In Conversation with Dame Margaret Price

[@susanbailey596]

I had the great good fortune of hearing Margaret Price with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic many decades ago. She sang the Mozart Exsultate Jubilate and her Alleluia lifted the roof off - we clapped so much, she gave an encore.

[@RattusYu]

thank you

[@PatrickJohnGordon]

Thank you for posting!!

[@4444marla]

That is my feeling completely. The descent of all the arts and then the lack of valuation for the arts and a society that pays millions to the sports world. Goethe predicted the descent of the arts and I am afraid it reflects this society’s descent.

[@gtenore88]

Magnifica! A quando risale questa intervista?

[@16toulousse]

Brava 👏🏻

[@gaetangroppi1112]

Forever the great Isolde !!! (Carlos Kleiberth dirigent !)

[@qaf19]

When she said "none of the Wagner roles i wanted to do" i thought well you did Isolde and you turned out to be the best Isolde ever! :)

[@ZviNetanel]

Unfortunately it is cut before the end.

[@4444marla]

Those were the golden days. All the " difficulties she describes are nothing. In today's world singers haven't got a chance. She was excellent. I heard her many times in person and appreciated her very much...... but if she were starting out today, things might not have worked out so well.

[@abirdthatflew]

Yes, I saw her many times at the Wigmore, including the incredible December 1987 concert which still rings in my ears. No need to be pessimistic, the future is bright, and we wish the best to our new singers, their own voices and determination, and there have been many since Dame Margaret's passing.

[@4444marla]

Not so, unfortunately. There are still great “stars” who make it to the top, but as for the regional theaters which have no funding, and just about disappeared, singers today who have excellent talent have no venue. Once there were a majority of Americans in all the theaters in a Germany. There was a theater in every single city, more than 100 opera houses.....So singers learned the trade, and were paid decently.....it is all gone. Only the big companies can survive and no chance for so many excellent singers anymore. This is the reality.

[@abirdthatflew]

@@4444marla Very true, but this has always been the case. When Bach died all his wife could afford was a coffin, not a tombstone. He lived his life in next to poverty, at the beck and call of his masters, and she remained destitute for the rest of her life. As you say, this also applies to regional orchestras and chamber groups with tons of talent and enthusiasm and nowhere to go. The most outstanding performance of Handel's Jeptha, of any Handel I've ever seen, was at a few years ago at St John's Smith Square. I was absolutely staggered at the excellence of singing, conducting and quality of the orchestra. Just incredible, yet it was a virtually unknown amateur group. Meanwhile, the BBC Orchestras and choirs dominate the Proms. They are awful. Likewise, anywhere in the arts world, writing, theatre, cinema, and god help us, painting and sculpture, where they put on utter trash in the galleries, while supremely gifted artists, world-wide, are avoided, or worse, ripped off. A typical example: I went to an exhibition of Matisse drawings at the Tate; they were terrible, my daughter at 2yrs old did better drawings. Margaret Price was one of the lucky ones; her fabulous command of the art of singing got her past some of the creeps who dominate the slimy world of opera. My sympathy goes to the artists branded 'difficult' who have it in them to stand up to the politics, for example, Richard Strauss ("this decadent neurotic" - Joseph Goebbels). Sorry for the long reply.

[@Yves_Ka]

When did this interview take place?

[@achmedmohamed4708]

I think that Margaret Price did not want to accompany George Solti into a dark cinema. Whatever Solti made with the girls therein. After the movie Solti gave a white fur coat to all girly singers. Many women were carrying white fur coats given from Solti. Brigitte Fassbaender told this a few years ago in an interview about ME TOO. Fassbaender had problems with Placido Domingo she told also.

[@willyegli3616]

i m not shure, dame margaret was very comfortable with this interviewer...but it's good anyway...

[@abirdthatflew]

I'm not sure she was ever comfortable in her life apart from the moments she was on stage.

[@Yves_Ka]

@@abirdthatflew I am curious - Why do you say that?

[@Yves_Ka]

Interesting you picked that up. I worked with her on 2 productions and she returned to our theater numerous times during the early eighties. She was a tough cookie but it was all a bit of a cover up for a very sensitive soul. There were family issues in her private life which she strangely enough opened up to me about. Then there was baggage with Lockhart which I doubt she ever really came to terms with and ultimately THAT left her heartbroken and bitter. There is another interview on YT where she said she was quite happy in retirement but listening to this gave me the impression she missed the singing big time which is so understandable because as you so correctly noticed, she really seemed happiest when she was performing, One could always feel how immersed she was in the music and much up lifting it gave her.

[@abirdthatflew]

@@Yves_Ka Wow, what a priviledge to meet and speak to Dame Margaret. Thank you for sharing these insights, really appreciated. In reply to your earlier question, here goes. My personal opinion is that she didn’t have the temperament to deal with fame and the big stage. I saw her many times in her late career and sincerely believe like you, that she was happiest in the smaller halls singing lieder and bringing a sense of being in the presence of the composer with a small gathering. Her studio recordings and grand operas never matched the quality of singing in those intimate performances. Probably the best example is her Wigmore Hall recital of 1987 released many years later on CD, which you may already know. Incidentally, that recording omits her opening, supremely difficult but spectacular aria, Mozart's Ch’io mi scordi di te? I don't know why the recording company removed this absolute tour de force. I only know this because I recorded the whole concert on cassette when it was broadcast live on radio. Eventually the tape perished through endless replays and old age. The performance reveals not just Dame Margaret's supreme technical skill but an ability to echo history, a unique gift. I believe that’s where her heart truly lay, in the past, and that would have been lonely for her.

[@Yves_Ka]

@@abirdthatflew She hated all the packing and travelling (the dogs were mostly with her) and she was terribly lonely. She also hated costume fittings - there is an interview with Everding in German here on YT where is is very self critical about her size. I found it so hard to comprehend that someone who had been gives such a beautiful and magnificent instrument was deep down so unhappy. But you are right about being emotionally most "at home" in recitals.

[@4444marla]

Not so, there is. O work for young singers, agents are not auditioning. It is not positive.