Leontyne Price and Samuel Barber in Concert
Great Performances, Vol. 19
BRIDGE 9156

Audiophile Audition: Best of Year

This award-winning disc compiles two live performances featuring Leontyne Price and Samuel Barber. The 1953 recording features the spectacular twenty-six year old Leontyne Price, accompanied by Samuel Barber at the Library of Congress. The duo's entire recital is issued complete for the first time. In this recital Ms. Price and Mr. Barber give the world premiere performance of Barber's "Hermit Songs", and perform Henri Sauguet's "La Voyante" (The Fortune Teller) and other songs by Barber, Poulenc and Fauré. The remarkable 1938 recording, released to the public for the first time, gives us the 28 year old baritone, Samuel Barber in 12 songs, accompanying himself at the piano. This rare recording reveals Barber as a performer of uncommonly deep communicative power. The 1938 recording (issued in cooperation with Mr. Barber's estate and the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia) includes folk songs from England, America, the Tyrol and Tuscany as well as lieder by Schumann, Brahms, Mendelssohn, C.P.E Bach and Schubert.

Reviews:

“Given the genre, Barber acquitted himself with skill and musicianship, carrying off the self-accompaniment aspect—a challenge not to be underestimated—with considerable subtlety.” - Fanfare

“The 12 songs recorded by Barber in 1938 are quite a surprise. He had a beautiful voice, a sort of American Pierre Bernac. The two Tuscan folk songs are especially charming.” - Gramophone

"Price’s training is impeccable, her “goddess” voice truly one for the ages." - People's World

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PDF Booklet

1953 Recital

Francis Poulenc
Quatre Poèmes de Paul Eluard
C'est ainsi que tu es

Samuel Barber
Sleep Now
The Daisies
Nocturne
Nuvoletta
Hermit Songs (premiere performance)

Henri Sauguet
La Voyante

Gabriel Fauré
Au bord de l'eau

Leontyne Price, soprano
Samuel Barber, piano

1938 Recital

Six Folk Songs
O waly, waly
The Deaf Woman's Courtship
Brother Greene
Zu Dir
Batti, batti
Chi ti ci fa venir

Robert Schumann
In der Fremde

Felix Mendelssohn
Ist es wahr?

Carl Philip Emanuel Bach
Nonnelied

Johannes Brahms
Der Gang zum Liebchen
Der Tod, das ist die kühle Nacht,

Franz Schubert
Der Jüngling an der Quelle

Samuel Barber, baritone and piano

BRIDGE 9156