and far too many to name here. This includes non-commercial recordings you may have. I'm very curious about WHO people regard as the "greatest" and follow their recorded legacies as much as possible. There will probably a similar request for violinists, cellists, mezzos, baritones, and basses (though the latter are not that voluminous). Hey, maybe even countertenors (that list has grown exponentially in the last few years). If it proves you simply love ALL the great ones, then this will be a problem.

But of the mezzos and contraltos, as Belle mentioned, Kathleen Ferrier is VERY high on my list as is Janet Baker. So asking this just gives us an opportunity to see what our fellow CMGers are gathering up these days. It's nice to see these great artists' names in print!

[Lance]

Geez, don't you have favourite singers you collect? You're doing better with composers/symphonies than singers! Let's spruce up this post with more SINGERS!

[jserraglio]

Caruso’s the man. I have all his recordings.

I am currently exploring, as Maestrob suggests, the amazing Lucia Popp https://la-castafiore.blogspot.com/sear ... e=true&m=1

[maestrob]

I don't have a lot of recordings from famous female singers. But I always loved Janet Baker - particularly "Sea Pictures".

This is one of my all-time fave performances from another great singer, Regine Crespin: it's a luminous performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFALc1eSlZc

Totally agree with you about Dame Janet's "Sea Pictures.!" No other recording I've heard can touch it. She absolutely NAILS the high A natural!