Re: Price's Aida(s)
- From: "MIFrost" <sfrost2@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 21 Oct 2005 10:27:40 -0700
Here are two printed replies to the article along with the author's
response to them:
* I was puzzled, confused and then slightly angered at some of the
assertions made by Leighton Kerner about Leontyne Price's two
recordings of Aida ["Twice-Told Tale," Jan.]. If Mr. Kerner is a voice
teacher, he missed out on some obvious things. If he is not a voice
teacher, he should not attempt to analyze Price's vocal technique or
make questionable statements regarding technical matters.
He errs when he says a... her voice -- a generous lyric soprano, but
not a spinto ... (she never really pushed it)." She was considered by
most a true spinto soprano -- that is, one able to sing lyrically and
dramatically, who can sing piano especially in the upper register, but
can "easily soar over a Verdian ensemble." The term spinto is not to be
taken literally as an indication of a pushed or forced sound.
Rather than being cutesy and insulting ("Our Lady of the Fog"), Kerner
should have focused on the real reasons for the differences in the
quality of her sound from 1961 to 1970. As the voice gets older,
technical accommodations must be made to maintain the overall
"integrity" of the voice. Although I might agree that Price's
lower-middle register was not the best part of her voice, whatever
problems she had in the post-1970s were not a question of "breath
support." They were conscious technical choices Price made to
accommodate a changing voice, and perhaps even a changing view of the
character.
As one who has studied and taught voice, I would strongly disagree with
his characterizing her voice as "throaty." Husky, perhaps, but throaty?
Never.
One of Jon Vickers's complaints about the 1961 Aida recording is that
Maestro Solti rehearsed the singers so much that when it came time for
the recording sessions, they were all exhausted. If it is true, this
could account for some of the problematic vocalism in that recording
that Mr. Kerner refers to.
Mr. Kerner misses one important point: in the theater, many things that
come from the stage are lost or filtered out once they mix with the
orchestral sound and pass into the acoustic of the theater. On a
recording, the microphone is "in the singer's mouth" and picks up
practically every sound, good or bad.
It seems to be the general consensus that Price's sound, for the most
part, was well-captured on disc. One doesn't always get the magic" of a
live performance from a studio recording. The presence of an audience
obviously makes a difference. This is why such conductors as Bernstein
and Karajan stopped recording in the studio towards the end of their
lives.
Price was a great singing actress, which is what made most of her
recordings so vivid, vocal "problems" aside. Mr. Kerner is certainly
entitled to his opinion. But please don't make it sound as if her vocal
and technical choices were actually vocal problems.
--Willie Anthony Waters
* I am aware of the editorial caveat that "[t]he opinions expressed in
OPERA NEWS do not necessarily represent the views of The Metropolitan
Opera Guild or The Metropolitan Opera." Let me assume then that the
opinions represent those of the editors of OPERA NEWS.
Leighton Kerner's review of Leontyne Price's two recordings of Verdi's
Aida is a new low. The author has disparaged unfairly the recorded
performances of one of the twentieth century's greatest opera singers.
Miss Price's first recording of Aida has been heralded by many critics
as the definitive recording of that opera. Mr. Kerner is entitled to
his opinion. I do, however, take issue with his characterization of her
voice as husky. In more objective times, it was referred to as "smoky."
My issue is not with Mr. Kerner, it is with OPERA NEWS and its editors,
who invited him to write the article. Was its purpose to promote the
historic broadcast of Aida on January 22, or does it have some other
subtext to which we are not privy? Many of my opera-loving friends and
I held our noses as we read it.
--Paul E. Logan
Leighton Kerner replies:
In partial reply to Mr. Waters, whose conducting at New York City Opera
I enjoyed, I am not a voice teacher and wasn't trying to analyze
Leontyne Price's technique, but only to describe, as a close listener,
the results of that technique. I would also remind him that pushing,
which I cannot remember Ms. Price ever doing (that is, giving a note or
phrase an extra charge), is not the same as forcing (the ugly extreme
of pushing), which I doubt she ever did in her life. And as much as I
respect the opinions of Mr. Waters and the other letter writers, I find
I can't change my own.
.
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