Opera & Lieder Recordings

Alexander Kipnis - Opera & Lieder Recordings

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CD Details

Artist: Alexander Kipnis
Edition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1997-06-24
Music Label: Nimbus Records
Soundtracks:

Music CD 1

Simon Boccanegra: A Te L' Estremo Addio...Il Lacerato Spirto
Don Carlos: Sie Hat Mich Nie Geliebt...Konnte Doch Die Krone
Il Barbiere Di Siviglia: Die Verleumdung, Sie Ist Ein Luftchen
Die Entfruhrung Aus Dem Serail: Wer Ein Liebchen Hat
Le Nozze Di Figaro: Rache Arie (La Vendetta)
Don Giovanni: Register-Arie
Der Wildschutz: Funftausend Taler
Der Freischutz: Hier Im Ird' Schen Jammertal
Martha: Lasst Mich Euch Fragen (Porterlied)
Faust: Standchen (Vous Qui Faites L'endormie)
Die Meistersinger: Das Schone Fest, Johannistag
Die Meistersinger: Verachtet Mir Die Meister Nicht
Parsifal: So Ward Es Uns Verchiessen (Good Friday Music)
Die Walkure: Wotans Abschied

Music CD 2

Ariodante: Al Sen Ti Stringo E Parto
Berenice: Si, Tra I Ceppi
Heidenroslein D.257
Ungeduld D.795, No.7
Erlkonig D.328
Der Wanderer D.493
Der Lindenbaum D.911, No.5
Der Wegweiser D.911, No.20
Aufenthalt D.957, No.5
Am Meer D.957, No.12
Der Doppelganger D.957, No.13
Die Beiden Grenadiere, Op.49, No.1
Auf Dem Kirchhofe, Op.105, No.4
Immer leiser Wird Mein Schlummer, Op.105, No.2
Feldeinsamkeit, Op.86, No.2
Sapphische Ode, Op.94, No.4
O Tu Palermo
Ella Giammai M' Amo
So Schwarmet Jugend

Music reviews of Opera & Lieder Recordings

Music Review: A bass without Boris? It can be done!
Rating: 5 Stars

There have been exactly four world-famous giants of the bass voice in classical music in the 20th century: Feodor Chaliapin, Boris Christoff, Ezio Pinza, and Alexander Kipnis. Those are the four contenders for the top spot, and all others, no matter how estimable, can but contest for second place in public and critical preference. The Russian Chaliapin, like Maria Callas, achieved his fame as much or more through his histrionic abilities and striking appearance than through vocal beauty; some of his most famous recorded singing moments aren't really even singing! Christoff (a Bulgarian) was his "successor" in similar roles, principally in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov-less dramatic but vocally more beautiful, a pleasant enough tradeoff. The Italian Pinza was altogether more suave and lyrical, and although he did sing Boris (in Italian while the rest of the cast sang in Russian!), he was better known in Mozart (particularly Don Giovanni) and, of all things, South Pacific.

Alexander Kipnis, another Russian (and father of the great harpsichordist Igor Kipnis), is the least known of this quartet to the public today, although his timbre was no less beautiful than the others, and he was probably the most musical of them all. His lesser fame is probably due to the fact that he spent so much of his recording career on art song rather than opera (which is always better box office), and that in opera he had no clear specialty in which he outshone the competition. He too sang the greatest bass role in opera, Tsar Boris, but his studio recordings in the part are unfortunately a shade below his best; it shows great courage on the part of Nimbus to exclude them from their two-disc collection in favor of more flattering examples of his art. Here instead we have his unsurpassed performance of the aria "Wer ein Liebchen hat gefunden" from Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio, in which his seamless two-octave span is breathtakingly displayed from a cavernous low G on up to an ethereal high D without any strain or dislocation.

Kipnis had a distinctive way of expressing tenderness and strength almost simultaneously, and his legato phrasing was peerless-all in clear evidence in the album's opening selection, "Il lacerato spirito" from Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, both noble and opulent in sound. He seemed to be at home in Italian and French opera, Mozart and Wagner, grand opera and operetta, comedy and tragedy, opera and lieder, singing with beauty and intelligence no matter the genre or period. Such versatility was unknown among the other three great basses, who often appeared in garishly unflattering light when straying from their well-honed specialties. Nimbus Prima Voce is to be commended for another judicious culling for their beautifully recorded and packaged series of the greatest singers, and for sticking here to the Kipnis recordings made in the 1920s and early 1930s when his voice was at its very best.

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