Kirsten Flagstad - Strauss and Immolation (California, 1950)

I don't believe this has been posted online before so here's another late Flagstad concert from my collection. A rare recital given in San Francisco, Standard Oil.
Quite a challenging selection for so late in her career, but handled exceptionally well in my opinion.
0:00 Cäcilie (Strauss)
2:25 Befreit (Strauss)
8:30 Immolation Scene (Wagner)
California Recital
Conductor - Gaetano Merol
San Francisco Philharmonic
Fresno, California
October 5th, 1950.

[@omarsomehow69]

Superb condition for 59 y.o. Wagnerian soprano. Great document of her vocal preservation - the top is absolutely secure and attack is solid.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

What do you think of this? czcams.com/video/hWoPxUxJTDo/video.htmlsi=uMg7LUaQcSSYey04&t=108

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

Oh, Nilsson also has recorded this czcams.com/video/PYowYLIZRbM/video.htmlsi=21MpxMd2Tc1TEsYk&t=97

[@omarsomehow69]

I'm going for an obvious statement - glorious Nilsson and someone else@@dramaticsoprano5168

[@pixelchords3201]

Very pretty crescendo on the A-flat at 7:12!

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

And she actually goes for the B in Cacilie at 1:33!

[@syncopate50]

The date should be corrected in the heading. In 1950, her voice was still in glorious full flower, if rather of the late summer variety. That's the year of her near-definitive Götterdämmerung in Milan with Max Lorenz as Siegfried. Compare this high B with her high C in the Prologue. It makes one wish she had recorded Tristan und Isolde with him!

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

The high C in which which prologue? The 1937 Götterdämmerung?

[@syncopate50]

@dramaticsoprano5168 Compare the high B in this Cäcilie to the high C in the 1950 Götterdämmerung with Max Lorenz as a fully equal foil.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

@@syncopate50 Are you sure she sang the high C in the 1950 Götterdämmerung? She sings an A-flat here in the prologue scene here:
czcams.com/video/nDqEF6b4lv8/video.htmlsi=pEszE7PViVOVdi5T&t=1887
Or is there another moment you're talking about?

[@jaykauffman4775]

@@syncopate50what high c

[@jaykauffman4775]

@@dramaticsoprano5168I don’t think she sang any high c after the war

[@ER1CwC]

1950 or 1954? I think she still has a touch of her old youthful sound here (which is absent in the Tristan recording just two years later), so I'd guess that this is 1950. The Befreit here is gorgeous.

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

Sorry, I didn’t realize the conflicting information in the title and description! Yes this is 1950, just confirmed via the program. There was another Standard Oil Concert she did in October 1954 too, but there she sang only Traüme and the Immolation. Cäcelie would probably have been too ambitious of a choice by then…

[@ER1CwC]

​@@dramaticsoprano5168 No worries, your posts are always appreciated. In 1954, she could have always just sung Cacilie in a lower key! It's an art song, not an aria. But even if it were an aria, I think she would've earned the right to transpose.

[@jeffreymiller4814]

I’m surprised it’s Merola conducting. She usually has MacArthur whenever possible, including her farewell concert in NYC

[@dramaticsoprano5168]

Well Merola was the founder and head conductor of San Francisco Philharmonic so I suppose it makes sense. I'm not too sure on whether I prefer him or McArthur. The Immolation seems a little fast

[@joaopauloribas8495]

Her voice is distorted

[@omarsomehow69]

I barely hear any distortion. But even so, you can name some other sopranos of her reputation who had the same vocal form at the age of 59? Well, Nilsson and Milanov as well, but all of them had their problems at this age.

[@omarsomehow69]

@@gr__msk wild intonation, getting progressively more strident, whiter on top.

[@mariah_celine7912]

where do you hear her being strident here? @@omarsomehow69

[@judygarland7186]

@@omarsomehow69 Nilsson was barely strident compared to other singers. Tebaldi was more strident

[@omarsomehow69]

@judygarland7186 you are my fan, and that's why you keep looking for my comments? You are despicable.