Sister act
New York fans of puppylicious tenor Juan Diego Flórez will be happy to hear that he will be a fixture at the Met the next few seasons. Next year he stars in a new production of La Fille du regiment opposite his Barbiere prima donna, Diana Damrau. In 2008-2009, he headlines the first Met performances of La sonnambula since 1972, with Natalie Dessay as his sleepwalking beloved.
The Flórez vehicle for 2010 will be the Met premiere of Rossini’s Le Comte Ory. More impatient fans need wait only until December 1 for their Flórez fix, when the tenor makes his Carnegie Hall recital debut singing works by Mozart, Rossini, Rosa Mercedes Ayarza de Morales, Fauré, Massenet, Bizet, and Donizetti. Manning the 88s will be Vincenzo Scalera.
just to back up newinnyc –
I love Florez’s singing, as we desperately need a “star” to keep Rossini alive at the Met, but he is a prissy, neurotic mess – just every cliche of the annoying tenor come to life.
Il tenore, are there any recordings of Rockwell performing his trills, that is out on the open market? Oh hell, on Amazon if I need to! The only time I heard him was a TV tribute to George London, and his top came out as rather shrill. Would love a coloratura tenor that would be soft grained, almost like a bird-voiced Placido. Does it really have to be reedy in order to sing Rossini-bel canto roles?
Rocky B. sang the prince in a PBS showing of the NYCO Cenerentola way back in the very early 80s, with Alan Titus and I think Faith Esham as Cinderella. It would be nice if the thing was on tape somewhere for the the public, as well as the Rolandi Little Vixen.
ljc, just go to youtube, type in Rockwell Blake, go to page three and look for “Young Rocky in English”. Ta da…..Ramiro’s aria!
Enjoy.
A tenor that’s prissy and neurotic? Imagine that! Always remember what dear Anna Russell said: “they have resonance where they should have brains”.
Neurotic-yes but prissy-DiStefano, Corelli, Bergonzi, Del Monaco not prissy.
Is he that good or do we just need a Rossini tenor?
Rockwell Blakes solo album discography goes as follows to my knowledge (as I have all of them):
The Rossini Tenor
Encore Rossini
The Mozart Tenor
Airs d’operas francais
He also has complete commercial recordings of:
Boieldieu: La Dame Blanche
Rossini: Ermione, La donna del lago, Il barbiere di Siviglia,
Meyerbeer: Robert le Diable (I think) with June Anderson
There are also several DVD’s of Rocky singing in various Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, and French operas – also one of him as Don Ottavio
And one can also find many live non-commerical recordings of him in various operas like Sonnambula, Puritani, Cenerentola, Otello, Gazza ladra, Armida, Semiramide, etc. etc.
There are trills in so very many of these operas and Rocky sings them ALL. Alas, because the quality of his voice is bright and not ‘pretty’ he is often left extremely underappreciated – but he was the ultimate bel canto singer and can sing pretty much anyone else off the map. Though the voice may not be ‘beautiful’ in the sense as one would describe the voices of Bjorling or Gedda or Pavarotti…he certainly fares much better in this repertoire than did Cesare Valetti, Luigi Alva and Tito Schipa – all who possessed lovely voices, but couldn’t quite cut it in the repertoire the way it needs to be sung. Blake does some very beautiful and exquisite legato singing particularly on the French and Mozart arias albums. But Rocky had a big enough voice that he never once sounds wimpy in any of this music (which is unfortuantely sung in that way all too often) – he gives extremely powerful singing throughout his entire range (my favorite recording of his is the first Semiramide aria “Ah, dov’e il cimento” of which there is also a video of him singing live in Pesaro on Youtube).
Rossini’s music – along with even Mozart and plenty of other pre-Romantic opera composers – I believe has NOT received it’s truly deserved respect and admiration and consistent place in the repertory because of the lack of truly great singers who do justice to his work. Rossini is NOT music for young or small voices – AT ALL. His singing is just as big and as bold as Verdi’s can be at times, but the flexibility required by all voice types in Rossini often makes way for singers who lack substance in their voices to try their hand at his music and perform it – but often to the detriment of the music, the dramatic scenarios and the character. Plenty of Rossinian roles are required to be sung by dramatic voices. Semiramide is not just a coloratura showpiece – it is a very large opera with very large orchestra and very large music with tons of little notes that should be sung by a dramatic coloratura soprano (not a soubrette or a lyric coloratura), a dramatic low mezzo role, a strong bass with plenty of high notes and flexibility to spare, and a tenor who has not only the ability to sing endless runs, but who can wail on High C’s and D’s and give the heroic vigor required to sing the part!
For those who have not heard the younger Merritt, the voice was quite lovely. I have a recital from 1985 where, in the I Due Foscari and Tancredi arias, he nails a high Eb. Don’t much care for him after 1990, though.