Search - Régine Crespin :: Regine Crespin

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davidissimo | Chapel Hill, NC | 06/20/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is what the French would call "a find"!I agree wholeheartedly with Mr Levinson's comments below. Featuring Crespin's singing of repertoire mostly unavailable elsewhere (and now that EMI's early-career studio recordings, including the Otello scene in Italian, are currently out of the catalog) with the voice fresh in its voluptuous, youthful splendor, this generous compilation is simply not to be missed! Never mind any sonic flaws of the source material which, for live airchecks, are fairly negligible. In fact, the sound is remarkably dynamic if a shade fierce in the treble, with only one serious pitch variation due to uneven tape speed marring the Fiordiligi aria, which is nevertheless sung magnificently, as mentioned before, translated into the venacular (a practice commonplace in European opera houses of the period). With diction so pure and clear as Crespin's, a model of how French should be sung, it is not only instructional but sheer pleasure to hear the familiar Mozartean tour-de-force rendered in her native tongue rather than the usual Italian.Perhaps of greatest significance is the Wagner selection. Considering that this is the only currently available sample of Crespin's ne-plus-ultra interpretation of the role of Kundry (a complete Bayreuth aircheck of this Parsifal is out there and urgently wanting issue on CD), which her conductor and Parsifal specialist Knappertsbusch called the greatest Kundry he had ever heard, this becomes a must-have release."

Rare Crespin

William S. Levison | Valdosta, GA United States | 12/03/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"The sound is live-broadcast, but good enough to reveal the magnificent Crespin at her vocal peak in repetoire unavailable otherwise. Desdemonda's grand scene from "Otello" and the Mozart selections are sung in French, but with such feeling and sheer vocal beauty that it almost doesn't matter. The Verdi "Ballo" duet with Corelli (in Italian) is thrilling, but so is everything else on this disc. For me, the recording is an unadulterated pleasure, sound and language be damned."

Brava

Good Stuff | 01/30/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I remember a Metropolitan Opera broadcast singers roundtable in which the great Regine Crespin participated fairly late in her career. As they went around the table, the question was "When you give a performance, what do you hope the audience will go away thinking?" When it came to Crespin, her answer was "I hope they will go away thinking 'She looks like she's lost twenty pounds', because I have!" The audience was in hysterics for what seemed like half an hour.



I trust this release, the few others currently available, and the considerable amount of recorded material not currently in release which should be, will attest to the unquestioned fact this extraordinary artist should, and will, be remembered for much, much more.



May she live forever in our hearts."