# Second Round: Isolde's Narration and Curse: Flagstad and Leider



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)




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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Why can't we have singers like this today?!!! I predict a heated contest here


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

Wow! This is tough. I suppose neither singer has the laser-like top notes of Nilsson, but I'd gladly forego those for the greater beauty of tone throughout the rest of their voices. 

Leider for me is more passionate, more womanly, and, in any case, I've always loved her voice, so she gets my vote here. She sounds a little younger too.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

I can understand people being bothered by Flagstad's more mature sound here for a young woman's role but I love the golden quality her voice took on by this time. I also love the shear force of her voice in the curse. Frieda is magnificent and pushes many good buttons for me but not as many as Kirsten does. I was not familiar with how good Frieda was before this group.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

I want to ask Leider's conductor why he's in such a hurry, but I suspect it has something to do with getting the music onto two record sides. Her studio recording of the Liebestod is rushed too, and when we listen to her in the excerpts captured live at the Met in 1933 we really hear what she could do with Isolde. This performance is certainly fine, but not fully representative of her artistry.

Flagstad is live here, and vocally supreme, if a bit plainer and less pointed in her delivery than in some of her Met performances recorded a decade earlier. The sheer physical impact of her voice when let out fully is pretty remarkable, but I must say that Leider gets a little more ferocity into the curse.

Two great Isoldes, neither heard at her absolute best, but both superior to anything we can hear today. Tough choice indeed. If Leider were not pushed along at such a breathless pace and had time to make more of the text I would vote for her, but as things are I think I'll give it to the tonal glory of Flagstad. The sheer beauty of her "Er sah mir in die Augen..." - her conductor giving her plenty of time for it here - always gets to me.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

Leider seems more compromised at the very top, but it could possibly be the conductor rushing. Flagstad is a force of nature, but Leider shows more emotional variety in her interpretation, and the quality of her voice especially in the middle register lends itself to said variety. I admit this was a difficult choice


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Woodduck said:


> I want to ask Leider's conductor why he's in such a hurry, but I suspect it has something to do with getting the music onto two record sides. Her studio recording of the Liebestod is rushed too, and when we listen to her in the excerpts captured live at the Met in 1933 we really hear what she could do with Isolde. This performance is certainly fine, but not fully representative of her artistry.
> 
> Flagstad is live here, and vocally supreme, if a bit plainer and less pointed in her delivery than in some of her Met performances recorded a decade earlier. The sheer physical impact of her voice when let out fully is pretty remarkable, but I must say that Leider gets a little more ferocity into the curse.
> 
> Two great Isoldes, neither heard at her absolute best, but both superior to anything we can hear today. Tough choice indeed. If Leider were not pushed along at such a breathless pace and had time to make more of the text I would vote for her, but as things are I think I'll give it to the tonal glory of Flagstad. The sheer beauty of her "Er sah mir in die Augen..." - her conductor giving her plenty of time for it here - always gets to me.


I think Leider and Flagstad seem to be the leading Wagnerian sopranos in this forum from what I can tell. It's a pity Leider wasn't later. One wonders how big her voice was in the house? I've never heard. We know from testimony that Flagstad and Traubel had enormous voices.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Seattleoperafan said:


> I think Leider and Flagstad seem to be the leading Wagnerian sopranos in this forum from what I can tell. It's a pity Leider wasn't later. One wonders how big her voice was in the house? I've never heard. We know from testimony that Flagstad and Traubel had enormous voices.


Big enough. She holds her own against Melchior in their recording of the T & I love scene.


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## Francasacchi (7 mo ago)

Unlike Flagstad, she did not start in lighter repertoire. I think her debut role was as Venus in Tannhauser.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Odd that the older recording sounds clearer that the more recent one. The Flagstad is curiously recessed to my ears. The totality of that voice gets me every time and does so here.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

MAS said:


> Odd that the older recording sounds clearer that the more recent one. The Flagstad is curiously recessed to my ears. The totality of that voice gets me every time and does so here.


The Leider is a studio recording. The Flagstad is live (was it Buenos Aires in 1948?).


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

(


Woodduck said:


> The Leider is a studio recording. The Flagstad is live (was it Buenos Aires in 1948?).


Ah so desu ka! That makes sense. Thanks!


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