Gertrude Grob Prandl Recital

I first discovered Gertrude Grob-Prandl in an old Haydn Society recoding of highlights of Don Giovanni Hers was the most incredible Vengeance Aria since the opera was written. It took decades for a superior version (Leontyne Price) and an equal version (Frida Leider) to arrive.. For decades that Don Giovanni was all that existed of Grob-Prandl's art on record. Then in the 2000's Myto released its Grob-Prandl catalog, First there was a horrible, unlistenable Tristan with Max Lorenz which drained my wallet and left me furious because of what the recording hid.also you couldn't hear a note of it. It was in horrible sound. Then Myto released a Grob-Prandl German Language Turandot that Eva Turner would have envied. Next there were c'd's of Siegfried and Die Gotterdammerung that forced multible listenings leading to comparison's with Richard Canniel's Dream Ring with Flagstad and Leider and multiple the recordings with Birgit Nilsson..A terribly cut Die Walkure in great sound was released which compares favorably with the Traubel, and Crespin;s Met performance and then another Tristan with terrific sound and an exceptional Trisian was released as was an Italian Turandot and a glorious issue of Strauss' Elektra. Now this compilation. If this is your first Grob-Prandl recording, the Elektra excerpts will send you on a Grob-Prandl quest. There is Nilsson's power upstairs,and conviction, Price's pitch, and a Traubel's richness and beauty in the middle. voice. She had strong very low notes too. OH! The voice was really beautiful, a Leider-like fast vibrato and it was Traubelian in its richness with Nilsson's freedom and power at the top. She equals Nilsson in the finale of Siegfried. And her voice is rich and even throughout its great range,.This recording shows that Grob-Prandl had it all and in abundance. Every track is a prize. Ho-yo-to-ho. will be as surprising to you as your first hearings of Leider, Crespin, and Flagstad's Ho-Yo-To--Ho's---unforgettable..This recording is must. At one point MYTO advertised its Siegfried and Gotterdammerung with the Question, "Was Gertrude Grob-Prandl the greatest Wagner Soprano oh the 20th century? A silly way to sell a record. However after you have listened to this album of Grob-Prandl's really great singing, and followed it up with her other work, the question might not be so silly after all. You'll agree that she might have been as great as the greatest. Why might you not be as familiar with her as some other favorites? The answer could be bad timing,and horribly bad luck, a mostly European career, few recordings, and lots of extra poundage and the rise of Nilsson... (See the program notes and her entry in Lanfranco Rasponi's, classic book, "The Last Prima Donnas"

Une wagnérienne qui fut manifestement sous-enregistrée à une époque où les grands rôles étaient dominés par des monstres-sacrés du niveau d'une Astrid VARNAY et d'une Martha MÖDL. Il suffirait d'aller écouter le Tristan d'André CLUYTENS (un coffret Walhall disponible sous l'entrée : "Tristan und solde - a. Cluytens, 1956") pour se convaincre que Gertrude GROB-PRANDL Autrichienne, était taillée dans l'étoffe des géantes – l'on peut aussi aller écouter ses Turandot (deux intégrales chez Walhall) ou ses Bünnhilde dans les deux dernières Journées du Ring de Rudolf MORALT, en 1949 (chez Myto).L'on peut commencer par se faire une idée de son répertoire avec ce volume publié chez Myto. Le texte d'accompagnement est éclairant sur sa carrière de quasi doublure sous la baguette des plus grands chefs de son époque. Pour autant, la notice est muette sur les origines de ce florilège d'extraits, sinon qu'il s'agit bien de Gertrude GROB-PRANDL with orchestra (sic).La voix est longue, puissante et timbrée du sceau des grandes wagnériennes brunes. Dans ses deux Brünnhilde avec Rudolf MORALT, quelque mauvaise langue aura pu relever des phrasés qui, çà ou là, auraient manqué un peu de noblesse. Pour ce que j'entends, le timbre à quelque chose de melliflu sombré (marthamödl-esque) et, cependant, les aigus sont acérés et coupants (birgitnilsson-esques). Une courte plage (n°6), 'Entweihte Götter', permet apprécier une Ortrud aussi furieusement passionnée qu'une Kerstin THORBORG. Consécutivement, un passage la montre en Brünnhilde. Finalement, il n'est que de renvoyer aux trois extraits d'Elektra pour se faire une conviction. Un monologue extraverti, notamment, qui peut en remontrer à quelques très grandes. Le son est très convenable, probablement capté dans les années cinquante et dans les conditions techniques d'une radio-diffusion.