Search - Samuel Barber, Francis Poulenc, Henri Sauguet :: Leontyne Price & Samuel Barber: Historic Performances, 1938 & 1953

Historic Barber and Price Performances

Lynn in Dallas | Dallas, TX USA | 07/08/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"For devotees of either Leontyne Price or Samuel Barber, this CD is a cherishable piece of musical history--actually, two cherishable pieces. On one CD, the listener shares in two historic live performances. The better known is the October 30, 1953, recital at the Library of Congress, at which the 26-year-old Leontyne Price began her long musical alliance with Samuel Barber by singing the world premiere of his "Hermit Songs". Also included in the recital were four other songs by Barber, as well as eleven French songs by Poulenc, Sauguet, and Faure--25 songs in all. Barber was the accompanist for the entire recital, playing superbly.



Barber and Price recorded "Hermit Songs" in the studio a year later, and Price also did studio recordings of four of the Poulenc songs in 1959 on "A Program of Song" with her usual accompanist, David Garvey. It is interesting to compare the live and studio versions of the Barber and of the Poulenc, all of which are currently available on CD. The live ones seem more filled with the need to reach out to the audience, and Price's voice, in projecting to the audience, seems a bit darker and more dramatic, even though Price was younger at the time. There is more adrenalin flowing. The studio recordings are more "inner", more reflective, more subtle, more floating. Also, the superior sound technology of the studio more completely captures the unique quality of Price's voice in its prime, and that ultimately leads me to prefer the studio versions to the ones on this CD. Nevertheless, there is drama in these live performances that I would not be without. For instance, Price and Barber make Poulenc's "Tu vois le feu du soir" richer and more compelling here, and Barber's urgency at the keyboard on this piece makes Garvey seem tame.



The most esoteric part of this CD is the other live performance. In addition to being a gifted composer and pianist, Samuel Barber was a rather good baritone in his youth, and the last twelve songs (folksongs from England, Kentucky, the Tyrol, and Tuscany, as well as German lieder) are from a recital broadcast from the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia on December 26, 1938. The 28-year-old Barber, whose aunt was the famous Metropolitan Opera contralto Louise Homer, studied under bel canto baritone Emilio de Gorgorza. Not surprisingly, Barber's singing displays the same quicksilver vibrato (somewhat unfashionable for baritones now) and refined style that de Gorgorza's recordings have. Barber's voice does not sound large, and the selections seem carefully chosen to avoid extremes of range or power which he may not have possessed. Nevertheless, he not only sings beautifully and sensitively, but expertly plays his own accompaniments! This CD, in short, is an important addition to the recorded history of musical performance in America.

"