Word: sopranos
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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Wagner: Die Walküre, Duet from Act I, Scene 3; Act III complete (Helen Traubel, soprano; Herbert Janssen, baritone; Emery Darcy, tenor; vocal ensemble of the Metropolitan Opera; the New York Philharmonic-Symphony, Artur Rodzinski conducting; Columbia, 4 sides, LP). Great music sung by great singers. Conductor Rodzinski gives it the pace and force to make it an exciting performance. Recording: excellent...
Wagner: Siegfried, Act III, Scene 3 (Eileen Farrell, soprano, Set Svanholm, tenor; Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf conducting; Victor, 10 sides, 45 r.p.m.). The great music again, with not quite so fine a cast, conductor and orchestra to go with it. Recording: good...
...recordings. The bass aria, "O ruddier than the cherry," is an exception. Obviously it has been included for the very good reason that Paul Tibbetts is singing it, but it is one of the dullest pieces the Handel ever wrote. Marguerite Willauer has much better material for her fine soprano voice in "As when the dove laments her love" and "Heart, the seat of soft delight...
...Strauss's most difficult productions to get on the boards was his Salome, written in 1903. Asked to play the lead, Soprano Marie Wittich at first refused with the explanation: "I can't do this; I'm a decent woman." Even the composer's father had his doubts, the son remembered. "Mein Gott," he exclaimed, "what nervous music! It makes me feel as though my pants were full of grabbling May bugs...
...nothing short of amazing that Katherino Griffith, who played as Patience, was able to sing at all, let alone in the remarkably clear and beautiful way that she did, for only two nights ago she finished singing the soprano part in Hamlel's "Messiah...