Victoria de los Angeles
Her smiling face, her generosity and her simplicity have won the hearts of all those who have seen this great singer from afar or close up; a singer who could never be mistaken for a diva. No caprices, no bouts of rage, no outrageous demands: she simply sang. It was the Geneva International Music Competition, which she won with such great success in 1947, that propelled the young Spanish singer to the front of the world stage. Right away, she was enlisted to sing La Vida Breve by Manuel de Falla in London, and then Paris invited her to play Marguerite in Gounod's Faust at the Opéra, before becoming Mimi (La Bohème by Puccini), under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham at Covent Garden. Salzburg, New York, Milan, Vienna and Buenos Aires followed. A coloratura soprano first and foremost, she sang roles from Rossini with agility. As the years went by, she expanded her voice and her repertoire, becoming a much sought-after lyric soprano. Thanks to her particular gift for languages, she has been Agathe in Weber's Freischütz, Desdemona in Verdi's Othello, Eva in Die Meistersinger by Wagner, or a touching Mélisande. She is a wily and spiteful Rosina (Barber of Seville), a simple and moving Mimi.
Victoria de los Angeles's voice (a stage name she chose for herself in order to get away from her less-glamorous family name, Lopez-Garcia) was natural, easy, sunny, with a suppleness that allowed her to overcome difficulties without apparent effort. She was the foremost post-war Spanish singers, before the emergence of her colleagues Teresa Berganza and Montserrat Caballé. But throughout her career she has remained in touch with her deep Catalan roots. At recitals, she would often sing Xavier Montsalvatge or Federico Mompou, who accompanied her in 1971 for a broadcast on Télévision Française. She also sang German Lieder with Gerald Moore, and to be sure, the zarzuela of Madrid, of which she made numerous recordings. The record commemorates the precious moment in the great English pianist's farewell concert, in which Victoria de los Angeles sang Cats' Duet (incorrectly attributed to Rossini) with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf.
Surely her Carmen counts amongst those of her roles which will always remain famous: she made a celebrated recording in Paris with the French National Orchestra, directed by Sir Thomas Beecham. More seductive than femme fatale, singing the French impeccably with a trace of a Spanish accent which sits well with the work, she is surrounded by a dream billing: Ernest Blanc, Nicolaï Gedda and Ernest Blanc make this a real point of reference for the style of French singing. With the same Beecham, she recorded a very beautiful Bohème by Puccini, with the great Swedish tenor Jussi Björling.
This angelic voice remained intact until a very advanced age, which allowed Victoria de los Angeles to continue singing until late in life. She left the stage in 1979; but she continued to give recitals until the age of 75, in 1998, in which she would foreground a repertoire which she could still sing very well, and almost every time she would give an encore of Carmen, as if to offer a wink at the heroine who had assured her lasting fame.
© FH / Qobuz
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Songs of Many Lands
Klassik - Erschienen bei Ediciones Victoria de los Ángeles am 01.01.1976
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: Le barbier de Séville (Mono Version)
Victoria de los Angeles, Gino Bechi, Orchestra Sinfonica Di Milano, Tullio Serafin
Verschiedenes - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1953
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Manon (Intégrale)
Gesamtaufnahmen von Opern - Erschienen bei Myto Historical am 01.01.1959
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
La Bohème
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Oper - Erschienen bei Past Classics am 01.01.1956
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Victoria de los Angeles "The Modest Prima Donna"
Opernauszüge - Erschienen bei Musical Concepts am 07.11.2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Massenet : Manon - Bonus : Debussy & Berlioz (1955)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Naxos am 11.12.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Victoria de los Ángeles al Palau de la Música Catalana. Concert inaugural de Catalunya Música
Victoria de los Angeles, Manuel García Morante
Instrumentalmusik - Erschienen bei Columna Música am 10.05.2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
An Evening With Victoria De Los Angeles and Geoffrey Parsons
Victoria de los Angeles, Geoffrey Parsons
Klassik - Erschienen bei Collins Classics am 01.01.1990
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Puccini: Madama Butterfly (Stereo Version)
Orchestra del Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Gabriele Santini, Jussi Björling, Victoria de los Angeles
Klassik - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1959
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Baroque & Religious Arias
Victoria de los Angeles, Yehudi Menuhin, Gerald Moore
Klassik - Erschienen bei Ediciones Victoria de los Ángeles am 20.07.2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Duets
Victoria de los Angeles, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Klassik - Erschienen bei Past Classics am 01.08.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Gounod : Faust (Mono Version, 1953) (Mono Version)
André Cluytens, Orchestre du Theatre National De L'Opera De Paris, Nicolai Gedda, Victoria de los Angeles
Gesamtaufnahmen von Opern - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Lucero Mío. Cançons de Bressol i Cançons Populars
Klassik - Erschienen bei Columna Música am 17.12.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lieder, chansons et mélodies (Mono Version)
Victoria de los Angeles, Gerald Moore
Klassik - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Massenet: Manon (Mono Version)
Orchestre Du Theatre National De L'opera-comique, Pierre Monteux, Victoria de los Angeles, Henri Legay
Klassik - Erschienen bei BNF Collection am 01.01.1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Pau & Victoria: Historical Recordings
Victoria de los Angeles, Pablo Casals
Vokalmusik (weltlich und geistlich) - Erschienen bei Columna Música am 30.10.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Suor Angelica (Intégrale)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Naxos am 01.01.1958
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Récitals de 1950
Klassik - Erschienen bei INA Mémoire vive am 08.11.2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leoncavallo: Pagliacci
Jussi Björling, Victoria de los Angeles, Leonard Warren
Oper - Erschienen bei Urania am 01.01.1953
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lebendige Vergangenheit - Victoria de los Angeles
Klassik - Erschienen bei Preiser Records am 14.09.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Il Trittico
Orchestra and Chorus of the Opera House, Rome, Titto Gobbi, Victoria de los Angeles
Oper - Erschienen bei Past Classics am 24.08.2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo