# Last Contestants: Ah Perfido. Leider and Flagstad



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

If you ever wondered what Flagstad would sound like singing Mozart, this would give you a good idea. 




Ah perfido!, Op. 65 · Frida Leider The Symposium Opera Collection, Vol. 19 (1924)




The Art of Kirsten Flagstad ℗ 2016 Black Cat Productions


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Frieda Leider initially seems more urgent, due to the tempo imposed, I imagine, by the recording process, though she sounds as if she’s sight-reading, curiously uninvolved. At first, I was put off by Ormandy’s tempo as too stately, though there is nothing to say that the _ignota, _to borrow Ardoin’s term, can’t be. But Flagstad convinced me that the tempo was right for her magnificent voice.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Leider disappoints me in this, but then she sometimes does in the recording studio. Both she and her conductor seem preoccupied with the time allowed for a record side; the whole performance has a "let's get this over with and go to lunch" feeling. The muffled sound, poor even for 1924, doesn't help. Was it electrical or acoustic?

Flagstad and Ormandy give the music a bit more time and get a bit more out of it. Still, I don't come away with a real sense of our heroine's desperation. It's one thing for a singer to have Wagner's tumultuous orchestra spelling out her character's passions and sweeping her along with it, and quite another to have to project those passions almost entirely through a neatly balanced, classical vocal line. Flagstad makes a noble effort, but her majestic voice and her way of moving it just don't project the urgency and fire we might have had from Leider on a better day.

Absent that better day, I'll have to give this to Flagstad, but neither singer increases my pulse rate.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

I guess I’ve heard the name of this piece before but I never heard it and based on these two hearings I’m a little surprised it has held a place. Seemed to me a bit plodding and without distinctive personality. Arguably the two greatest Wagnerian Sopranos of the 20th century making the argument for full bodied singing in classical-ish material. They both sound full and long lined and the biggest difference I hear comes with the difference in recording quality. Aside from the added shimmer I hear on Flagstads voice I also hear the tapering and swelling within lines that gives it immediacy through expression. Flagstad!


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

I was looking forward to hearing these two ladies, but both disappoint, particularly Leider, who, as MAS and Woodduck both suggest, sounds as if she is just singing a run-through. It's all a bit perfunctory and consequently lacking in any drama.

Flagstad manages to inject a little more life into the piece, but it's all a bit stately. The voice is of course glorious, well both of them are, but I'm afraid neither of them do the aria justice. I'll vote for Flagstad as the least disappointing of the two.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Seattleoperafan said:


> If you ever wondered what Flagstad would sound like singing Mozart, this would give you a good idea.
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Frida Leider had a very high pitched voice, or it was deformed by the recording technique. Plus there was a lot of background noise. Unjust ? Maybe.

An easy vote for Flagstatt.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

ScottK said:


> I guess I’ve heard the name of this piece before but I never heard it and based on these two hearings I’m a little surprised it has held a place.


In the first round, it was sung by Astrid Varnay and I never liked any other contestant as much as her. I should check on her again. She made it really interesting.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BBSVK said:


> In the first round, it was sung by Astrid Varnay and I never liked any other contestant as much as her. I should check on her again. She made it really interesting.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

ScottK said:


> I guess I’ve heard the name of this piece before but I never heard it and based on these two hearings I’m a little surprised it has held a place.


Damn, now I am not sure, if I don't like Schwarzkopf better after all. It will break Seattleoperafan's heart. Anyway, check the first round with Schwarzkopf and Varnay together. First Round: Ah Perfido! Schwarzkopf and Varnay

There is also a round with Callas somewhere.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

BBSVK said:


> There is also a round with Callas somewhere.


And Studer Special Round: “Ah! Perfido” ON FILM: Studer, Nilsson.... Forgetting her will break ALT's. 💔


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

hammeredklavier said:


> And Studer Special Round: “Ah! Perfido” ON FILM: Studer, Nilsson.... Forgetting her will break ALT's. 💔


Not anymore...


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BBSVK said:


> Damn, now I am not sure, if I don't like Schwarzkopf better after all. It will break Seattleoperafan's heart. Anyway, check the first round with Schwarzkopf and Varnay together. First Round: Ah Perfido! Schwarzkopf and Varnay
> 
> There is also a round with Callas somewhere.


I am a Schwarzkopf fan but I prefer Varnay.


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