Victoria de los Angeles Recital [Original recording remastered]

The new BBC Legends recital of Victoria de Los Angeles singing in her prime makes me wish the archive search for unreleased performances of my favorite artists could go on forever, as their unmistakably special vocal and stylistic qualities are rarely if ever found in contemporary performances.

In a field of beautiful flowers this one stands out for its delicious color, graceful shape and unforgettable personality. Her silvery tone - like a welcoming beacon in the night - and innocent grace aside, I am taken by the quality of solitude in her art. One senses she is sharing something private. It is a modest sharing, and it is received publicly with a private warmth.

De Los Angeles' singing embodies the effortlessness of bel canto, with an ability to expand or diminish a tone at will, never forcing either vocally or interpretively. She shapes every line with gentle personality, revealing the inner meaning of the script.

The recital contains some selections unavailable on her other recordings, any of them worth the price of admission. For example, Brahms' 'Nachtigal', which has a lonely, aphoristic quality I would first have identified with Wolf. Delibe's 'Bonjour Suzon' is given as a special treat, as is Stravinsky's 'Pastorelle.'

It is interesting to compare the fluency of her runs in Baroque material with her less calculated, more natural executions of embellishments in Spanish repertoire.

Nowhere in this recital does one sense reasons for her abbreviated operatic career and vocal decline. Unlike great singers such as Tebaldi and Scotto, on whose marvelous early recordings one may detect the slight element of pushing the voice for which a price was paid later, de Los Angeles' recordings are innocent of clues. I am grateful she excelled in repertoire with more limited demands which would charm us for many subsequent years.

This recital is not to be missed.

Along with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, the reigning soprano on the EMI label for the Fifties and sixties was de los Angeles. She was a warm, charming presence, and audiences felt real love for her. Like Schwarzkopf she was a noted recitalist, and not a season went by at Carnegie Hall bu the two of them made an annual appearance. De los Angeles had more coloratura than Schwarzkopf, who had a keener intelligence. Every note was carefully thought out before Schwarzkopf sang a song; de los Angeles gave the impression that she simply walked on stage and sang form the heart. But the two had in commonly a beautiful voice that was instantly recognizable, and both voices had a smiling quality.

Here is a representative recital of mixed songs from the Edinburgh Festival in 1957, when the singer was in her mid-thirties. Every number is beyond reproach. For an hour one sits back and basks in the sun of her personality. Gerald Moore offers civilized accompaniments, and the only slight stumble is de los Angeles's untrained English in the excerpt from Handel's Judas Maccabeus. Even that is charming in its way. I would point to Brahms's achingly sensitive "Die Nachtigall" as a high point, along with her specialty, the Spanish song repertoire that the singer owned for three decades. The mono sound is clear and open but a bit bright on top. Audience applause is included.

Somehow, to hear de los Angeles today is a moving experience for her ease and, even more, the comforting solace she conveyed - has any great singer been more gentle?

P.S. - I should have mentioned the substantial filler, a 1957 account of Berlioz's Les nuits d'ete conducted by Rudolf Schwarz. He is skillful, but the recorded sound, in mono, is shrill, and overall it can't compare with de los Angeles' classic account, also in mono, under Charles Munch form Boston.

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