Margaret Price
Soprano Margaret Price was one of the great international singers of the generation that came to the fore in the 1960s. She was classified as a lyric soprano, but also possessed a firm and brilliant coloratura.
Margaret Berenice Price began singing lessons when she was nine, in Wales. At the age of 15 she won the Charles Kennedy Scott scholarship to the Trinity School of Music in London, where she studied with Scott for four years.
After graduation, she joined the Ambrosian Singers. She refused to enter competitions. While she was singing with the Ambrosian, her father wrote letters to opera companies to introduce her.
She made her operatic debut as Cherubino in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro in 1962 with the Welsh National Opera. The next year, she was asked at the last minute to replace the indisposed Teresa Berganza in that same role. After that she formed an artistic partnership with James Lockhart, a conductor and pianist who became a vocal coach and accompanist and helped her in finding and judging repertory and formed a major recital team that was well known for its wide variety both as to language and style. She was particularly known for her interpretation of Schoenberg's Das Buch der hängenden Gärten.
In 1967, she joined the English National Opera Group where she debuted in Mozart's short divertimento The Impresario, as Tytania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Galatea in Acis and Galatea. In the summer of 1968, she debuted at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Constanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, which was widely acclaimed. Over the years, she went on to sing all of Mozart's major soprano roles at major houses and festivals around the world. She debuted at San Francisco in 1969 as Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, and her debut in Chicago was as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte in 1972.
She also chose Mozart's Don Giovanni for her German debut (1971 in Cologne). In 1973, she debuted at the Opéra de Paris, which she joined for that company's historic tour of the United States in 1976, where she sang Desdemona in Verdi's Falstaff. Typically for the time, the Metropolitan Opera was slow to secure her services. When she finally debuted there, in 1985, it was a triumphant portrayal of the same role. She says, by the way, that singing Mozart is all "sweat and labor" while Verdi, by comparison, is a "piece of cake."
Despite her successful operatic career, she said that her childhood love was art song and that she always wanted to sing lieder. Accordingly she sang in recital in all the world's major venues. A small sample of her recorded repertory includes songs of Franz Liszt with Cyprien Katsaris, songs of Richard Strauss with Wolfgang Sawallisch as pianist, and with Graham Johnson in songs of Schubert, Robert Schumann, Mendelssohn, and Brahms on the Hyperion label.
She often appeared on radio and television (including a memorable portrayal of Tchaikovsky's Tatyana and Salud in Falla's La Vida Breve). He active concert life is represented on disc by recordings of Ravel's Shéherazade with Claudio Abbado, and Elgar's The Kingdom under Sir Adrian Boult.
Margaret Price was named a Bayerischen Kammersängerin, received a CBE in 1982, and in 1993 was knighted as Dame of the British Empire.
© TiVo
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Mozart: Così fan tutte, K. 588
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 4 Jun 2012
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Lieder
Margaret Price, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Hans Schoneberger
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 1 Jan 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Great Singers Live
Margaret Price, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, Heinz Wallberg, Leopold Hager, Thomas Fulton
Opera - Released by BR-Klassik on 26 May 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss / Liszt : Lieder avec piano
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 18 May 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Opera & Concert Arias: Classic Library Series
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 1 Feb 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Otello
Carlo Cossutta, Margaret Price, Gabriel Bacquier, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Georg Solti
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Margaret Price In Recital
Classical - Released by Universal Music Australia Pty. Ltd. on 16 Aug 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Lieder
Margaret Price, James Lockhart
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 1 Jan 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
A Portrait, Vol. 3: Jascha Horenstein (Remastered 2022)
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Margaret Price, Jascha Horenstein
Classical - Released by Urania Records on 17 Jun 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Die Zauberflöte (Complete Mozart Edition)
Peter Schreier, Margaret Price, Mikael Melbye, Sir Colin Davis
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1984
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Missa solemnis Op.123 - Messe Op.86
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 "Symphony of a Thousand"
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K. 384 (Highlights)
Margaret Price, Ryland Davies, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir John Pritchard
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 2 Feb 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Giuseppe Verdi : Mélodies (Songs)
Margaret Price, Geoffrey Parsons
Classical - Released by Deutsche Grammophon (DG) on 1 Jan 1987
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lieder: Margaret Price
Classical - Released by Orfeo on 1 Jan 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Margaret Price Recital
Margaret Price, James Lockhart
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1969
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Sinfonie Nr.2 "Lobgesang"
Margaret Price, Sally Burgess, Siegfried Jerusalem, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Riccardo Chailly
Classical - Released by Decca on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Liszt : 3 Petrarch Sonnets & Lieder
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Warner Classics International on 1 May 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Verdi: Requiem
Classical - Released by London Philharmonic Orchestra on 1 Sep 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No.4
Margaret Price, San Francisco Symphony, Edo de Waart
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1982
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo