About this Artist

• Biography

Editorial Reviews

You can indict Aida (as some critics do) as a monument to imperialism and racism, but sharper listeners won't miss the indignation and love of freedom suffusing this 1871 tragedy set in ancient Egypt. Verdi was well aware that many of his operas could be interpreted as being politically incendiary, so he took this tale about the proud Ethiopian princess sharing her people's bondage under the Egyptians (one of whom she loves) and poured his most noble music into it. This is the grandest of "grand operas," and Verdi uses the genre's demands for ballet, spectacle, and exoticism to question the very civilization they crowned -- after all, Aida was commissioned to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. On this recording, the heroine Aida is sung by Leontyne Price, an African American who will probably never be surpassed in this role. When this record was made in the 1960s, America's war over civil rights was raging. Price's stunning vocalism and exemplary dramatics updated the political punch of Verdi's masterpiece in ways the composer probably never imagined but surely would have approved of. Patrick Giles, Barnes & Noble

Customer Reviews

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