Episode 414. Sass Returns!

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Every hundred or so episodes, I feel compelled to pay a return visit to beloved Hungarian diva Sylvia Sass, for there’s always something new and delicious to discover! I’ve cleaned up another former bonus episode and expanded it with a half-dozen extra tracks, from Verdi to Mozart, from her definitive Bluebeard’s Castle to arie antiche topped with a bracing blast of verismo. Then I link up with the previously published bonus episode which samples live excerpts from the two legendary 1976 Verdi performances (Giselda and Violetta) that put Sass on the fast track to operatic superstardom, then pivot to selections from stage works by Offenbach, Respighi, and Gounod that generously flout all of Sylvia’s musical and vocal virtues. Especially treasurable are a number of performances of art song by Liszt, Schumann, Schubert, Strauss, Wagner, and Kodály that explore more deeply her career-long commitment to art song. Plus that, three pop selections recorded between 1983 and 2004, simply irresistible to me and (I hope) to you as well! Sass lovers, you’re in for a feast!

RECORDINGS HEARD IN THIS EPISODE

All tracks feature Sylvia Sass with other artists as noted below:

Béla Bartók, Béla Balázs: Nedves falát felszáritom (A kékszakállú herceg vara). Aage Haugland, Charles Dutoit, Philadelphia Orchestra [live Philadelphia 07.I.86]

Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave, Andrea Maffei [after William Shakespeare]: La luce langue (Macbeth). Nello Santi, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln [live Köln 24.X.1979]

Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Lord Byron]: Ne sulla terra creatura alcuna… Volea talor del carcere… Ah conforto è sol la speme (Il corsaro). Patrick Fournillier, Orchestra and Chorus of the Gran Teatro del Liceu [live Nîmes 11.VII.1986]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Pietro Metastasio: Basta, vincesti… Ah, non lasciarmi, K. 295a. Ferenc Erkel Chamber Orchestra [1994]

Francesco Cilea, Arturo Colautti [after Eugène Scribe, Ernest Legouvé]: Giusto ciel! (Adriana Lecouvreur). Lamberto Gardelli, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo [live Monte-Carlo 02.III.1986]

Alessandro Stradella [falsely attributed]: Pietà, Signore. Sylvia Sass, Miklós Harazdy [1986]

Jacques Offenbach, Henri Meilhac, Ludovic Halévy: Invocation à Vénus (La belle Hélène) [sung in Hungarian]. András Sebestyén, Budapest Symphony Orchestra [1978]

Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Iván Bradányi, György G Dénes (Hungarian words): Szerelmes asszony [Woman in Love]. Arranged and conducted by Péter Wolf [1983]

Charles Gounod, Jules Barbier, Michel Carré [after Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]: Il se fait tard (Faust) [sung in Hungarian]. Kolos Kováts, György Korondi, Ervin Lukács, Orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera [1975]

Giuseppe Verdi, Temistocle Solera [after Tommaso Grossi]: Salve Maria (I Lombardi alla Prima Crociata). Lamberto Gardelli, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden [live 09.VI.76]

Giuseppe Verdi, Francesco Maria Piave [after Alexandre Dumas fils]: Teneste la promessa… Addio del passato (La traviata). Michel Plasson, Orchestre de Capitole du Toulouse [live Aix-en-Provence 22.VII.76]

Ottorino Respighi, Claudio Guastalla [after Ercole Luigi Morselli]: O mamma, mamma, quando dall’altare (Belfagor). Lamberto Gardelli, Hungarian State Orchestra [1989]

Franz Liszt, Johann Rumpelmeyer: Kling leise, mein Lied, S.301/1. András Schiff [1981]

Robert Schumann, Adalbert von Chamisso: Du Ring an meinem Finger (Frauenliebe und -leben, Op. 42/4). András Schiff [live Budapest 15.VI.76]

Franz Schubert, Josef Kenner: Ballade, D. 134. András Schiff [live Budapest 15.VI.76] As promised, here is a link to the text of this ballad: https://www.lieder.net/lieder/get_text.html?TextId=9262