Kirsten Flagstad - Talking About Music with John Amis and John Culshaw 

Tears at the end. Can we ever pay enough tribute, homage to this marvellous singer & human being?

as a non-English speaker, her English is incredible.

Flagstad's voice was a vocal wonder of the world. How fortunate that so many of her recordings have been digitally remastered and given a "new sonic life". Her only real successor was Birgit Nilsson. Together, the two of them constitute the greatest Wagnerian singing of the Twentieth Century.

She was treated with such cruelty after WW2. One of the greatest artistes ever - she deserved much better, but her memory has far outlasted those who accused her. Kirsten Flagstad triumphed over her foes.

What a delight! Back to an era of excellence, high culture and Light. 🕯

The greatest of all...

Somehow I alway think of the fjords and mountains of Norway when I hear her singing. She had almost an echo in her voice that was unique.

That was amazing to listen to. The ending definitely made me sad.

Gorgeous, gorgeous voice. What a singer!

Wonderful wonderful wonderful, thank you for sharing this !

There does exist another English-language interview with Flagstad. At the Eastman School of Music is a recording, on several vinyl discs, of a radio broadcast of Die Valkure, which includes an intermission interview with Flagstad. Actually, she does all of the talking, and it is in English,. This recording of the opera now exists on RU-vid, but it does not include the interview.

The late John Culshaw was one of the most gifted recording producers of all time.

Years ago, I found a recording in New York which had a live performance of The Wesendonk Leider from a live performance given in Norway in 1951. It had some additional speaking by Flagstad than what is here, I think. The Wesendonk Leider was a disappointment. Obviously, whoever was in charge of the taperecorder didn't have any idea how to set the microphones to a suitable level for that huge voice. The BBC did a tribute to Flagstad December 7, 1972, ten years after her passing. In that program, there are additional portions where Flagstad speaks in English. She started with a very small voice of good quality, sang very correctly and the voice grew and GREW!!! There will never be such a great Wagnerian Soprano again. She did ONLY exercises with her first teacher for two years, did repertoire concurrently by herself, and young voice students don't study that way anymore. They try bigger songs and arias too soon!

A basket of thanks for posting this

An absolutely fascinating programme about the great Flagstad, including her recorded advice to aspiring Wagnerian singers. A big thankyou for this important historical upload. This broadcast is going straight into My Favourites.

Oh the Sibelius. Glorious.

Unbelievable voice unbelievable singer. This sound is only possible by the human instrument trained perfectly! Love it!

Flagstad disliked her family name being pronounced à la Germanic, that is as “Flagstadt”, as we hear it here in the first sentence of this otherwise commendable, nay precious, documentary. Many thanks. 👏👏👏

FLAGSTAD was the GREATEST WAGNERIAN SOPRANO

Thank you for this wonderful program. Strange that Culshaw doesn't mention that her first complete opera recording for Decca was Gluck's Alceste. Cheers.

John Culshaw is a little off on a few dates, according to his book "Ring Resounding." He actually met Flagstad in March of 1956, when she recorded some songs of Schubert and Schumann. Negotiations with Decca/London Records started in late 1955. Her last commercial recording was in London the first week of 1959. It was the "Songs From Norway" album.

There is a longer version of this recording of Flagstad speaking, at: /watch?v=3PjMukkeG9s

22:08 siegmund sieh auf mich

❤️🇱🇨

I can’t fund any of her Greig recordings

Would it be fair to say Flagstad was to Wagner as Callas and Tebaldi were to Belcanto

She hated people pronouncing her surname as if it were German.

This is very poignant

Wagnerian operas and singers leave me completely cold, and this hasn’t helped. In the supposedly wonderful Furtwängler recording, I think she sounds horrible, and her highest notes last a millisecond, just awful.