Voices of our Time - Grace Bumbry / Helmut Deutsch, Chatelet Opera

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfully well preserved!
Review: Madame Grace Bumbry's 2001 performance at the Theatre Musical de Paris-Chatelet is one of the most phenominal performances I have seen in recent years. Undoubtedly one of the greatest talents of our times, Ms. Bumbry's voice is still in fabulously fine fettle. The DVD release of this recital tribute to her teacher Madame Lotte Lehmann includes Schubert's Die Taubenpost, Brahms' Auf dem Kirchhofe, and Strauss' Standchen, in addition to several interviews with Ms. Bumbry and her very fine accompanist Helmut Deutsch.
A combination of fine singing, physical allure which has only gotten better with time, and old world grace, affirm Opera News' 1981 assessment of Ms. Bumbry as simply "Amazing Grace." The nuanced singing Ms. Bumbry presents here is the sign of a singer who truly understands that which she sings, and whose understanding is translated into interpretations that touch and inspire audiences the world over.
This DVD is sure to please the most die hard Bumbry fans and will certainly impress any persons who are in doubt that this diva still has it!
A MUST HAVE!

Rating:
Summary: PROVING THEM WRONG
Review: The "Amazing Grace" has certainly proven the critics wrong. In the early 1980's, some critics said that Grace Bumbry's voice would be in tatters in a few years and that she would be voiceless in a very short time. This DVD, made about twenty years later, certainly proves them WRONG!! Grace still has plenty of voice plus the experience and sublime artistry to use it beautifully. The subject DVD is a wonderful testament to a wonderful American singer-one that I've had the immense privilege of hearing and meeting in person. (She is truly exciting in person) It's really sad that we have so few of her opera performances on video, --a Solome or Amneris (where she could literally blow any Aida off the stage, with her voice and artistry making the strongest case for the argument that the opera should really have been named "Amneris") would be most welcome. Anyway, I'm grateful for this DVD.

The program on the DVD is a tribute to Lotte Lehmann (Ms. Bumbry's esteemed teacher) I think Lotte would be proud. Grace Bumbry sings everything, on this DVD, knowingly, beautifully using her vast experience wisely. The years have just sharpened her skills. Believe me, you won't have to say, "how nice she lasted so long." She can be compared to any singer half her age and still come out "on top". No compromises required.

If you want to hear a true vocal legend that knew her own voice better than some critics did, and to experience a wonderful recital of sublime music by a great artist, buy this DVD.