[SACD-R][OF] Leontyne Price - Verdi & Puccini Arias - 1959, 1960/2004 (Classical)

Known by many as the legendary “Blue Album” this historical gem, originally released in 1961, presents Leontyne Price in some of her most shining moments from Italian opera, including her signature: the superlative “Un bel di,” in glorious 3-channel (or 2-channel for 3 tracks). One of the greatest audiophile gems of all time, not to be missed.

Comments from Steve Hoffman, on his message boards
No excuse not to have all of [the RCA Living Stereo SACDs]. I think there are like 50 of them or something. Not all are the last word in wonderful but most are amazing documents of the Golden Age of Recording. Many in three channel, all with a two-channel DSD mix and a CD mix as well. I think the price is down to a dime each now or something (OK, maybe like six bucks). Incredibly cheap for what you get. I would suggest getting them all and then buy an SACD player for them (even if you have nothing else on SACD).
So many of these are so darn good that even if you don’t dig classical, you might someday and then you’ll wish you had grabbed these. I mean after all, when can you hear a pristine mastering in audiophile stereo of a 1954 recording featuring musicians long dead who learned their craft from teachers of the 19th Century? Listening to some of this stuff is truly like resurrecting the dead.
I recommend you grab all of these (even the stuff you’ve never heard of) before they all go out of print.
When you get the LEONTYNE PRICE disk (I call it “The Blue Album”), you’ll see what your stereo is really made of. Start with #11-13 and go to #8 (“Un Bel Di Vedremo” or however it’s spelled) as a demo to start. Those four selections. Crank your system to a realistic level (where she sounds about like she is right in front of you) and let it rip.
First time I tried that my expensive system totally blew a gasket at the end of #8. I mean, sounded like firecrackers were exploding. I switched out my preamp and tried again. Worked but with clipping. I put my McIntosh MC402 in there and watched in wonder as it started at 20 watts and peaked out at 400 watts a channel at the end. It worked but just barely. Don’t EVER think they didn’t know what they were doing in the Golden Age because they really, really did. Amazing sound. The dynamics, tonality and performance on this Price disk would be a bargain at $50.00 let alone the $6.00 or so that it is now). Get it! Get them all.
Review from Musicweb
On September 30, 1966 I bought an EP entitled “Belcanto in Opera”. It contained four Puccini arias. It also contained the most glorious soprano singing I had ever heard. Since then I have heard these arias sung, live and on record, literally hundreds of times but I have still had the sounds from that old RCA EP singing inside my head. The singer’s name was Leontyne Price.
When I got this CD for review and found out that here are these four arias, two each from Butterfly and Turandot, in the very recordings I once had, it was with some trepidation I put it in the CD player. Would it be like those school reunion parties where you go with high expectations only to find out that you and that old mate from the teens are not on speaking terms any more? It wasn’t! Miss Price still communicated just as vividly as she did all those years ago, only with even more power, more clarity, more dynamics on this latest incarnation of what was her debut recital. The new disc is SACD and perhaps multi-channel equipment would give an even stronger experience, but through my old two-channel system the sound was good enough to move me, just as it did in my youth, even if there were one or two signs of distortion in the Trovatore excerpts. But, never mind. This, dear reader, is the most magnificent lirico-spinto soprano sound committed to disc during the last sixty years – with the possible exception of Tebaldi on peak form. But no, not even she could produce such a golden stream of absolutely steady tone, so beautiful, so penetrating, so warm. Here at 33 the voice was still so pure, free from the smoky quality that became more and more prominent later in her career.
“Now wait!” I can hear some grumpy objections, “A good voice it was but what about interpretations?” All right, there have been singers who have managed to delve deeper into these characters, Callas for instance, but Price was no mean actor and she never for a second became bland. There is an intensity in her singing that more than compensates for any lack of voice colouring. It could also be argued that the singing is too formidable for the seventeen-year-old Butterfly, but whatever shortcomings there may be the singing as pure singing silences any criticism.
We also meet Miss Price in three of her greatest roles, roles that she continued to sing all through her career. The booklet note quotes a critic who heard her La Scala debut (in 1960), saying “Our great Verdi would have found her the ideal Aida”. She recorded this opera complete just two years after this recital, again in Rome with Solti conducting. Her O patria mia at marginally slower speed is perhaps a little more reflective, but the singing is just as glorious. That also goes for her complete Tosca with Karajan the same year, while in 1972, when she recorded it again, this time with Zubin Mehta, the voice has thickened a little, even if it still is a magnificent instrument. We also have here Leonora’s two arias from Il trovatore, recorded as early as 1959. And this is another piece of thrilling singing; just listen to her delivery of the cabaletta Di tale amor.
Nothing to carp at, then? There are no texts and translations, but that doesn’t matter much since all these arias are standards; and playing time is short, even with almost 15 minutes from the complete Trovatore thrown in it plays at just over 46 minutes, but 46 minutes with singing of this calibre is worth even twice the price. I do not expect to hear a better recital this side New Year’s Eve, probably not afterwards either.
Review from Audiophile Audition
This collection of Verdi and Puccini Arias is often referred to as the “Blue Album,” and this new multichannel SACD from RCA Living Stereo gives it to us finally in all its glory. The program that Leontyne Price delivers is a near-perfect one, her vocal tone is flawless and the orchestral support is superb. For the first time we get to hear this album in its original three-channel incarnation; only the selections from “Il Trovatore” are in stereo, and are a slight disappointment, because they exhibit the same left-right quality so often heard in the older LSCs. Having Leontyne Price’s voice anchored in the center channel is fabulous—if you’re only listening to these discs in stereo, you don’t know what you’re missing! The program length is a bit on the short side, but what else would RCA have coupled this with? This is such an enjoyable disc, the playing time just passes way too quickly. A perfect introduction to opera for those who might be a little opera-squeamish. Not to be missed, and very highly recommended!