Lucretia West, 1922-2022

[David Boxwell]

The mezzo-soprano, who sang and recorded Mahler with Mitropoulos, Scherchen, and Knappertsbusch while residing in Germany for many decades, was also featured on the soundtrack of Visconti's "Death in Venice".  She passed away, aged 99, in Washington DC on 21 February.

[barryguerrero]

She's also on Abbado's earliest 'live' M2 from Vienna, which is now coupled with his earliest 'live' M6 on Memories Reference. Thanks for the f.y.i.

While Marian Anderson broke the color barrier first (I think), it's strange that Lucretia West never gets mentioned along with M. Anderson and Leontyne Price.

[waderice]

While Marian Anderson broke the color barrier first (I think), it's strange that Lucretia West never gets mentioned along with M. Anderson and Leontyne Price.

While Marian Anderson's breaking of the color barrier was the one instance that received the most publicity, at about the same time, mezzo-soprano Carol Brice was also making a name for herself when she made what I believe to be the first commercial studio recording of Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, with Reiner and the Pittsburgh Symphony in 1946.

Wade