Madam Butterfly – Sena Jurinac or Victoria de los Angeles?
Jon Tolansky, Nicholas Payne and Anthony Freud analyse the performances of two favourite sopranos, who both sang Cio-Cio-San at Covent Garden in the 1950s: Sena Jurinac, who sang under Bryan Balkwill and Victoria de los Angeles under Rudolf Kempe.
Participants
Jon Tolansky
Nicholas Payne
Anthony Freud
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Nicholas Payne remembers…..
Nicholas Payne was first taken to the Royal Opera House by his music-loving parents on his 12th birthday in 1957. In the 1990s he rose to be the Director of Opera at the House. In between he attended hundreds of performances there and in this series of podcasts he reminiscences about his experiences, particularly concentrating on the early years, where performances have been captured by recordings in the collection of Music Preserved. It features some of the great artists of the period, including Vinay, Brouwenstijn, Callas, Vickers, Kubelík, McCracken, Sutherland, Solti, Klemperer, Fischer-Dieskau, Della Casa, Jurinac, Schwarzkopf, Cotrubas. Quite a treasure trove!
From the series: Reliving the event
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Peter Grimes – Peter Pears v. Jon Vickers
Britten wrote the part of Peter Grimes for Peter Pears and for twenty years, although other tenors did sing the role, it was considered that Pears brought his unique authority to it. When Jon Vickers first sang it in the late 60s perceptions of the scope of the role changed, for he brought a very different voice and dramatic approach to his interpretation. In this podcast Jon Tolansky and Richard Jarman compare these two readings through performances recorded live in 1957 and 1984.
From the series: Reliving the event
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Pierre Monteux – a Personal Souvenir
In this Music Preserved podcast, the distinguished conductor Maestro David Zinman recalls his three years as the assistant conductor to the legendary Pierre Monteux, with whom he had studied for six years previously. He is in conversation with one of today’s most brilliant young conductors Henry Kennedy, who has just been appointed Resident Conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Canada. Also taking part is documentary producer Jon Tolansky, who was present in the audience, as also was Maestro Zinman, when, on the 29 th of May 1963, Monteux conducted the unique historic 50 th anniversary performance of Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printemps, which he had famously conducted exactly half a century earlier at its notorious scandalous premiere. An extract from Music Preserved’s archive- recording of the 50 th anniversary event is included in the podcast, as also are extracts from its recordings of Monteux conducting Haydn’s Symphony No 104 and Beethoven’s Symphony No 6, and additionally clips of Monteux rehearsing Dvorak’s Symphony No 7.
From the series: Reliving the event
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Le Sacre du Printemps revisited
Jon Tolansky and Rob Cowan compare live performances of Stravinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps': Igor Markevich with the Philharmonia Orchestra in 1961; The London Symphony Orchestra under Antal Dorati (1961), Colin Davis (1962) and Pierre Monteux (1963).
From the series: Reliving the event
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Mahler and his Seventh Symphony under the microscope
Jon Tolansky and Rob Cowan discuss and compare two early recordings of Mahler's Seventh Symphony: that of Sir Adrian Boult with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1948 and that of Sir John Barbirolli with the combined forces of the Halle Orchestra and the BBC Northern Orchestra in 1960.
From the series: Reliving the event
