Thirty-five years ago today, on July 13th, 1986, my friend Jan and I drove up to Tanglewood on a Sunday afternoon to hear the great American soprano Leontyne Price in recital. With the marvelous David Garvey at the Steinway, Ms. Price (at the age of 60) offered a rich program of songs and arias; the huge audience was in a state of rapture throughout.
Here's what I wrote in my opera diary that evening when I got home:
"A very beautiful recital, with many gorgeous moments. The great diva, now nearly 60 years old, was in radiant voice and in a relaxed, generous mood. She sang much of the programme with a restrained quality, illuminating the songs with much spinning tone and lovely phrasing. She made a virtue of her sometimes problematic approach to the top by floating some truly extraordinary tones in the upper register. She seems to have retained the voice almost unimpaired, and her highly individual style proved most winning in each selection.
The profound opening piece, "Dank sei dir, Herr" with superbly sustained notes, was majestically sung; her "Piangero la sorte mia" beautifully floated...and what a gorgeous aria it is. The songs by Marx are quite fascinating: they have a Straussian feel, but seem somehow more melodic, if that is possible. Price brought forth many nuances and sumptuous tones in her Marx set.
In "La mamma morta" from CHENIER, she took the high ending to polish off her tragically expressive rendering of the great aria.
Liszt's "O, quand je dors" was breathtakingly phrased and sung with great ardour. She added to the printed programme a beautiful and very moving new Hoiby song drawn from the Statue of Liberty's declaration, and the same composer's "The Serpent" was hilariously and grandly sung, with all manner of comic inflections; this drew huge applause. Her bluesy renderings of two spirituals were pure Leontyne.
Four encores: a glorious "Vissi d'arte", heavenly "Io son l'umile ancella", a grandly-spun "Canzone di Doretta", and - an unusual choice for a recital - a powerful, melodramatic Morte di Butterfly. Applause and encores lasted 20 minutes...huge enthusiasm for the great diva...a very thrilling afternoon!"