Leontyne Price - Recordings

Recordings

Most of Leontyne Price's commercial recordings were issued by RCA Victor Red Seal and include three complete sets of Il trovatore, two of La forza del destino, two of Aida, two of Verdi's Requiem, two of Tosca, and one each of Ernani, Un ballo in maschera, Carmen, Madama Butterfly, Cosí fan tutte, Don Giovanni (as Donna Elvira), Il tabarro and (her final complete opera recording) Ariadne auf Naxos. She also recorded a disc of highlights from Porgy and Bess, singing the music of all three female leads. It was conducted by Skitch Henderson and featured William Warfield as Porgy.

She recorded five Prima Donna albums of operatic arias generally of roles that she never performed on stage. She also recorded two albums of Richard Strauss arias, recitals of French and German art songs, two albums of Spirituals, and a crossover disc, Right as the Rain, with André Previn. Her recordings of Barber's "Hermit Songs", scenes from Antony and Cleopatra, and "Knoxville: Summer of 1915," were reissued on CD as Leontyne Price Sings Barber. Her most popular operatic aria collection is her first, the self-titled Leontyne Price, sometimes referred to as the "Blue Album" because of its blue cover. It has been reissued on CD, and lately on SACD. In 1971, RCA released a spiritual album I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free, Price singing with the Rust College Choir (Mississippi). In 1996, for her 70th birthday, RCA issued a limited edition 11-CD boxed collection of her recordings, with an accompanying book, entitled The Essential Leontyne Price.

Archival recordings of live performances have also appeared. Deutsche Grammophon released CDs of live Salzburg performances of "Missa Solemnis" (1959) and Il trovatore(1962), both conducted by Karajan. In 2002, RCA discovered a tape of her 1965 Carnegie Hall recital debut and released it in its "Rediscovered" series. In 2005, Bridge Records released the complete 1953 Library of Congress recital with Barber, including the "Hermit Songs," Henri Sauguet's "La Voyante", and songs by Poulenc. In August 2008, a tape of a September 1952 Berlin performance of the Breen-Davis "Porgy and Bess" was found in the Berlin radio archives and released on CD—offering the earliest recorded glimpse of Price's voice and style. In 2011, Sony Classics brought out on disc her first two Met broadcasts, Il Trovatore (1961) and Tosca (1962), both with Corelli.