In Memory Of A Great Soprano: A Tribute Album | The Very Best of Victoria de los Angeles

The very best performance by Victoria de los Angeles | The Very Best of Victoria de los Angeles | Victoria De Los Angeles

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	• The Very Best of Victoria de los Angeles Victoria De Los Angeles EMI Classics, 2003 average customer review:based on 9 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In Memoriam

One of the most brilliant, exquisite and beautiful voices of the 20th century extinguished today. Victoria de Los Angeles died at 83 in Barcelona. I'm writing this with grief and tears in my eyes for I loved her voice, her personality and her beautiful personna.
The title of this disc is very apt to describe her: "A lifetime achievement", "the fabulous Victoria de los Angeles". She had, first and foremost, a unique, instantly recognizable vocal timbre, a quality of tone and production that marked her off from all others. Her sense of pitch and rhythm, of phrasing and tempo was unerring. The repertoire at her command included noy only an astonishing variety of operatic parts (the staccato gaiety of Rosina, the fragility of Melisande, the frank volupte of Carmen), but also realms of music unknown. She ranged from the chaste purity of medieval canticles to the melismatic wailings of Andalusian Flamenco, from the florid baroque roulades of Handel and Carissimi to the introspective Lieder pf Hugo Wolf and Robert Schumann. Schubert's An die Musik and Valverde's Clavelitos inhabited the same program and received equal devotion from this unsnobbish interpreter.

Good bye Victoria and thank you!

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In Memory Of A Great Soprano: A Tribute Album

Victoria De Los Angeles has died but not her legacy. She left behind numerous recordings and film footage that showcase her superb operatic voice. This album, along with "The Very Best Of" are perfect tributes to her artistry. She was a warm, vibrant and sweet sonbird of opera. Never a diva with an unpleasant or arrogant attitude (like ahem M. Callas or K. Battle most recently) she once accompanied herself with a guitar at a recital. Trained as a Spanish Zarzuela and ballad singer, she became a great figure in the Lieder and Art Song scene. She championed the works of many obscure but brilliant song composers. This album more than others provides us with a look at these awesome composers who are unfortunately very little known today. Victoria De Los Angeles, despite her big physical presence, possessed a light, lyric voice. She was mostly a full lyric soprano with some spinto. Her greatest role is said to be Puccini's Mimi in La Boheme. She excelled in the role of Violetta of Verdi's Traviata purely for the voice of the character. She must have made a sensational Magda in Puccini's Rondine, as well as a dazzling Marguerite in Gounod's Faust. She was also in a very celebrated performance of Tales Of Hoffman opposite Nicolai Gedda. I believe De Los Angeles either sang Olympia or Antonia. Her Antonia was particularily impressive. She had such an unassuming and winning personality. The ability to touch an audience, relate to them or communicate to them is a very rare and special gift few sopranos have. Some sopranos, goddesses of opera, have remained mysterious, distant and aloof and even cold to the audience. It was definately like that in olden days of opera- 17th-19th century. Maria Callas, despite her strong following, was always a figure of distant mystery and myth. Kathleen Battle was a temperamental diva who didn't get along with her cast and co-workers and Birgit Nilsson is said to have been a bit frigid herself. But Victoria De Los Angeles won her audiences by touching them directly somehow. She was like Beverly Sills in this manner. She was also like Teresa Berganza in this way as well. Spain has produced a number of outstanding figures in opera- tenor Placido Domingo, baritone Justino Diaz, tenor Jose Carreras, Jose Cura, the forementioned mezzo soprano Teresa Berganza and even Montserrat Caballe, though she was Catalan and not exactly Spanish but still...Spanish in a way.
I was never able to see her on stage. She was before my time but I have become familiar with her voice and performances through albums. I hope her death will get folks to buy her albums and hear for themselves one of opera's most enchanting voices.

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The very best performance by Victoria de los Angeles

Is the recording on Allegro records of her performance of Madame Butterfly in New Orleans in 1954, not the Rome recording. She is simply radiant, perfect, a voice truly that is a victory for the angels. Unbelievably marvelous.

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Very nice introduction to the work of a great soprano

This 2 CD set is a terrific introduction to the body of work of Victoria de los Angeles. As the "liner notes" point out: "She was an artist who brought individuality and a sense of joy to everything she performed. . . ." And this is not hyperbole. She was a top soprano in the middle part of the twentieth century.

Some cuts exemplify her art:

"Un bel di" is a ravishing version of this well known aria. She demonstrates a rich voice with fine musicality. This is a ravishing version of this aria. The singer displays good vocal control. There are nice transitions across the registers.

"Si, mi chiamano Mimi" is another well known work for sopranos. Again, nicely done. She appears (to me anyhow) to catch the spirit of Mimi very nicely indeed.

From "La Traviata," she essays "E strano. . .Sempre Libera." This is an affecting version. She does not have the coloratura armamentarium that some have brought to bear on this aria, but she does a fine job nonetheless. She seems to capture the desperate spirit of Violetta in "Sempre Libera."

Rossini's "Una voce poco fa" is a nice tour de force for sopranos. De los Angeles does a nice job here. This is a work from the Bel canto repertoire, but she does well. She shows vocal agility and captures the spirit of the work. This is an affecting, charming version. There is some occasional vocal harshness, but not a serious issue.

From "Carmen," "L'amour est un oiseau rebelle." Richly and nicely sung.

Her range on this CD is worth noting: from Puccini and Verdi to Wagner to Rossini to Gounod.

And then another of her specialties--songs. She does a nice turn with the Spanish song "Malaguena." Then, in a nice twist, she accompanies herself on guitar in "Adios Granada." I'm not normally so excited about songs, but in this case I found her work enchanting.

So, if you want to get a sense of the artistry of Victoria de los Angeles, this is an excellent starting point. Highly recommended!

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In Memoriam: A Tribute To The Late Victoria

Victoria De Los Angeles died Saturday of heart failure at the age of 83 in Barcelona, Spain. The world of opera mourns her loss. She was a gifted soprano and a wonderful human being. On stage, she was able to directly speak to her audience and communicate with them in a very special and rare way that is not always seen today. She never hid herself behind a facade nor distanced herself from fans and audiences. She was born to sing opera. It was in her blood. This album showcases De Los Angeles in her most memorable and successful roles. Victoria De Los Angeles was one of the first singers from Spain to win worldwide acclaim. Others would follow- Placido Domingo and Montserrat Caballe. De Los Angeles is showcased in this album which may also serve as a tribute to the now late soprano.

Her voice was essentially full lyric with some spinto. Hearing her renditions of "O Mio Babbini Caro"- a signature soprano role, as well as "Ebben Ne Andro Lontana" from La Wally and her performances as Mimi, one is clearly treated to the truest form of a pure lyric soprano. Her voice is spunned gold, with sweet, warm, feminine textures. Her reperotire remained in the Italian and French. Of course, being Spanish, she was a leading singer in Spanish Lieder and romantic ballads. Her Art Songs in Spanish are full of elegance and grace. A champion of obscure composers, she sang and recorded recitals that featured the works of lesser known composers, though strictly Lieder and Folk/Art Song.

Victoria De Los Angeles is fortunately a well-documented artist. Some film footage exist of her performances. I seem to recall that there exists a taped performance of her Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata. She excelled in the lyric roles of Mimi in Puccini's La Boheme, Marguerite in Gounod's Faust. Her Madame Butterfly is a pure lyric rendition, with less of the dramatic intensity other singers have given the role- i.e. Leontine Price, Maria Callas, Renata Tebaldi, etc. But her Butterfly is actually the way the role ought to be sung. It's a voice of grace, naivete and above all romance that must colorize Butterfly. The dramatic intensity only makes her sound older and madly passionate. She is only a fifteen year old girl who has been deceived and betrayed. She must remain youthful sounding. De Los Angeles does justice to the truest form of Butterfly. She was thrilling in French and Italian operas and her Spanish songs were briliant and beautiful.

Victoria will always be remembered. She was a unique and talented artist of the lyric repertoire. Her pure, lovely voice was like an angel's. There will never be another Victoria De Los Angeles. With her death, the end of an era also passes. In particular, I will always remember one reported incident. She was about to make her first recital in America but she had no accompanist- pianist/guitarist etc. When asked how she would handle this, she remarked: "Well I brought my guitar with me". And she proceeded to accompany herself with the guitar.

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