Teresa Stich-Randall
While American-born sopranos have been making waves since the days of Lillian Nordica in the early 1900s, West Hartford, CN, native Teresa Stich-Randall may have been the first American soprano whose popularity abroad outstripped her reputation at home. Stich-Randall studied voice at the Hartt School of Music, Columbia University, and finally New York University, where she made her debut in 1947 creating the role of Gertrude Stein in the premiere of Virgil Thomson's opera The Mother of Us All. In 1948 Stich-Randall also created the title role in Otto Luening's opera Evangeline. Stich-Randall's talents attracted the attention of maestro Arturo Toscanini, who cast her in a number of parts in the 1949-1950 season, fortunately so in the minor part of Nanetta in Toscanini's last performance of Verdi's opera Falstaff, leading to Stich-Randall's presence on one of the most celebrated recorded opera sets ever made.
In 1951 Stich-Randall made her European debut in Florence, Italy, and that same year took first prize in an international singing competition held in Lausanne. This established Stich-Randall's reputation in Europe, and although she would perform with the Chicago Lyric Opera, at the Metropolitan in New York, and on American concert tours as a soloist in the coming years, it was in Europe that most of her subsequent activity was centered. Stich-Randall was named an Austrian Kammersängerin in 1962 and was the first American accorded this particular honor; afterwards, she was contracted to the Vienna State Opera and sang there primarily until her retirement around 1980. Outside of much-heralded visits home to West Hartford in 1982 and 1983, Stich-Randall had been little heard from after that.
Although Teresa Stich-Randall is hardly a household name, she had many fans among those who collect vintage vocal recordings. In her concert career she frequently sang works by Handel and J.S. Bach. Stich-Randall's approach to Baroque music was signified by her light tone with no more than a subtle vibrato, clear enunciation, and an infallible sense of pitch. Stich-Randall was definitely ahead of the game in regard to latter-day period performance practice, and her best recordings generously bear this out, in particular her 1966 Vanguard recording of Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with alto Elisabeth Höngen.
© TiVo
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Mozart: Grosse Messe, K. 427 (Mono Version)
Teresa Stich-Randall, Wiener Symphoniker, Rudolf Moralt
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1956
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Lieder (Mono Version)
Teresa Stich-Randall, Jacqueline Bonneau
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Messe solennelle "Du couronnement", Exsultate jubilate & Vêpres solennelles d'un confesseur
Karl Ristenpart, Kammerorchester des Saarländischen Rundfunks, Teresa Stich-Randall
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gluck: Orfeo ed Euridice - 1762 Edition with 1774 Paris Revisions
Teresa Stich-Randall, Maureen Forrester, Charles Mackerras
Opera - Released by Vanguard Classics on 31 Dec 2021
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Teresa Stich-Randall
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 7 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart & Schubert: Lieder (Mono Version)
Teresa Stich-Randall, Jacqueline Bonneau
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Récital au Festival d'Aix en Provence 1956
Classical - Released by INA Mémoire vive on 1 Sep 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major
Teresa Stich-Randall, Residentie Orkest, Willem van Otterloo
Classical - Released by Decca Music Group Ltd. on 1 Jan 1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Klemperer Live: Vienna, Vol. 1 – Concert 21 June 1955 (Historical Recording)
Audience, June 21st, 1955 - Wiener Musikverein, Wiener Symphoniker, Teresa Stich-Randall, Otto Klemperer
Classical - Released by Archiphon on 20 Oct 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Requiem allemand, Op. 45, Rhapsodie, Op. 53 & Hymnes de fête et de commémoration, Op. 109 (Mono Version)
Teresa Stich-Randall, NDR Sinfonieorchester, Carl Bamberger
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater (Mono Version)
Orchestre de l'opéra d'état de Vienne, Teresa Stich-Randall, Elisabeth Höngen
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
Classical - Released by Archipel on 25 Nov 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Famous voices of the Past - Teresa Stich-Randall Mozart Arias
Classical - Released by Preiser Records on 7 Oct 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Teresa Stich-Randall: Recordings 1953-1959 (Orfeo d'Or)
Teresa Stich-Randall, Radio Symphonieorchester Wien, ORF Chorus, Max Schönherr, Anton Heiller, Kurt Richter
Opera - Released by Orfeo on 22 Oct 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater, P. 77
Teresa Stich-Randall, Elisabeth Höngen, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Wiener Akademie Kammerchor, Mario Rossi
Classical - Released by Archipel on 1 Aug 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Récital de Lieder 31.7.1956
Classical - Released by Preiser Records on 18 Jun 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Pergolesi: Stabat Mater, P. 77
Teresa Stich-Randall, Wiener Akademie Kammerchor, Elisabeth Höngen, Wiener Philharmonic Orchestra, Mario Rossi
Classical - Released by Urania Records on 3 Jul 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Airs d'opéras (Mono Version)
Opera - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: Requiem
Wiener Symphoniker, Vienna State Opera Chorus, Karl Böhm, Ira Malaniuk, Teresa Stich-Randall
Classical - Released by Past Classics on 21 Jun 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Cantates, BWV 21 & 159, extraits (Mono Version)
Teresa Stich-Randall, Jakob Stämpfli, Orchestre de l'opéra d'état de Vienne
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1961
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Récital Mozart (Mono Version)
Teresa Stich-Randall, Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire, André Cluytens
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo