The Art of Leontyne Price / Aida Act III, Bell Telephone Hour Arias, Concert with Charles Dutoit and Montreal Symphony Orchestra

Rating:
Summary: Leontyne Price - The evolution of an artist
Review: "The Art of Leontyne Price" is a fascinating DVD showing a little known Leontyne(1958) as well as the grand diva she grew to be.
Madame Price was no novice to the stage when she recorded the Aida scene in 1958, but she was definitely not the polished artist that she was to become just a very short time later. New Yorkers knew her phenomenal voice in the early fifties and in 1955 she sang Tosca in a nationally televised performance. (I am anxiously waiting for that to come out on DVD.) The 1958 scene shows a fiery vixen that has yet to be tamed. The voice is young and fresh with that characteristic flutter vibrato in her high silky tessitura. Even with the sound quality from this old recording one hears the beginning of those lush sensual vocal colours which were to become her trademark all over the world.
The diction was better in those early years. On a down note, the acting left much to be desired. The "fiery vixen" did calm down, or should I say, controlled her stage presence in later years, but here there is only raw temperament and overly exagerated facial expressions. At times, I had the impression that she was doing a silent movie. The director should have worked out the flaws before taping. She seems to be more true to herself and to Aida when she is just singing and not "acting".
In the 1982 concert we see Leontyne the Great. A full, rich, voluptuous instrument and a truly grand dame of the stage. She begins with "Come scoglio" from Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. It was an exciting brave beginning but the aria no longer settled comfortably into her voice. As the evening progressed and she warmed up, we heard the true greatness of the magnificent lady. "My man's gone now" from Gershwin's Porgy and Bess was tragic, painful, and profound. Her famous vocal colours were all evident here and her rubati and "blue notes" all enhanced Gershwin's American jazz background which he so artfully orchestrates into a new exhilarating form of classical music-an American music! Madame Price also offers renditions of some of her most famous Italian arias including the Pace, pace, mio Dio. Once you have heard that you know why she was called the "Diva di tutte le dive!"
This DVD is a "must" for all Price fans and lovers of great singing.

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: This DVD displays three distinct periods of La Price's development throughout her career: Aspiring to Greatness, Prima Donna Assoluta, and The Grand Diva of Divas in twilight. How fantastic to see this tremendous development in her talent over the wonderful years she gave her art selflessly.

The young Leontyne Price delivers a rich account of Act III of Aida. First of all, she was a superb actress at that time. Like Oprah, with her grand success, Leontyne excelled herself and could not reconcile the woman and the diva by letting go like this in later years. The voice was not as great then; it was small with a flickering vibrato and a little want of color. It was entirely a heady and young voice, which would not make her a candidate for Aida these days. Radames and Aida share a wonderful chemistry and I have never seen her more compelling.

Then almost twenty-five years later she has an ample voice and whereas she had no chest voice in 1958, in 1982 it had arrived, it was a low palatal "in the neck" sound with a rough and raspy chest emission. She gets off to a nervous and rocky start then conquers fully with "Pace mio dio" as only a great lady who had earned her stripes could do. The way she handles herself is admirable and should be emulated by all who want to succeed. She is focused, detached and responsible.

The scenes from the sixties all display the most beautiful voice in the world, period!

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating!
Review: This DVD displays three distinct periods of La Price's development throughout her career: Aspiring to Greatness, Prima Donna Assoluta, and The Grand Diva of Divas in twilight. How fantastic to see this tremendous development in her talent over the wonderful years she gave her art selflessly.

The young Leontyne Price delivers a rich account of Act III of Aida. First of all, she was a superb actress at that time. Like Oprah, with her grand success, Leontyne excelled herself and could not reconcile the woman and the diva by letting go like this in later years. The voice was not as great then; it was small with a flickering vibrato and a little want of color. It was entirely a heady and young voice, which would not make her a candidate for Aida these days. Radames and Aida share a wonderful chemistry and I have never seen her more compelling.

Then almost twenty-five years later she has an ample voice and whereas she had no chest voice in 1958, in 1982 it had arrived, it was a low palatal "in the neck" sound with a rough and raspy chest emission. She gets off to a nervous and rocky start then conquers fully with "Pace mio dio" as only a great lady who had earned her stripes could do. The way she handles herself is admirable and should be emulated by all who want to succeed. She is focused, detached and responsible.

The scenes from the sixties all display the most beautiful voice in the world, period!